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Western Illinois University Athletics

Chris Tschida
1
Omaha OMAHA 10-31, 7-12 Summit
3
Winner Western Illinois WIU 16-23, 11-8 Summit
Omaha OMAHA
10-31, 7-12 Summit
1
Final
3
Western Illinois WIU
16-23, 11-8 Summit
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Omaha OMAHA 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 1
Western Illinois WIU 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 X 3 4 1

W: Koch, Ian (5-2) L: Sam Murphy (3-6) S: Minella, Pete (4)

Game Recap: Baseball | | WIU Athletic Communications

Western Defeats Omaha 3-1 in Series Opener

Chris Tschida drove in two runs and Pete Minella closed out the victory

MACOMB, Ill. – Chris Tschida drove in two runs and Pete Minella closed out the final 2.1 innings as Western Illinois defeated Omaha 3-1 in their Summit League series opener Friday afternoon (April 28). The Leathernecks improved to 11-8 in the Summit League and 16-23 overall, now having won eight of their last 11 contests.
 
Steve McShane started the game for Western by lining a double to right field. Drue Galassi followed with a walk. Two batters later both runners stole a base to put two in scoring position. Tschida lifted a sacrifice fly to right field and McShane raced home for a 1-0 lead.
 
Omaha (10-31, 7-12) got a leadoff single in the third by Jack Kalina. He took third on a sacrifice bunt and scored when Cole Thibondeau dropped a bunt down the first base line that rested on the foul line for a base hit and 1-1 game.
 
Western responded quickly against UNO pitcher Sam Murphy. Cord Church led off the third with a double, took third base on McShane's sacrifice bunt and scored on Galassi's line drive up the middle. Galassi stole second base during Adam McGinnis' at-bat. McGinnis lined out to third, and on the throw back to second to double off Galassi, the throw deflected off his helmet and he advanced to third. Tschida followed with a RBI single to left and a 3-1 lead, which proved to be the final margin.
 
Mitch Ellis helped turn an inning-ending double play in the fourth, but Omaha would put a runner on base every inning. Ian Koch got two strikeouts in the sixth inning to strand a runner at second. The sophomore right-hander ran into problems in the seventh.
 
He got a grounder to Ellis at third for the first out but then walked Kalina. On a failed pickoff attempt, the errant throw allowed Kalina to go to second base. However, Koch recorded his team-leading fifth pickoff to erase the base runner for out number two. Koch would then walk the next three batters to load the bases. Head coach Ryan Brownlee went to Minella, who got a flyball from Grant Suponchick to McShane in right field to end the inning.
 
As Omaha kept threatening to score, Murphy kept Western off the bases. In fact, the senior left-hander did not give up a base hit or allow a runner to reach following Tschida's third inning RBI single, retiring the final 16 Leathernecks he faced in order.
 
Omaha brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth when Kalina again led off the inning with a double. Tschida made nice stops on back-to-back grounders, the second one when he made a diving tag to first to retire the batter Thibodeau and keep the run from scoring. McShane ended the game with a front-facing diving catch on Ryan Cate's liner to secure the win.
 
"Murphy has been good, you kind of know what to expect out of him. That is kind of how he has been. He's a lot like (Tyler) Fox, who used to pitch for them. You knew what kind of game you were in for. If you have opportunities to score you need to take advantage of them because you're not going to get very many," said Brownlee. "When you score three runs on only four hits, and you leave just two guys on base, we were very economical scoring runs."
 
Tschida, McShane, Galassi and Church each had a base hit for Western. Koch (5-2) allowed one run on five hits in 6.2 innings. He walked seven and struck out six, one shy of his career-high. Minella went the final 2.1 innings with a hit and walk allowed to earn his team-leading fourth save.
 
"Ian did a good job, he always gives us a chance. He hung in there. Pete has been outstanding. He got himself into a little bit of trouble but worked out of it and obviously we played really good defense," said Brownlee. "That's been kind of a staple for us the last month, really good pitching and defense. Now we are getting some timely hitting too, and that gives you a chance to get on a roll. We've won eight of our last 11, but you have to do all those things to stay on a consistent roll and keep inching forward to the tournament. Every game is important, so hopefully Mother Nature will help us out for tomorrow and give us a break, and we can get our games in the rest of the weekend."
 
Kalina finished with two of the Mavericks' six hits. Murphy (3-6) gave up three runs – two earned – on four hits while going the distance. He walked two and struck out seven.
 
Game two of the series is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday (April 29). For all the latest game information on start times or weather delays, log onto GoLeathernecks.com or follow on Twitter @WIUBaseball.
 
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