BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (May 20, 2005) – Nick Chilczenkowski’s two-RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning gave NCAA Division III Regional host Illinois Wesleyan (33-11) a 3-2 victory over Edgewood College (27-16) on Friday. Play was picked up on the top of the third following Thursday’s suspended game, which was due to severe weather.
The Eagles held a 1-0 advantage when play resumed. Illinois Wesleyan tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the third inning on a run-scoring single by Ricky Angel. Edgewood regained the lead in the top of the seventh on an RBI single by Derek Jew (Homewood, Ill.) that scored John Fish (Wisconsin Dells, Wis.), who led off the inning with a single to right field.
Heading into the bottom of the ninth Edgewood starting pitcher Cody Flynn (Eureka, Calif.) allowed just two Titan base hits, including five strikeouts, since he surrendered the tying run back in the third frame.
Flynn got Illinois Wesleyan’s Mike Curran to ground out to second base to leadoff the ninth. Next batter Brian McCabe was then awarded first base on a questionable hit-by-pitch ruling by home plate umpire Matt Hecht. Cory Lapinski, the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Player of the Year, then singled to give the Titans the go-ahead run on first base. With Chilczenkowski at the plate, Nate Rittenberry, who was pinch running for McCabe, advanced to third base on a wild pitch and Lapinski also moved up 90 feet to second base. Chilcznekowski then batted a seeing-eye single through the left side of the infield for the game-winning RBIs.
Between Thursday’s start and Friday’s continuation, Flynn allowed seven hits in the game with three earned runs while striking out 10 without a walk. Titan pitcher Robert Inzinga hurled the last seven innings, allowing three hits and an earned run. Inzinga fanned four Eagles hitters.
Edgewood College will now face Ripon College (23-13) today at 4:30 p.m. The Redhawks, the No. 6 seed in the regional tournament, upset top-seeded Aurora University by a final score of 6-2 in game one on Friday. Ripon defeated the Eagles twice in non-conference action during the regular season, 8-1 and 8-0, at Ripon.
