No. 4 Rio Grande routs No. 2 WVU Tech, 10-1, at KIAC Baseball Tournament
No. 4 Rio Grande routs No. 2 WVU Tech, 10-1, at KIAC Baseball Tournament
BOX SCORE
(By Randy Payton, Rio Grande Sports Information)
KINGSPORT, Tenn. – Tyler Noel had a pair of hits and drove in a career-high three runs, while Chris Ford finished 3-for-3 with two RBI of his own to lead the No. 4 seed University of Rio Grande in a 10-1 victory over No. 2 WVU Tech Thursday night at the KIAC Baseball Tournament at a chilly and damp Hunter Wright Stadium.
With the win, the RedStorm (35-22) advance to Friday's winner's bracket final against No. 1 seed Indiana University Southeast. First pitch is set for 11 a.m.
WVU Tech slipped to 39-15 with the loss and will face No.6 seed Brescia in an elimination game on Friday at 3 p.m.
Rio Grande, which lost three of its four regular season meetings with WVU Tech, scored single runs in each of the first two innings before blowing things wide open by adding four runs in the fourth and two more markers in the fifth for an 8-0 lead.
The Golden Bears avoided a shutout with an unearned run in the sixth inning, while the RedStorm set the final score with single runs in the sixth and eighth innings.
Noel, a senior outfielder from Portsmouth, Ohio, had a run-scoring single in the second inning before adding a two-run single in Rio Grande's four-run fourth inning.
Ford, a senior third baseman from Athens, Ohio, reached base in each of his five trips to the plate, collecting run-scoring doubles in the fifth and eighth innings, while also drawing a walk and being hit by a pitch.
Junior Daryin Lewis (Circleville, OH) and senior Kirk Yates (Chillicothe, OH) added two hits and a run batted in apiece for Rio Grande, while freshman Dylan Shockley (Minford, OH) added two hits to the RedStorm's 13-hit attack.
Lewis also shined on the mound, earning his ninth win in 13 decisions by allowing five hits, a walk and the unearned run over 7-2/3 innings of work. He also struck out five.
Trevor Lam had the only extra-base hit – a two-out second inning double - for WVU-Tech, which finished with six hits total.
Senior right-hander Josh Hudson (South Charleston, WV) started and suffered his third loss in 10 decisions for the Golden Bears, allowing eight hits and six runs – all earned – over 3-2/3 innings.