Skip To Main Content

Upcoming Events and Recent Results

Western Illinois University Athletics

Ian Koch
WIU Visual Productions Center
10
Winner Western Illinois WIU 8-17, 6-3 Summit
2
Omaha OMAHA 15-13, 6-3 Summit
Winner
Western Illinois WIU
8-17, 6-3 Summit
10
Final
2
Omaha OMAHA
15-13, 6-3 Summit
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Western Illinois WIU 0 3 1 1 2 0 3 0 0 10 14 3
Omaha OMAHA 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 8 1

W: Koch, Ian (1-3) L: Corey Binger (4-1)

Game Recap: Baseball | | WIU Athletic Communications

Baseball Takes Series at Omaha

Led by Ian Koch’s start, Leathernecks win their first-ever series at Omaha

OMAHA, Neb. – Led by Ian Koch's strong start, Western Illinois captured its first-ever series win at Omaha following a 10-2 decision on Sunday afternoon. The Leathernecks improved to 6-3 in the Summit League (8-17 overall).
 
The victory also marked the first time since 2005 that Western won its first three conference series of the year. Western's two wins this weekend were the first true road wins of the 2016 campaign.
 
"This was a big program win. We haven't had a lot of success at Omaha. I can't say enough about our guys effort today," said head coach Ryan Brownlee. "Ian was tremendous today. It was a great bounce back start for him. He shut down a very good offense on a day that was an offensive day at Boys Town. He did a great job of pitching around some defensive miscues and he got stronger as the game went on."
 
The freshman, who didn't make it out of the first inning in his last start, went six innings, allowing one earned run on three hits with a pair of strikeouts. His offense staked him to three runs in the second inning.
 
Conner Currier and Nathan Pollock walked to start the inning. CJ Schaeffer singled home a run and later both runners advanced on a wild pitch. Steve McShane hit a sacrifice fly and Roman Visintine added another run on a groundout for a 3-0 lead.
 
Omaha (15-13, 6-3) scored a run in the bottom of the second but Western responded in the third.
 
Mark Garton singled to advance Colton Pogue, and thanks to an error by the centerfielder Pogue was able to score on the play. Garton's RBI single in the fourth made it 5-2. In the fifth, Pollock hit his second triple of the year to lead things off and he scored on Schaeffer's RBI double. Adam McGinnis' sacrifice fly extended the lead to 7-2.
 
McShane, Dave Dobrinich and Chris Tschida added a RBI single in the seventh for the final margin.
 
Koch (1-3) gave way to Nick Milligan in the seventh and the senior struck out three in 1.2 innings. Ricky Digrugilliers went two-thirds of an inning as did Jordan Pannell to close out the series win.
 
Pogue, Garton, Schrader and Schaeffer had two hits apiece as Western out-hit the Mavericks 14-8 and every starter had at least one hit. The 6-9 hitters in the lineup combined for seven runs scored and four RBI. Visintine extended his hitting streak to 12 games.
 
"Offensively we had quality at-bats up and down the lineup. We took a lead and kept tacking on runs. We are starting to figure out the approach that we need to have to give ourselves a chance to win," said Brownlee.
 
Two Mavericks finished with two hits. Corey Binger (4-1) suffered his first loss of the season, charged for four runs on four hits in two innings. He walked four and struck out two. Omaha went through nine pitchers in the game.
 
Western returns to action this Wednesday (April 6) traveling to Bradley. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. and can be seen live on ESPN3.
 
Print Friendly Version