MASON, Ohio – A late rally and a rout has kept Ashland University's No. RV baseball team around in the 2025 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament.
On Thursday (May 8), the Eagles started the day with a 5-4 win over Walsh, then took care of Kentucky Wesleyan, 10-2, to get to Friday (May 9) and improve to 37-16 overall this spring.
"Our guys will battle to the last out," said Ashland head coach
John Schaly, who against Walsh became the 20
th NCAA baseball coach all-time to earn 1,350 career victories.
In the top of the third inning of Thursday's first game, a walk, a sacrifice bunt, another free pass and a wild pitch set up junior right fielder
Billy Howard's RBI ground out for the first lead of the game.
The Cavaliers, however, came back with two two-out runs on a single and a walk in the bottom of third to take their first lead at 2-1.
When junior shortstop
Collin Overholt brought a run in with a fielder's choice in the fourth, the game was tied at 2-2. Another run-scoring fielder's choice – this time from graduate left fielder
Max Caron in the fifth, gave AU the lead once again at 3-2 halfway through the contest.
Walsh kept coming back, however, and with an RBI double in the fifth, the game was knotted again, this time at 3-3.
The game settled down until two outs in the ninth, when Overholt delivered an RBI single, and another run came home on a Cavalier error on the same play.
In the bottom of the ninth, however, Walsh got a run closer with an RBI single with no outs. With the bases loaded and nobody out, senior left-handed pitcher
Brendan Beaver got a shallow fly out, a pop out to second base and a deep fly out to end the game and keep the Eagles alive in the tournament.
Following a weather delay to begin the next consolation round, KWC scored right away in the top of the first on an RBI double. In the bottom of the inning, however, Howard's leadoff triple set up freshman center fielder
Sean Krueckeberg's RBI single to tie the game at 1-1. Later in the first, Caron's RBI double put Ashland up early, 2-1.
In the second, Howard delivered a run-scoring single with no outs, the Eagles scored on a double play, and Caron added a two-out run-scoring safety, to push the AU lead to 5-1.
Howard's double in the fourth put him a home run shy of the cycle, and he came home when junior first baseman
Sam Witt delivered an RBI single. It became a 7-1 score later in the fourth on an Overholt RBI single.
A Panthers two-out RBI hit in the fifth cut their deficit to 7-2, but freshman designated hitter
Gage Weaver's squeeze bunt RBI got the run back in the sixth. Overholt's RBI double, with two outs, made it an 8-2 contest through six.
Krueckeberg hit an RBI single in the seventh for the game's final margin.
TWO-OUT RUNS THE ORDER OF THE DAY…AND THE REST OF THE STORY
- The Eagles scored four of their five runs against the Cavaliers with two outs, and scored six of their 10 tallies vs. Kentucky Wesleyan the same way.
- Beaver earned his third save of the season for sophomore righty David Smith (3-0), who did yeoman's work in relief – 3 2/3 innings, three hits, one run, no walks and four strikeouts.
- "It felt great. I was trying to put up as many zeroes as I could to keep the season alive," Smith said. "Huge credit to the defense, as always. We came up with timely hits at the end."
- "He was clutch out of the bullpen, shut them down, gave us a chance," Schaly said. "This guy is the one who kept us in it and gave us a chance. He threw great."
- Krueckeberg, Witt and senior catcher Ben Peltz each had two of AU's nine hits. Witt's hits both were doubles, and Overholt drove in two runs.
- Ashland is 5-0 vs. Walsh in 2025.
- Howard was 4-for-5 with two doubles and a triple (after having just four extra-base hits all season), to go with an RBI and two runs scored.
- Krueckeberg, Caron and Overholt each drove in two runs, and Krueckeberg, Caron, Witt and Overholt each collected two of AU's 15 hits.
- Graduate lefty Marshall Leishman (7-4) earned the victory over KWC, allowing six hits, two runs and four walks and striking out four in seven innings.
UP NEXT
Friday at noon vs. Ohio Dominican. The Eagles need to top the Panthers twice on Friday to get to the tourney title game on Saturday (May 10).
