Wheaton, Trinity win with late slams
| Dan Gusovsky's teammates congratulate him after his
seventh-inning grand slam helped Wheaton beat Husson 8-4. D3Cast image from video |
On the regionals' opening day, Case Western Reserve got a pinch-hit grand slam in the ninth inning to beat Adrian.
On day two, there were two late-game go-ahead slams, each preventing their team's elimination. Wheaton (Mass.) sophomore Dan Gusovsky went deep to give the Lyons the lead in the seventh inning against Husson and Trinity (Texas) junior Nick Pappas hit his grand slam in the ninth inning to beat Concordia (Texas).
After Kyle Felix drew a walk that loaded the bases with one out, Pappas took a 1-0 pitch over the fence in left field.
The Tigers struck first with a run in the top of the first, but a three-run inning by Concordia put the home team in control. The Tornados added runs in the second and fourth innings to go up 5-1 before Trinity could answer. The Tigers scored once in the fifth and once in the sixth to cut the lead in half, setting up the dramatic ninth-inning blast.
Pappas finished 3-for-4 with five RBI in the game. In the bottom of the ninth, Concordia put the tying run aboard with no outs after two walks, but a line-drive double play on an attempted sacrifice squashed the rally.
More regionals day two coverage: Sitting pretty at 2-0 | Elimination day
Gusovsky finished 2-for-5 as one of seven multiple hitters. The Lyons struggled to produce a timely hit in the middle innings, leaving the bases loaded in the fifth and sixth frames.
Jamming the bags for a third straight inning with nobody out in the seventh, Wheaton cashed in on Munley's one-out single to center to make the score 4-2, setting up Gusovsky's late-game heroics. Gusovsky changed the complexion of the game in driving his ball just inside the left field foul pole while chasing Adams.
