Baseball

Edited: May 11, 2009

Wooster (35-8) claimed its 12th NCAC championship, and first since 2006, after taking two straight games from Kenyon in the NCAC baseball championship series. The Fighting Scots, who entered the tourney as the top seed in the NCAC East, posted a 7-5 come-from-behind victory in game one of the series after posting a five-run seventh inning. Another big inning, this time a seven-run fourth inning, helped Wooster to a 10-6 victory in game two. As Tournament winners, Wooster claims the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Tournament.

The Scots will be making their 23rd NCAA appearance. They were awarded the second seed in the region and travels to Adrian, in Adrian, Michigan, for the first round Wednesday through Sunday, May 13-17. The Scots open the six-team, double-elimination tournament against fifth-seeded Concordia University Chicago (33-13) at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. ,  The Cougars advane to the regional tourney as winners of the Northern Athletics Conference regular season and tournament titles. This is the first year that the NAC received an automatic bid. The other four teams in the field are top-seeded Heidelberg (36-7), No. 3 Marietta (29-15), No. 4 Adrian (31-9) and No. 6 Rose-Hulman (31-12). The winner of the first-round tournament qualify for the double-elimination championship at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, Wisconsin, May 22-26.

Wooster has compiled a 47-47 record at the national level. The Scots have advanced to the championship series twice, the last in 2005 when they finished third. Wooster's best finish came in 1997, a second-place after falling to Southern Maine, 15-1, in the championship game.

Both Kenyon and Wooster needed three games to advance past the first round of this year's NCAC tournament. The Lords upended Ohio Wesleyan (11-5, 22-14), the top seed out of the West Division, after opening the series with a 9-6 victory in game one and closing it with a 12-5 win on game three. The Battling Bishops forced the deciding third game after winning the second game, 8-5. The Fighting Scots opened their three-game series with a 6-5 (10) loss to Wabash (11-5, 20-16), the second seed in the West. Wooster recovered for back-to-back wins, 20-1 and 6-4, to shorten the Little Giants' first trip to the NCAC tournament.

Wooster sophomore Justin McDowell (Willard, OH/Willard) was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament, joining Zach Vesco (Pickerington, OH/St. Charles Prep), Shane Swearingen (Hillard, OH/Bishop Watterson), Matt Groezinger (Columbus, OH/Upper Arlington), Mark Miller (Convoy, OH/Crestview) and Stu Beath (St. Louis, MO/Avon Old Farms, CT) on the All-Tournament team. McDowell earned his third win of the NCAC Tournament and 10th of the season (10-2), scattering two hits over 3.0 scoreless innings while striking out four without a walk in game two of the championship series. He had been called in to the game to help Wooster deal with a potential Kenyon comeback. The tourney MVP combined for 20.1 innings pitched and a 2.21 ERA with 17 strikeouts over the last two weekends.

Three Kenyon players were honored with all-tournament status: Jake Calcei (Mantua, OH/Aurora), Tom Hardacker (Carmel, IN/Park Tudor) and Craig Wocl (Trumbull, CT/Fairfield Prep). Hardacker was a combined 4-for-8 at the plate with two runs scored and two RBI in the championship series. Among his four hits were his ninth double and his second home run of the season. Wabash was represented by Matt Dodaro (Saint John, IN/Lake Central), while Ohio Wesleyan was represented by Zach Frentsos (Delaware, OH/Hayes).