April 5, 2008

Box Score

DETROIT - In its 2008 home opener, the Wayne State baseball team (11-10, 9-0 GLIAC) cruised to a 17-1 victory over Hillsdale (7-12, 2-5 GLIAC) in the first game of a doubleheader Saturday afternoon. Nine Warriors posted multiple-hit performances as WSU totaled 22 hits altogether.

Wayne State scored in each of the first five innings, including an eight-run second inning highlighted by Charlie Dunneback's (Lansing, Mich./Grand Ledge) grand slam over the left field wall.

Brett Witczak (Hudsonville, Mich.) and Adam Kaminski (Clinton Twp., Mich./Mt. Clemens) each had three hits in the game, and Anthony Bass (Trenton, Mich.) struck out five over five innings to earn his third win of the season.

The Warriors took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a solo home run by Derek Ranck (Clarkston, Mich.) and, after Hillsdale tied the game with a sacrifice fly in the second, the Warrior offense exploded for eight runs on 10 hits in the bottom of the frame. In addition to Dunneback's blast to left, Witczak drove in a pair with a double while Ryan LaPensee (LaSalle, Ont./St. Thomas of Villanova) and Michael Wiseman (White Lake, Mich./Lakeland) each had RBI singles.

Three more runs in the third courtesy of a base hit by Matthew Williams (Detroit, Mich./Royal Oak Shrine) and consecutive RBI doubles by Ranck and Wiseman made it a 12-1 game.

Dunneback posted his fifth RBI of the day with a double in the fourth, while Drew Churchward (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) tacked on a sacrifice fly to give the Warriors a 13-run lead.

A groundout by Matt Cunningham (Gregory, Mich./Chelsea) and consecutive RBI doubles by Caleb Dalman (Hudsonville, Mich.) and Churchward accounted for WSU's final three runs in the bottom of the fifth.

Bass pitched a three-hitter and retired the final seven batters he faced before giving way to Tyler Loehr (Brighton, Mich.), who notched two scoreless innings in relef.

NOTES
WSU's 17 runs marks its highest total since scoring 19 against Plymouth State on March 19, 2005 ... the 22 hits are the most since the Warriors had 22 against Toledo on April 6, 2005 ... Wayne State has won nine of its last 10 meetings with Hillsdale ... Williams stole his team-leading 12th base of the season in the third inning.