Season Ends with Split at G-MAC Championship Tournament
Mason, Ohio – The University of Findlay baseball team ended their 2018 season in the consolation semifinal at the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Baseball Tournament. The Oilers won their first game of the day to stave off elimination against Ohio Valley, but dropped the nightcap against the Walsh Cavaliers in an elimination game. The 2018 season ends for Findlay with a record of 23-17, their first 20-win season since 2008.
Game 1 vs Ohio Valley (W 4-3 | Box Score)
Findlay struggled to find the offense in their first elimination game of the day only picking up one hit through the first three innings of play. The Oilers finally got on the board against the Fighting Scots in the fourth inning when, after a walk and a hit-by-pitch, Tyler Burley, who would finish the game a perfect 4-for-4, delivered with a single to center to put Findlay ahead 1-0.
An error by the Oilers in the sixth allowed OVU to tie the game, but the big blow for the Scots came in the seventh, a two-run bomb off the bat of Mitchell Lohr. That home run put Ohio Valley ahead 3-1.
Findlay was not ready to end their season just yet. In the eighth, Derrick Herd led off with a single and Nic Varda laced a triple to right-center, pulling the Oilers to within one. Tyler Burley then smoked a double to the left-center gap, scoring Varda and tying the game. After a fielder's choice, Casey Gould got his taste of extra bases, hitting a double that scored Burley.
Leading 4-3, senior Josh Robinson, who entered the game in the top of the eighth, set down the Fighting Scots in the ninth to earn his third win of the year.
Burley led the Oilers' offense with four hits, one run scored, and two RBI. It is the second time of his career that he has clubbed four hits in a game as he had four hits in six at-bats against Hillsdale back on Apr. 13.
Nic Varda finished with one hit, a triple, one run score, and one RBI while Derrick Herd had one hit and two runs scored.
Alex Harter started on the hill and threw 6.2 innings and allowed three runs, two earned, on six hits. He walked three and struck out five.
Game 2 vs Walsh (L 12-10 | Box Score)
Contrary to the majority of games that had taken place at the G-MAC Tournament thus far, Findlay's final game was a slugfest in which both teams combined for 22 run scored and 31 hits.
Both teams went back-and-forth in the opening innings as Findlay and Walsh each plated four runs in the first two innings of action. The Oilers then took a lead in the third, but the Cavaliers regained the lead in the third with two runs of their own.
After the first scoreless half inning of the game, Findlay's half of the fourth, Walsh broke the game wide open with five runs in the fourth to take an 11-5 lead. In that half inning, the Oilers used four pitchers in the inning as the Maroon and Gold sent ten hitters to the plate.
Single runs by each team in the sixth made the score 12-6 through six.
In Findlay's half of the seventh, the Oilers would send eight batters to the plate as four runs would score to narrow the deficit to 12-10. In that inning, Tyler Archambeau, Tyler Burley, and Casey Gould collected hits while Archambeau, Ethan St. Clair, Burley, and Derrick Herd all scored runs for the Orange and Black.
Josh Robinson entered the game in the bottom half of the inning and struck out the side. He was just as good an inning later as he set down the Cavaliers in order and added two more strikeouts.
In the top of the ninth, Findlay's last chance at a comeback, the Oilers were set down 1-2-3 to end their memorable 2018 campaign.
In the contest, five Oilers' hitters finished with at least two knocks. Tyler Archambeau and Ethan St. Clair each had three. St. Clair crossed home plate three times and drove in a run while Archambeau scored two runs and had one RBI.
Alexander Theiss got the start on the hill and threw three innings. He allowed eight runs, all earned, on 11 hits while walking two and striking out one.
Out of the pen, Josh Robinson was brilliant, throwing two innings and striking out five.
