May 1, 2009

Box Score

LIVONIA, Mich. - The Panthers started slow in their first ever appearance in the WHAC Tournament but could not hold off the Cardinals of Concordia in extra innings as they fell 10-9 in first round action. DU will now take on Aquinas at 10:00 on Saturday in an elimination game.

After falling behind 1-0 after the first inning, DU put together a solid third inning to lead 2-1 but then watched the Cardinals use some of the Panthers miscues to score 6-runs in the next three innings for a 7-2 lead after five.

The DU bats then came alive in the top of the sixth when Derrick Gentile singled and was brought home on the next pitch when Joe Freist connected on his first of two homeruns on the day.

Davenport then tacked on three more runs in the next two innings to tie the game at seven and the score would remain that way heading into extra innings.

After a scoreless 10th inning, the Panthers came alive again in the top of the 11th when Matt Collins brought home James Folske and then pinch runner DJ VanDyke scored on an RBI single from Gentile to give DU a 9-7 lead.

Unfortunately the lead would not last as the Cardinals put up three runs in the bottom of the 11th highlighted by a walk-off two run double to give them the upset victory 10-9.

Matt Collins and Joe Freist each drove in three runs for Davenport as Collins collected three hits along with Joe Hill. Also posting multi-hit games were Derrick Gentile, Freist and Mitch Pike.

The loss drops DU to 31-22 on the year as they will now play in an elimination game on Saturday at 10:00 AM against Aquinas College. The game will be played at Concordia University in Ann Arbor with the winner to then play at 1:00 back on the campus of Madonna University.

For complete coverage of the tournament, please click here