College baseball: Warriors win a thriller at Rochester
ROCHESTER -- Jake Rambow got a strikeout with the sacks filled with Yellow Jackets for the final out and the Ridgewater Warriors nipped Rochester 7-6 on Friday in the first game of a Southern Division best-of-three series.
"It was an exceptional game," Ridgewater coach Dennis Boe said. "We pretty much led from start to finish and ended up with a very, very nice win."
Trenton Berg pitched 6-1/3 innings, allowing all six runs, before giving way to Rambow with Rochester runners on second and third base.
Rambow struck out the first batter he faced, before issuing a walk to load the bases.
He took the next batter to a 3-2 count and threw a curveball to get a called third strike and give the Warriors the win.
Ridgewater struck first with two runs in the second and one in the third, but Rochester came right back to tie it 3-3 going into the fifth inning.
The Warriors broke it open in the fifth when Shane Trattles hit a base hit down the left field line to score Jason Shaul and Zach Fischer.
The Warriors added two more critical insurance runs in the sixth on a Fischer RBI-single and a Taylor Gonyea line drive off the pitchers leg for an RBI-fielder's choice.
Rochester scored one in the fifth and one in the sixth to make the score 7-5.
They added one more in the sixth before Rambow shut down the rally.
"Berg pitched well for us to hold us into the game," Boe said. "(And) you can't ask Rambow to come through any more than he did with two huge strikeouts."
Fischer was 3-for-3 with a home run, double, two RBIs and three runs scored.
Gonyea was 1-for-4 with an RBI and Trattles was 1-for-3 with an RBI.
The two teams are slated to play at noon today with a second game, if needed, to follow at 2:30 p.m.
Adam Brewers will start Game Two for the Warriors and Jordan Ruter will go in Game Three if necessary.
The series winner advances to the eight-team Region 13 tournament May 10-13 held at St. Cloud Putz and Faber fields.
Ridgewater 7, Rochester 6
Ridgewater 021 022 0 -- 7 7 1
Rochester 012 011 1 -- 6 10 1
HITTING - Ridgewater: Jordan Ruter 1-for-4, Jason Shaul 1-for-5, Zach Fischer 3-for-3, 3 runs, 2b, HR, 2 rbi, Taylor Gonyea 1-for-4, rbi, Shane Trattles 1-for-3, 2 rbi, Travis Kahl 1-for-4, 2b, Jake Rambow 1-for-1, rbi ... Rochester: Ryan Lester 2-for-3, 2 runs, rbi, Matt Fiechtner 2-for-4, rbi, HR
PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) -- Ridgewater: Trenton Berg (W) 6.1-10-6-6-2-0 ... Jake Rambow (S) .2-0-0-0-1-2 ... Rochester: Ben O'Reilly (L) 4.2-7-5-5-4-3; T.J. Nowak 1.1-1-2-2-2-0; Garrett Walters 1-1-0-0-0-2
