BACK-TO-BACK - PART II - Baseball Wins Second Straight GLIAC Tournament Championship

OVERVIEW – DAVENPORT (GLIAC TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP)

SCORE: Northwood Timberwolves 5, Davenport Panthers 4

RECORDS: Northwood 38-14, Davenport 33-19

LOCATION: The Corner Ballpark – Detroit, Mich.

RECAP: Top-seeded Northwood earned its second straight Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Tournament title in dramatic fashion, earning a walk-off 5-4 win over No. 2 seed Davenport in the championship round.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

• The Panthers opened the scoring with a three-run second inning, capped by a two-run homer to give Davenport a 3-0 lead.
• Northwood started make their comeback in the fourth inning on a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth to make the score 3-1.
• One inning later, Vinsky again came with a run-scoring hit, getting an RBI single which scored Miles Hardy. Kyle Ziegler also came home on the play thanks to an error, leveling the score 3-3.
• Davenport went back on top on an RBI single in the top of the eighth inning to send the game to the ninth with DU leading 4-3.
• As they have done throughout the last two years, Northwood put together a rally in the bottom of the ninth to earn the win. Ziegler leveled the score with a sacrifice fly to plate Colin McClelland.
• Hardy, who came in as a sub in the contest, came through with the biggest hit of his career to win the game. His two-out single scored Keaton Sackett to give the Timberwolves the Championship.

GAME STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors – Northwood: 5/8/1, Davenport: 4/8/3
• Runners Left on Base – Northwood: 4, Davenport: 6
• Winning Pitcher – Colin Moran (3-1): 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K
• Losing Pitcher – Justin Palmbos (8-4): 4 1/3 IP, 3 H, 2 R (0 ER), BB, 3 K

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Vinsky: 2-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
• Ziegler: 1-3, RBI R
• Travis Janes: 1-3, R,
• Hardy: 1-3, GW RBI
• Jake Gross: 7 IP, 8 H, 4 R, BB, 7 K

NORTHWOOD NOTES

• Northwood has now claimed back-to-back GLIAC Tournament championships and has gone 8-0 in the event over the last two years. Northwood has also won the GLIAC Championship (regular season title) each of the last two years.
• NU finished this year's event with a team ERA of 2.00, allowing eight earned runs in 36 innings pitched.
• Over the last two GLIAC Tournaments, Northwood has out-scored their opponents 62-14 and has an ERA of 1.63.
• Today was Northwood's third walk-off win since April 13, starting with a 3-2 win over Davenport.
• This is the second time in five games this season that Northwood has earned a walk-off victory against Davenport. Both games were started by Jake Gross.
• At the conclusion of the event, four Timberwolves were named to the All-Tournament team, highlighted by MVP David Vinsky. Vinsky was named to the outfield, while Keaton Sackett (third base), Javier Martinez (utility) and Max Bain (starting pitcher) all were named to the team.
• Vinsky finished the tournament batting .529 with a 1.000 slugging percentage.
• Over the last two years, Northwood has won 84 games (46 in 2017, 38 in 2018). Prior to coach Jordan Bischel's arrival in 2015, the best two-year win total for Northwood was 55 (1989-90).

UP NEXT

• Northwood earns the GLIAC's automatic bid for the upcoming NCAA Regional Tournament, which will take place May 24-28 at a site to be determined. The field will be announced later tonight (May 13) at 10 p.m.