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Western Illinois University Athletics

Aaron Michel vs. South Dakota State
WIU Visual Productions Center
2
South Dakota State SDSU 3-17, 1-3 Summit
3
Winner Western Illinois WIU 5-14, 3-1 Summit
South Dakota State SDSU
3-17, 1-3 Summit
2
Final
3
Western Illinois WIU
5-14, 3-1 Summit
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
South Dakota State SDSU 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 7 2
Western Illinois WIU 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 X 3 7 2

W: Michel, Aaron (1-3) L: Andrew Clemen (1-4) S: Westfahl, Nate (3)

Game Recap: Baseball | | WIU Athletic Communications

Leathernecks Take Series Opener Against Jackrabbits

Aaron Michel goes five solid innings in start and Nate Westfahl closes the door for his third save

PHOTO GALLERY

MACOMB, Ill. – Aaron Michel pitched five strong innings in his start and Nate Westfahl pitched Western Illinois out of a jam in the eighth inning as the Leathernecks defeated South Dakota State 3-2 in the series opener on Friday afternoon (March 25).
 
Michel, making his first weekend series start in two years, gave up a walk in the first inning and another runner reached on an error. With two outs, Luke Ringhofer lined a 2-run double to centerfield and staked the Jackrabbits to a 2-0 lead.
 
Western got a run back in the second inning. Conner Currier drew a leadoff walk and eventually went to third on Adam McGinnis' single, which extended his hitting streak to a career-high seven games. Nick Schrader hit a fly ball to center and scored Currier.
 
The Leathernecks tied it in the fourth. Currier again walked to start the frame. He took second on a wild pitch and scored on McGinnis' RBI single. In the fifth Western (5-14 overall, 3-1 Summit League) took the lead for good.
 
Roman Visintine singled with one out. An attempted pickoff by starter Andrew Clemen sailed past the first baseman and went into right field foul territory, allowing Visintine to reach third base. Chris Tschida lined a RBI single to make it 3-2.
 
"We had a lot of adversity. Preston (Church) wasn't able to go, (Mark) Garton gets nicked up in BP so Nick Schrader I don't know if he's ever played third base before," said Brownlee. "I give all our position players a ton of credit, and Aaron didn't find out till Wednesday that he was going to start. It just says a lot on the mental toughness our guys have."
 
In the sixth and seventh Western missed on opportunities with runners on the corners and no one out but could not push a run across. McGinnis walked in the sixth and went to third on Schrader's single. In the seventh Visintine led off with his second career triple then Tschida followed with a walk but both times SDSU (3-17, 1-3) was able to get out of the jam.
 
During the eighth, Matt Johnson drew a leadoff walk then Nick Smith followed with a single off Robert Nunn. The throw from the outfield got away in the infield and SDSU had the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position with no one out. Ringhofer ran the count full and just missed on a potential 2-run double down the left field line as the ball just landed foul. Western head coach Ryan Brownlee brought in the left-hander Westfahl, and he struck out Ringhofer on a called third strike.
 
Westfahl followed that with a called third strike on Skyler Wenninger and Tony Kjolsing to end the scoring threat. In the ninth, Tschida made a nice defensive play at shortstop for the first out. After a single, Tschida fielded a short-hop liner by Paul Jacobsen and started a 6-3 double play to end the game.
 
"Westfahl obviously that's about as gutty performance you're going to see coming into the game with second and third and no one out then punch out the side. Then we made a really good play to end the game," said Brownlee. "Our guys in the dugout were doing what they're supposed to be doing. That's where you can overcome some adversity. We left guys on base but it wasn't as many as last week, and again you have to stay with what you're doing. I'm very proud of our guys. That's a huge win to go up 3-1 in the league and not 2-2. That was a great team win. We're finally starting to play with the energy and hop that I thought we would play with all year and we're attacking the game the way we're supposed to."
 
Michel (1-3) gave up the two unearned runs on four hits in his five innings of work. He walked one and struck out a season-high six. Jordan Pannell gave up one hit in two scoreless innings and Nunn was officially credited with a strikeout in his appearance in the eighth. Westfahl got the final five outs for his third save of the year.
 
Visintine recorded his fourth straight multi-hit game (8-for-16 in that stretch) and Tschida finished with his second straight multi-hit game, now five of his last seven batting. McGinnis also finished with two hits. Currier walked twice and scored twice.
 
Clemen (1-4) was charged for three runs (two earned) on six hits in six innings. He walked three and struck out eight. Ringhofer had three of SDSU's six hits.
 
Saturday's schedule start has been moved up to 11 a.m. and the two teams will play a doubleheader.
 
 
 
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