BEREA, Ohio - A three-run double in the bottom of the ninth inning propelled Adrian past Catholic in Sunday's NCAA Division III Baseball Regional. With the 9-8 loss, Catholic's season comes to a close with a 33-14 record.
The Cardinals erased an early 5-0 deficit, finally getting on the board with a three-run fifth before tying the contest in the sixth inning.
Sammy Burman drove in his first two of five runs in the fifth, scoring
Logan Eilbacher and
Zach Burton with a single to put Catholic on the board.
Jesse Lacefield found the gap in left center to score Burman and trim the gap to 5-3 in the top of the fifth.
Burman struck again in the sixth, once again singling to center to score a pair of runs. Eilbacher and
Mitchel Johnson scored and the game was tied 5-5. Adrian punched back with an RBI single in the sixth to take the lead once more, but Catholic wasn't done yet.
Another three-run inning for the Cardinals came in the eighth as they built up an 8-6 advantage.
Steve Thomas singled and stole second to open the inning. After Burton drew a walk, Adrian went to the bullpen for Ben Bates. Bates issued walks to Johnson to load the bases and Eilbacher to bring in the tying run. Adrian went back to the bullpen, this time for Ambrose Horwath. Burman drove in his fifth run of the game with a sac fly before Johnson also touched home plate to add another run to the tally.
After entering the game with two outs in the seventh and retiring the first batter he faced,
Brendan Martin tossed a scoreless eighth inning. Martin returned to pitch the ninth and allowed the first two batters of the inning to reach before retiring the next two. Linken Hayward drew a walk to load up the bases before Nic Bruder cleared the bases with a double to walk it off and advance Adrian through to the Super Regional.
Burman, Johnson, Thomas, and
Danny Fitzgerald were named to the All-Berea Regional Team to represent Catholic.