MASON, Ohio – The Kentucky Wesleyan baseball team came back from down six runs to eliminate top-seeded Ashland on Friday and advance to the G-MAC Championship round for the first time since 2018.
Trailing 7-1 in the fifth inning, the Panthers scored the next seven runs over the following two frames to ultimately prevail 8-7. The comeback was the third consecutive by Wesleyan in the G-MAC Tournament, having erased sizable deficits in all three of their victories.
Wesleyan will take on the No. 3-seeded Findlay Oilers at 11:00 AM CT tomorrow at Prasco Park with the G-MAC title and a trip to the Division II NCAA Tournament on the line. The game will be streamed live on FloCollege and fans can follow live stats here.
Just like the first two days, things did not begin as planned for KWC. Ashland scored two runs in each of the first two innings to take an early 4-0 lead as the Eagles attempted to force a winner-take-all second game later in the afternoon.
Wesleyan earned a run back in the bottom of the second. Ellis Hurt doubled down the left field line and Colson Perry followed with a productive flyout that allowed Hurt to advance to third. Logan Molnar, who had four hits in the Panthers' opening win, logged his own productive out with a ground ball to the shortstop that drove in Hurt and cut KWC's deficit to 4-1.
AU launched a two-run home run in the third to build their advantage to 6-1 before lifting yet another homer in the fifth, already their third of the game, to go up six at 7-1. Head coach Todd Lillpop called on Jacob Dilday in relief, and the senior righty began a spectacular outing (W, 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 SO) by posting a zero in the fifth and the sixth to keep Wesleyan in the mix.
Jacob Riegel led off the bottom of the sixth with a walk and later advanced on a wild pitch. Rhett Dysholm singled to put runners on the corners with one out, and Hurt did his job with a sacrifice fly that pushed Riegel across the plate. After a balk that permitted Dysholm to take second, Perry came through with a single to drive in Dysholm and pull the Panthers within four at 7-3.
KWC was not done yet in the sixth. Logan Molnar followed with a single down the left field line that the outfielder bobbled, allowing both runners to get into scoring position, and Tucker Hagan took advantage with an infield hit to the shortstop that plated Perry. Finally, Stockton ripped yet another Wesleyan single to drive in Molnar and send the Panthers to the final three innings down just 7-5.
Dilday worked around a leadoff single in the seventh to put up another zero, and Wesleyan carried over their offensive momentum to their turn at the plate. Riegel again worked a leadoff walk before Baron Ratliff blasted a two-run home run over the left-center field wall to send the Panther faithful into a frenzy and tie the game at 7-7. Dysholm came up next and ripped a triple off the left field wall for his third hit of the game to set up Hurt, who once again did his job with another sacrifice fly to push across the eventual winning run and put KWC up 8-7.
Dilday stayed on for the final two frames. After a shutdown eighth, the Eagles got the tying run on first due to a fielding error with just one out in the ninth. After subbing in Mason Brown to pinch run, Perry caught Brown too far off the bag for a successful 2-3 pickoff and Dilday forced the hitter to ground out on the very next pitch to send the Panthers to the title game.
For the full tournament bracket and more details, click here.
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