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MBA_IPFW_Game1_FP
WIU Visual Productions Center
2
Fort Wayne IPFW 9-6, 0-1 Summit
4
Winner Western Illinois WIU 3-8, 1-0 Summit
Fort Wayne IPFW
9-6, 0-1 Summit
2
Final
4
Western Illinois WIU
3-8, 1-0 Summit
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Fort Wayne IPFW 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 5 3
Western Illinois WIU 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 X 4 9 2

W: Mortillaro, Joe (1-1) L: Trevor Storie (2-2) S: Baksha, J.T. (1)

Game Recap: Baseball | | WIU Athletic Communications

Leathernecks Open Home Slate with Summit League Victory

Joe Mortillaro pitched 7.2 innings and struck out seven in the 4-2 win.

MACOMB, Ill. - Western Illinois baseball opened its 2015 home schedule on Friday (March 13) at Alfred D. Boyer Stadium with a 4-2 victory over Summit League foe Fort Wayne. The win improved Western to 3-8 overall and 1-0 in The Summit League.

An three-run first inning gave the home team an early lead and the Leathernecks never looked back. Western starter Joe Mortillaro pitched a career-high 7.2 innings, surrendering just two runs (one earned) and five hits while striking out seven in his first win this season.

"We talk about this a lot with our guys. You have to be ready from the first pitch, because you can win or lose games in the first inning," said head coach Ryan Brownlee. "Joe (Mortillaro) did a good job of setting the tone and our offense was ready to go."

After Mortillaro opened the game with a scoreless first inning, the Western offense took advantage of Mastodon mistakes and struck early in the bottom half of the first. Leadoff hitter Roman Visintine would reach on fielding error by the pitcher, and then steal second base. A groundball out from Colton Pogue would advance Visintine to third, and a JJ Reimer two-out single to left field would drive in the first run of the game.

The bottom half of the first would continue with Chris Tschida getting hit by a pitch, putting runners on first and second with two outs. Jake Moore stepped to plate and poked another two-out single to center field and Reimer would score with Tschida coming home on a fielding error by the IPFW centerfielder, giving Western a 3-0 lead before Fort Wayne could get out of the inning.

Both teams failed to score in the second, but Western would strike again in the third. Reimer earned a leadoff walk before Mark Garton smacked a two-out double to score Reimer from first and extend the Leatherneck lead to four.

"Base running was the difference in that game offensively," said coach Brownlee. "Chris (Tschida) ran hard with two outs and if he's loafing we don't score. JJ (Reimer) also did a good job on Mark's (Garton) ball getting home from first base. If he's loafing we don't score there either. "

On defense the Leathernecks rattled off two and two-thirds more innings of scoreless baseball. Mortillaro led the way, surrendering just two hits and striking out four through 4.2 innings of work.  

A WIU miscue on defense in the fourth inning allowed Fort Wayne to get one run on the board, and a two-out RBI single in the seventh would be all the scoring for the Mastodons.

Mortillaro would exit the game in the eighth inning in line for the win. Freshman-lefty J.T. Baksha would come in relief to close out the game in his first-career save opportunity. Baksha and the Western defense would finish strong, earning the final four outs with no runs scored or hits allowed, and giving the Oswego, Illinois native his first-ever save as a Leatherneck.

Reimer finished the game with two runs scored and two RBI on one hit in two at bats and two walks to lead the WIU offense. Garton tallied an RBI and his first two doubles of the season while extending his streak of reaching base to seven games. Adam McGinnis added two hits of his own. Moore finished with one hit and one RBI to round out the scoring with three other Leathernecks tallied hits to bring the team total to nine hits in the four-run effort.

Mortillaro's career-high 7.2 innings-pitched helped drop his ERA to 1.86 with Baksha dropping his to 2.31 after surrendering no runs and no hits on 18 pitches.

Western returns to Alfred D. Boyer Stadium tomorrow (March 14) for game-two of the series against Fort Wayne. First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. and live audio and video will be available at GoLeathernecks.com/watch. Fans can also follow along on Twitter at @WIU_Baseball.
   
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