Late Inning Heroics Give Delta Baseball Sweep

Fort Wayne, IN – The Delta College baseball hit the road on Sunday, playing in their first games in over a week as they traveled to Fort Wayne, Indiana to play a double-header against the Titans of Ivy Tech.  Late game heroics took place in both contests allowing Delta to come away with a sweep winning by the totals of 11-3 and 9-8.  The wins give Delta a 6-7 record now on the season.

Ivy Tech took a 3-0 lead into the top of the sixth inning in game one before Delta pushed a run across in to make it 3-1 going in to the last inning.  Mitch Morley led the inning off with a walk before Jeff Wright singled to left to put two aboard with no outs.  Devin Sempert then stepped up to the plate and launched a 3-2 pitch over the wall in left-center field to give Delta a 4-3 lead.  They would then go on to plate another seven runs in the inning to go up 11-3.  Jeff Wright finished his complete game on the hill with a 1-2-3 seventh to pick up his second win on the season against one loss. 

"I was looking to move runners and actually used a two-strike approach," said Sempert of his game winning hit.  He added a single and two more RBI's in the game for five RBI's total. 

Danny Diaz also had a multi-hit to lead the Pioneer offense.

"Their pitchers issued 12 walks in the game but they were always with one or two outs so we couldn't get the offense in gear," said head coach Danny Smith.  "But when we did come through, we came through in a big way."

DC wasted no time getting the offense going in game two as they put up a three-spot in the top of the first to go up 3-0 after one.  Zach Schirmer led the game off with a single and was bunted to second before coming to third on a wild pitch.  Mitch Morley scored him on a ground out to short for the first run of the game.  A hit batter an error and a two-run double by Danny Diaz made it 3-0.

Ivy Tech scored a pair of run in the second on an error, a wild pitch, a hit batter and a double to make it 3-2 but Delta answered with a run in the top of the third and three in the fifth to go up 7-2.  Kane Bourbina and Dylan Steinke each had run scoring doubles in the three-run fifth for the Pioneers.

Back-to-back errors, a single and back-to-back walks by starting pitcher Jake Wright made it a 7-3 game before he was pulled with the bases loaded and no outs.  He ended the day throwing four innings while striking out six and walking four.  Drew Schultz took the hill for Delta and on his first pitch surrendered a grand slam homerun that made the score 7-7.  He was able to get out of the jam after that and the score remained tied heading in to the final stanza.

Danny Diaz had a one-out double and was followed up by a Cam Fowler single to put runners at the corners with Kane Bourbina coming to the plate.  He was promptly hit by a pitch to load the bases and after Diaz was caught stealing, Delta was down to it's final out in the inning.  Dylan Steinke then lifted a 1-1 pitch to right-center field to score both Bourbina and Fowler and give Delta a 9-7 lead before the inning ended.

Ivy Tech led off the bottom of the seventh with a single and followed that up with a walk to put runners at first and second with no outs.  A throwing error on a bunt allowed the runner at second to score and put the game winning run at second base with the game tying run just 90 feet away at third.  Delta opted to intentionally walk the next Titan hitter to load the bases before going to a five man infield with the seventh hitter in the order up.

With the score 9-8, no outs and the bases loaded, Schultz was able to induce the hitter to bounce into a comebacker that kept the bases loaded, now with one out.  Choosing to return to a normal four man infield, Schultz was able to strike the eighth hitter out and stood just one out away from getting out of a huge jam and winning the game. 

And he did just that as he struck out the nine-hitter to preserve the win and up his record to 2-1 on the season. 

"That's how our season has gone and I believe that's how it will be going forward," said Smith.  "Last season we were the 'Kings of the One Run Ballgame' and this year we're about fifty-fifty on those games so it's nice to come out on top of one."

Diaz and Bourbina led the offense with two doubles each while Steinke added an RBI double to his big seventh inning knock.   On the day, Delta collected 16 walks and was hit four times while striking out just six times.

"We spent last week working with hitters on their two-strike approach and getting hit by pitches properly so it's good to see the numbers behind our work," said Smith.  "We weren't putting the ball in play during our spring trip and multiple times we didn't wear pitches when we could have only to strike out later in the at-bat."

Delta will next play at Adrian College on Tuesday in a double-header before heading to Northwood for a single nine-inning game on Wednesday.  They will open MCCAA league play on Friday as they play host to St. Clair Community College in a 2pm double-header at Wickes Park.