BOX SCORE
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio- Seven solid innings from Cory White (South Fulton, Tenn./South Fulton) and a three-run homerun from Ben Sondgeroth (Rock Falls, Ill./Rock Falls) helped the University of Indianapolis baseball team to a 7-3 win versus Southern Indiana at the NCAA Midwest Regional at V.A. Memorial Stadium Friday night. White (pictured) got the win to up his record to 10-2 on the season, while UIndy moves to 2-0 in the six-team double-elimination tournament.
As the designated home team, the Greyhounds took the field first with junior Cory White getting the start, and as it so often does, a leadoff walk came back to haunt the Greyhound starter. The hard-throwing righty retired the next two hitters, but the Eagles wouldn’t let White out of the inning as first team all-region performer Chad Werry sent a 2-2 pitch over the left center wall to stake USI to a 2-0 advantage.
The Greyhounds (42-19) came right back in their half of the first. Table-setter Justin Russell (Lafayette, Ind./Jefferson) extended his hit streak to 20 games with a leadoff single, advanced to second on a sac bunt, and took third on a wild pitch. Catcher Chase Kittinger (Carmi, Ill./Carmi White County) endured a hit-by-pitch to put runners at the corners for slugger Ben Sondgeroth.
Sondgeroth, whose last at bat Thursday resulted in a game-winning three-run homer, picked up right were he left off with his second straight three-run jack, giving the Hounds a 3-2 lead. In one swing, the Rock Falls, Ill. product rewrote two major school records, as he in now UIndy’s single-season and career RBI king.
White continued to allow base runners through the early going, but the South Fulton, Tenn. native continued to wiggle out of trouble.
After USI squandered a leadoff double in the second inning, the Eagles (38-18) again put the pressure on by loading the bases in the third. The frame started with a walk, a hit batsman, and another walk to put three on with nobody out for Werry. White refocused to escape with no damage, however, as he got Werry on strikes and induced a double-play grounder to keep the lead.
With White settling in, the Greyhound offense hung two more on the board with a productive third inning. Russell reached on a HBP and stole two bases in the frame, while third baseman Travis Capps (Indianapolis, Ind./Warren Central), who moved up to the fifth spot in the order Friday, smacked a two-out, two-run double to up the UIndy lead to three.
Completely over his shaky start, Cory White began to carve up the Southern Indiana lineup with a full command of his repertoire. He strung together six consecutive scoreless innings with the help of 10 strikeouts.
But after throwing a hefty 131 pitches in his seven innings of work, White was pulled to start the eighth. Jordan Tiegs (Woodstock, Ontario, Canada/Huron Park), who is normally a starter, got the call, and though he walked the first batter he faced, Tiegs garnered two strikeouts and a fly out to hold the lead.
After UIndy picked up an insurance run in the eighth on an RBI double from Kittinger, the Greyhounds made things interesting in the ninth inning.
Tiegs immediately ran into trouble when a single, a Greyhound error, and a walk put the first three Eagles on with nobody out. With the UIndy ‘pen warming, Tyler Choate’s sac fly made it 7-3 with runners at the corners and one down.
UIndy reliever David Early (Fairland, Ind./Triton Central) came on to face Werry, who homer earlier in the game, and with the count full and the tying run on deck, Early induced the game-ended 6-3 double play to secure the win for White and the save for himself.
With Rockhurst eliminated and the other four teams sitting at 1-1, UIndy is now the last of the unbeatens in the Midwest Regional. The Greyhounds’ next opponent is yet to be determined, as Indianapolis will play the winner of tomorrow’s Ashland/Southern Indiana match-up in a scheduled 6 p.m. first pitch.
Note: After his performance Friday, UIndy centerfielder Justin Russell enters play tomorrow tied for both the program’s career hits record and the career stolen base mark. He is already the program's leader in career runs scored.