MACOMB, Ill. - Chase VanDerGinst led Western Illinois (8-13, 4-4) at the plate as he knocked the walk-off hit in the ninth for the series victory over South Dakota State (7-13, 2-6) on Sunday (March 28).
"Brian Raymond gave us an excellent performance today to get the series win," head coach Andy Pascoe said. "Those types of starts are huge at the end of a four-game series, and he stepped up in a big way. This group continues to show that they will never give up, and they are always ready to come to the yard to have fun and compete.
"It was great to see Chase get the walk-off knock and have a huge day for us at the plate."
The ninth inning started off with a Kevin Raisbeck double down the right-field line, and then a sac bunt from Luke Schwartz moved the winning run to third. After a groundout, VanDerGinst roped a two-out single for his third hit of the day and the walk-off.
It was a pitcher's duel through the first six innings as both starters held one another scoreless. Both sides finally got on the board in the final three innings.
In his second start of the season, Brian Raymond struck out a career-high ten batters and retired the Jacks in order three times. The mark was five behind second all-time in a game, last set by Dustin Hunter (2012) vs. Fort Wayne.
Western erased a three-run homer in the seventh with a five-run burst led by RBI singles from Toby Allred and Trenton Bauer. The Leathernecks scored three separate runs on wild pitches. The two-hit performance was Bauer's sixth of the season to total his team-leading 26th hit and eight-game hit streak.
The Jackrabbits used the long ball again in the eighth to tie 5-5. Austin Edwards (1-2) pitched a scoreless ninth en route to his first career victory.
Western Illinois wraps up the 12-game home stand with the host of Oral Roberts. The series starts on Thursday (April 1) at 1 p.m.
