Baseball Rolls To GLIAC Tournament Finals With 16-0 Win Over Tiffin

GLIAC TOURNAMENT – 3^rd  ROUND

#1 NORTHWOOD VS. #3 TIFFIN

SCORE: Northwood 16, Tiffin 0

RECORDS: Northwood 42-11, Tiffin 31-21

LOCATION: Athletes in Action Sports Complex, Grady's Field, Xenia, Ohio.  

RECAP: Northwood bats dominate Tiffin pitching including a ten run second inning to seize control early and cruise to the 16-0 victory.

GAME 1 HIGHLIGHTS

• After Northwood starter Matt Pearsall pitched out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the first to keep the Dragons off the scoreboard, Northwood came back and took a 2-0 lead on one swing of the bat. David Vinsky walked, and the next batter, Ryan McClelland belted a two-run bomb over the right field fence for Northwood's first runs of the game.
• Northwood broke the contest wide open in the second sending 15 batters to the plate in a 10 run frame. After Robert Spencer singled and Travis Janes doubled, Richie O'Neil singled to score them both. After a costly error by Tiffin, Northwood extended the damage with a Vinsky RBI double, followed by a two out, two run double by Javier Martinez.
• Still with two outs, the Timberwolves continued to pour it on in the bottom of the second. With Martinez on second, Ziegler and Spencer both walked to load the bases for Travis Janes. Janes belted a bases clearing double, his second double of the inning, this one accounting for 3 RBIs.
• Still with two outs, Northwood continued to tally the runs in the inning. After back to back walks to O'Neil and Foley, the bases were loaded for David Vinsky who singled home two more runs to push the run total to 10 in the inning and put Northwood up 12-0.
• After a scoreless third, Northwood widened the already daunting deficit with four more runs in the bottom of the fifth. Pulver laced a one out single, followed by consecutive walks to Martinez and Ziegler to load the bases for Robert Spencer who continued his solid GLIAC tournament with an RBI single. The next batter Travis Janes added to his big day at the plate with an RBI single for his fourth RBI of the day. Connor Foley then concluded the four run inning with an RBI single and the Timberwolves continued to cruise up 16-0.
• After bearing down and pitching around traffic in the first few innings, Matt Pearsall settled in to toss seven scoreless innings. Shawn Larner then pitched a scoreless eighth, followed by Nathen Langenfeld pitching a scoreless ninth to secure the shutout and conclude the 16-0 lopsided win for the Timberwolves.

GAME 1 STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors Northwood: 16/14/1 Tiffin 0/6/1
• Runners Left on Base: Northwood: 8 Tiffin: 11
• Winning Pitcher: Matt Pearsall (5-2) 7 IP, 5H, 0R, 0ER, 4BB, 2K
• Losing Pitcher: Luke Fraley (6-5) 1.2 IP, 7H, 8R, 5ER, 1BB, 0K

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Travis Janes (3-5, 4 RBI)
• David Vinsky (3-5, 3RBI)
• Robert Spencer (2-3, 3R, RBI)
• Ryan McClelland (1-4, HR, 2RBI)

GAME NOTES

• With his three hits today, David Vinsky now has 100 on the season. Vinsky is the first Timberwolf to ever reach the century mark in hits in a single season.
• Northwood pitchers have combined to give up one run in 27 innings in the 2017 GLIAC tournament, earning a 0.33 team ERA.
• Northwood's average margin of victory in three games in the tournament is greater than 10 runs (10.3).
• Northwood is now 31 games over the 500 mark (42-11). Prior to 2017, the school record for wins in a season was 30 games.
• Northwood has now won eight games in a row and 15 out of their last 17 games. 

COACH JORDAN BISCHEL

"Our fast start certainly was a big boost today. However, I thought Matt Pearsalll battling through a rough first 2 innings was equally important. We feel fortunate and are excited to be a part of tomorrow's championship game."

UP NEXT

• The Timberwolves will play in the 2017 GLIAC tournament championship tomorrow (May 14^th) at 11:00 am. Northwood will play Tiffin who won the concilation bracket. In the double elimination format, Northwood will need to beat Tiffin once to earn the championship while Tiffin will have to beat Northwood twice tomorrow.