May 17, 2007

The University of Southern Indiana claimed a 7-1 victory over Ashland in first round action at the NCAA DII North Central Regional in Akron, Ohio. Southern Indiana (38-21) will play the winner of the Southern Illinois-Edwardsville-Saginaw Valley State game Friday at 7 p.m., while Ashland (38-18) will face Drury Friday at 1 p.m.

Southern Indiana scored three runs on two hits and an Ashland error in the top of the first. LF Bryan Rudden opened the game with a single through the left side and 1B Matt Pleiss walked. Rudden and Pleiss pulled off a double steal with one out and RF Hunter Slade reached on a fielders choice and advanced to second on an error. Rudden scored on the play. DH Chad Werry grounded out to second, but Pleiss scored for the second run of the game and 3B Alex Thieroff singled to center to plate Slade for the third tally.

USI scored a single run in the second on two hits to take a 4-0 lead. SS Kevin O'Hair singled to center and advanced to second on a sac bunt. O'Hair went to third on an infield single by Rudden and later scored on a sac fly by Pleiss.

3B Justin Richards opened the fourth with a double to right and LF Jacob Petkac followed with another double to right to score Richards and pull the Eagles to within three (4-1). However, that is as close as Ashland would get to Southern Indiana. USI scored in the top of the sixth when Darin Mastroianni opened with a double off the wall in left. Mastroianni advanced to third on a balk and scored on a single to right by Werry. Southern Indiana added another run in the seventh and another in the ninth when Mastroianni stole home for a 7-1 Screaming Eagle lead.

Southern Indiana's Adam Summers (8-4) yielded one run on nine hits in 8.2 innings of work. Summers recorded four strikeouts and walked four. Ashland's Josh Davidson (7-4) went eight innings, giving up six runs on 10 hits.

2B Darin Mastroianna went 3-5 with three runs scored and three stolen bases. LF Bryan Rudden, SS Kevin O'Hair and CF Michael Beaven each collected a pair of hits, while DH Chad Werry drove in two runs. 2B Justin Randall led the Ashland hitting attack with three hits. 3B Justin Richards and LF Jacob Petkac each tallied two hits. Southern Indiana scored seven runs on 12 hits with one error, while Ashland scored one run on nine hits and committed four miscues.