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5-8-24 BB win vs. KWC G-MAC Tournament
6
Ky. Wesleyan KY. WESL 17-31
7
Winner Ashland ASHLAND 39-11
Ky. Wesleyan KY. WESL
17-31
6
Final
7
Ashland ASHLAND
39-11
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Ky. Wesleyan KY. WESL 0 0 0 2 2 0 1 1 0 6 9 3
Ashland ASHLAND 0 0 2 0 1 1 1 0 2 7 12 2

W: Johnston, Cal (4-0) L: N. Judd (2-5)

Game Recap: Baseball | | Dusty Sloan, Ashland University Director of Athletic Communications

No. 20 Eagles Rally In Bottom Of The Ninth To Win G-MAC Tourney Opener

They weren't going to stop rallying until they won.
 
On the opening day of the 2024 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament at Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio, the No. 20-ranked Ashland University baseball team came back from deficits of 4-2, 5-4 and 6-5 to earn a 7-6 victory over Kentucky Wesleyan on Wednesday (May 8) night – thanks to a game-winning RBI single from sophomore right fielder Chris Franks in the bottom of the ninth.
 
Said Franks, "It was a fight, but I'm just glad that we could come through. It was a team effort, and I'm glad I got to be the one to win the game. We've been in that situation before."
 
"It wasn't one of our best games, but the guys never quit," said Ashland head coach John Schaly, who now has 1,311 career wins – one away from tying Stetson's Pete Dunn (1980-2016) for 26th on the all-time NCAA all-levels baseball wins list. "They keep fighting. Our guys always believe they have a chance."
 
The Eagles are 39-11 through 50 games this season, and those 39 wins are the seventh-most in program history. Ashland had lost three consecutive games in Mason prior to Wednesday night, going back to the second championship game of the 2022 conference tourney.
 
Sophomore second baseman Gavin Dobbels broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the third inning, lacing an RBI double down the right-field line. Later in the third, Franks' run-scoring single made it a 2-0 contest.
 
The Panthers (17-31) struck back quickly, however, posting two runs themselves in the top of the fourth to tie the game at 2. KWC then took the lead for the first time in the top of the fifth, 4-2, following two more runs.
 
A pair of Kentucky Wesleyan errors aided the Eagles in the bottom of the fifth, as an unearned run got AU closer at 4-3 heading into the sixth. Then, another unearned run, again on a two-out error, knotted the game at 4 through six.
 
Wednesday's back-and-forth continued, as the Panthers re-gained the advantage in the top of the seventh with a single run, but the Eagles tied the score again in the bottom of the frame on a Franks RBI single.
 
Another unearned run, this time scored by KWC, gave the Panthers the lead one more time at 6-5 through 7½ innings. Dobbels, however, came through with the tying run on a single in the bottom of the ninth, and then, after a wild pitch moved Dobbels to second base, Franks delivered the game-winner.
 
POST-GAME NUGGETS
  • Franks finished 3-for-5 with three RBIs, as Ashland's 1-4 hitters – junior center fielder Cam Miller (3-for-5, double, two runs scored), Dobbels (2-for-5, double, two RBIs, run scored), junior third baseman Jeremiah Cangelosi (2-for-5, double, runs scored), and Franks – combined for 10 of AU's 12 hits in the victory.
  • "The top of our lineup, they have been producing all year long," said Schaly.
  • Graduate right-handed pitcher Cal Johnston (4-0) went the last 2 2/3 innings, allowing one hit and an unearned run and striking out one.
  • "Cal did a great job out of the 'pen," Schaly noted.
  • Ashland is 5-0 this season against KWC, with those wins coming by two, three, three, one and one runs.
UP NEXT
Day 2 of the tournament on Thursday (May 9) at 1:30 p.m. vs. Trevecca Nazarene (29-21). This will be the first meeting of the season between the Eagles and Trojans.
 
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