DETROIT, Mich. - The weather felt like March on day two of the GLIAC Tournament with temperatures in the mid-40's and a steady rain for most of the contest. The Panthers managed to withstand the elements and pulled out an 11-6 win over Tiffin to eliminate the Dragons from their final GLIAC Tournament. Tiffin will move to the Great Midwest Athletic Conference beginning next season.
Davenport improved to 31-18 overall but it was a struggle to pull away from the Dragons until late in the game. Both pitching staffs struggled with command in large part due to the conditions. The Panthers received 11 walks while the Dragons drew seven walks. Tiffin used five pitchers while Davenport sent four hurlers to the mound.
Andrew Click pitched the first two innings for the Panthers and then exited as he was under the weather. He threw a scoreless first but ran into trouble after allowing three walks in the second as the Dragons scored two runs. Luke Fraley ran into similar trouble in the first against DU. The Panthers scored twice and could have opened it up more as they stranded the bases loaded.
Jacob Buchberger had a two-RBI single up the middle.
Davenport took a 4-2 lead after two innings as
Brent Showers scored on a wild pitch and
Zac Wilson doubled home
Anthony DiPonio. Tiffin took their first lead of the game with three runs in the top of the third off
Krystien Johnson-Battilana. Jack Dennis had a RBI double to left center and then later scored the tying run on a wild pitch. Kyle Lento had a RBI single which scored Noah Heard for the 5-4 lead.
The Panthers took a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the fourth started by Showers who singled up the middle.
Nolan Bryant walked with one out and Wilson also drew a walk to load the bases. Brady Ward came out of the bullpen for Tiffin but walked
Brian Sobieski to force home the fifth run. Buchberger then had a sacrifice fly to score Bryant for the one-run lead.
Pete Zeimis replaced Johnson-Battilana and stabilized the game as he retired eight of nine batters after getting out of a second and third jam with no outs in the fourth. Zeimis worked into the seventh as a leadoff error and balk put Dennis on second. Alec McCurry scored Dennis on a double to right center. Lento drew a two-out walk as did Nich Green which ended the day for Zeimis.
Justin Palmbos making just his second relief appearance of the season kept the bases loaded as Cody Orr grounded back to him.
Davenport would score the last five runs of the game including four runs in the bottom of the eighth.
Austin Lansky walked with one out and Showers was hit by a pitch. DiPonio also received a free pass to load the bases and Bryant walked as the third straight batter to get a RBI and a 7-6 lead. Jake Monnin replaced Ward but could not keep the deficit slim. Wilson walked on five pitches to force in a run and then Sobieski delivered the big blow with a two-run single to left for a 10-6 advantage.
Tiffin left two on base in the eighth as Palmbos struck out Heard looking to end the inning.
Alex Huard singled to start the bottom of the eighth and took second on a wild pitch.
Oscar Heredia had a pinch hit RBI single to left for the final tally of 11-6. Palmbos retired the Dragons in order in the ninth to improve to 7-3 on the mound.
Showers reached base five times with two singles, two hit by pitch and a walk. He scored three runs and upped his average to .262. Sobieski and Buchberger each had three RBI and Sobieski walked three times. Bryant scored three runs and drew two walks.
DU won for the fourth time in five tries this season against Tiffin. The rain postponed the game between Ashland and Grand Valley State until 11 a.m. on Saturday. The loser will play Davenport at 6 p.m.
