Summit League Championship opens for Leathernecks with 9-6 win against Southern Utah - The Official Athletics Site of the Western Illinois University Leathernecks

Summit League Championship opens for Leathernecks with 9-6 win against Southern Utah

Courtesy: Brock Wissmiller

Release: 05/22/2008

Box Score

Cole Waddell went 4-for-4 with four RBI in Western's 9-6 win over Southern Utah in The Summit League Championship.

Courtesy: Adam Sacasa/Western Illinois Athletics

Cole Waddell went 4-for-4 with four RBI in Western's 9-6 win over Southern Utah in The Summit League Championship.

TULSA, Okla. - Cole Waddell went a perfect 4-for-4 with four RBI to help lead Western Illinois to a 9-6 victory over Southern Utah to open up the Summit League Championship.

The Leathernecks (21-31) got on the board first and never looked back as Lorenzo Gallaga singled with two-away on a hot shot to third base in the third. He was able to score from second on a Cole Waddell single through the right side of the infield to give Western the early 1-0 advantage.

The offense stayed on the attack in the fourth as James Bina led off with a double and Kenny Price brought him around on a RBI-triple. After Brett Pendell was hit by a pitch, Cooper Stewart drove a fly ball to the track in left for a sac fly to bring in Price. Jared Wolf bunted for a base hit, and a throwing error allowed Pendell to score and left runners on second and third. The bases were loaded following Gallaga being hit by a pitch and Waddell cleared them on a triple to left. Laidig completes the scoring with a RBI-single up the middle, making it 8-1.

“That was as good of an inning as we’ve put together all year,” Western Illinois head coach Stan Hyman said of the fourth inning. “Everybody was coming through with hits and it’s what we really needed today.”

After three innings of one hit ball, the Thunderbirds (30-26) got to starter Travis Tolsma in the bottom of the fourth by cutting their deficit in half with four runs on four hits.

Justin Eissens (1-2) came on in relief of Tolsma in the fifth. One run crossed the plate before he was able to induce a 5-4-3 double play to end SUU’s rally.

Western got back on the board in the sixth on a Gallaga sac fly that scored Wolf, who tripled to lead off the inning. However, a double play prevented any further damage and the advantage stood at 9-5.

In the sixth inning Eissens pitched his way into trouble as he surrendered four walks, all with two outs, and allowed one run to cross. Todd Nelson (2) came on in relief for Eissens and forced a fly out to right to leave the bags packed.

“Tolsma wasn’t his normal self out there today,” Hyman said of the pitching. “Then we went to Eissens and it was the same deal for him. Nelson showed up for us though and pitched his biggest innings of the year. He saved the rest of the bullpen and established why he was our closer last year and why he’s been so tough.”

Nelson worked the final 3.1 innings of the game to pick up his second save of the year, allowing two hits against 11 batters faced.

Waddell led the offense with a 4-for-4 day at the plate and drove in four runs. Laidig and Wolf added two hits each.

“A real unsung hero for us today was Wolf,” Hyman stated of his left fielder. “When Southern Utah started coming back, and I give them a lot of credit for fighting back in this one, Jared was right there in the dugout to keep the guys relaxed and kept telling them to keep playing like we have been.”

The Leathernecks set a season high with three triples in the game.

“It feels good to win a tournament game after suffering two tough losses last year,” added Hyman of the victory. “Right now we’re playing good baseball. A big key to the win today was having no errors. Gallaga played terrific at short stop while Price made several great grabs in right.”

Western takes on the winner of the No. 1 Oral Roberts and No. 4 Centenary game, Friday at 3 p.m.


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