GARY, Ind. - In a battle between the top two teams in the GLIAC during the regular season and the current top two teams in the NCAA Midwest Regional rankings, Davenport defeated Wayne State 8-5 on Saturday night to eliminate the Warriors from the GLIAC Tournament. The Panthers also made a case with the win to host an NCAA Midwest Regional next week for the first time. Business remains to be done however on Sunday as Davenport will need to beat Purdue Northwest twice in order to capture the tournament championship for the second straight time.

The Panthers took care of Northwood (third in the current NCAA Midwest Regional rankings) by the exact same score earlier in the day and jumped out early against Wayne State with two runs in the first inning. Wayne State tied it at 2 in the top of the third and then the Panthers took over for good with two runs in the bottom of the third.

Wayne State got a run in the sixth but DU responded with two of their own in the sixth for a 6-3 lead. They tacked on another run in the seventh but the Warriors scored twice in the eighth to make it 7-5. Davenport answered yet again with a run in the eighth themselves for the 8-5 lead. Spencer Vainavicz came on in the ninth and struck out the side for his fourth save of the season.

Jared Schwartz got the start on the hill and lasted 2.2 innings. He allowed two hits and one earned run but was pulled because of five walks, four wild pitches and a hit batter. Zach Haefer picked up the win in relief (2-1). He went three innings for his second longest outing of the season. Haefer allowed three hits and one run with a strikeout. Carson Fischer also pitched 2.1 innings and allowed two hits and no earned runs with no walks and four strikeouts. DU pitching recorded 10 strikeouts and threw 167 pitches.

Nicholas O'Dea took the loss (3-4) for Wayne State in 5.1 innings and surrendered five runs, five walks and six hits. Noah Marcoux had a double and two RBI for the Panthers. Logan Hylek had a pair of doubles with a run scored and a RBI. Carson Eby went 2-for-4 with two RBI. Carter Troncin also drove in two runs. Nolan Anspaugh and Gaetano Vallone each scored twice and had a hit.