The University of Southern Indiana baseball team survived an eighth inning Ohio Dominican University rally, defeating the Panthers, 9-7, in the 2018 NCAA II Midwest Regional championship game at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois. USI, the seventh seed, advances with a 36-21 overall record, while Ohio Dominican, the fourth seed, finishes the season 36-17.
With the victory, the Screaming Eagles advance to the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship May 26-June 2 at the USA National Training Center in Cary, North Carolina. USI’s first round opponent will be announced after the championship series is seeded.
The Eagles advance to the NCAA II Baseball Championship series for the fifth time in the history and will be making their fourth trip to the championship series in Cary. USI has won the national championship twice (2010, 2014), finished third once (2007), and tied for fifth once (2016).
USI broke the game open in the middle innings, scoring eight times in the third through fifth innings to build an 8-0 lead. ODU scored five times in the eighth inning to make things interesting, before senior right-hander Kyle Griffin (Morganfield, Kentucky) came out of the bullpen to record the final five outs.
Senior starting pitcher Nick Gobert (Jasper, Indiana) helped himself at the plate to get the scoring started, driving in the game’s first run on a single up the middle. Senior rightfielder Buddy Johnson (Shelbyville, Kentucky) extended the lead to 2-0 with another single, and after a sacrifice fly by senior third baseman Sam Griggs (Evansville, Indiana), junior catcher Logan Brown (Mt. Vernon, Indiana) capped off the inning with an RBI double for a 4-0 Eagles’ lead.
USI would tack on two more runs in the fourth on a bizarre play. With runners on first and second, senior leftfielder Drake McNamara (Mt. Vernon, Indiana) singled to left. Freshman shortstop Ethan Hunter (Terre Haute, Indiana) would score from second easily, while McNamara and junior second baseman Jacob Fleming (Evansville, Indiana) came around to score on a throwing error. However, Fleming’s run didn’t count as he was later declared out on an appeal.
The Eagles added to their lead in the fifth when sophomore leftfielder Spenser Deom (Tell City, Indiana) singled in a run and later scored on a fielder’s choice.
ODU tallied a single run in the sixth on a home run, but Brown answered with a sacrifice fly to extend the lead back to eight.
After a single run in the seventh, the Panthers struck for five runs in the eighth off the USI bullpen for the final, 9-7, tally. For the weekend, Griffin was a force out of the pen, allowing just two runs and four hits in 9.1 innings while striking out 19 and collecting two wins.
Gobert earned the win on the mound, tying a career-high with seven innings pitched. He allowed two runs off six hits and three walks while striking out seven. He was also 2-for-4 at the plate with an RBI and two runs scored.
