Game 5 Box Score
LOVES PARK, Ill. – The Edgewood College baseball team leaned on their defense and their starting pitcher until the bats came around and were rewarded with their first trip to the Northern Athletics Conference Baseball Tournament championship game. The top-seeded Eagles turned a school record four double plays and defeated Rockford College 8-2 in an elimination game on Saturday afternoon.
Starting pitchers Glenn Nowell of Edgewood College and Travis Mohr of Rockford College engaged in a pitchers’ duel for five innings before the Eagles drew first blood in the top of the sixth. The Eagles strung together four straight one-out singles, the last of which by Steve Binder drove in two runs. Mike Selvaggi followed with a sacrifice fly to right field to plate Tim Barry and the Eagles led 3-0.
Rockford College narrowed the gap and nearly tied the game in the seventh inning. A leadoff double by TJ Stanfield resulted in a run when Mike Catalano singled him in from third base. The Regents (27-14-1) loaded the bases with two outs for Kyle Standridge. Standridge extended his hitting streak to 42 straight games with a single to left field to score Catalano, but Edgewood College left fielder Ryan Walker gunned down pinch runner Anthony Beres at the plate to preserve a 3-2 Eagle lead. It was the second runner of the game thrown out at home by Edgewood College. Binder cut off a single to short right field in the second inning and threw out Stanfield trying to score the first run of the game.
Tim Barry lined a solo home run to left field in the eighth to increase the Edgewood College (29-14) lead to 4-2. The home run for Barry was his eighth of the season establishing a new Edgewood College single season record. Barry also holds the career home run record with 15, despite playing at Edgewood College for just two years.
The Eagles blew the game open with four runs in the top of the ninth inning. Andrew King led off with a double and Jimy Landwehr and Binder added two-run doubles later in the inning for an 8-2 cushion.
Rockford College got three hits from Stanfield including a double and a 2-for-4 day from Curt Daughenbaugh. Mohr went seven innings before yielding to the Regent bullpen in the eighth. He gave up three earned runs on eight hits and suffered his first loss of the season against four wins.
Edgewood College was led by Binder and Landwehr who each went 3-for-5 with a double. Binder extended his hitting streak to 16 straight games and drove in four runs. Selvaggi also had a hit to push his own streak to 16 games. Barry went 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Eagle starter Glenn Nowell fired a complete game, the Eagles’ third complete game of the tournament. Nowell struck out a career-high six batters and completed the game in an efficient 120 pitches.
With their 29th win of the season Edgewood College tied their school record for victories, matching the 2005 team that reached the NCAA Tournament. The Eagles will face Aurora University at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. Aurora, as the lone remaining undefeated team, can clinch the tournament and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with a victory. Edgewood College would need to defeat Aurora on Saturday and again on Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. to claim the title.
