Published: May 16, 2008 11:39 pm         

13th-inning Wooster slam dooms Rose in NCAA baseball regional

TERRE HAUTE — Usually they say it’s all over but the shouting.

Wooster College turned the phrase on its head in its NCAA Division III Mideast Baseball Regional against Rose-Hulman on Friday.

After the shouting … it was over.

Wooster’s Matthew Johnson hit a two-out, game-winning grand slam in the bottom of the 13th inning which lifted the Fighting Scots to a wildly dramatic 11-8 victory over the Engineers in an elimination game that not only pushed the envelope in defining the word bizarre, but tore it wide open.

How bizarre? As Johnson’s grand slam sailed over the left field fence, the majority of Wooster’s coaching staff — including head coach Tim Pettorini — was standing under trees in a glade near Rose-Hulman’s soccer field.

“All I could do was hear. I couldn’t see anything, I didn’t know,” Wooster coach Tim Pettorini said.

Earlier in the 13th inning, three Wooster coaches were ejected from the game. Two for disputing a batter’s interference call, one for getting into a heated discussion with Rose-Hulman coach Jeff Jenkins near the Engineers’ dugout (see related story).

That was just the bottom of the 13th, Arf Nehf Field transported itself into the baseball Twilight Zone well before that.

To wit:

• In Rose-Hulman’s sixth inning, there was a successful Wooster appeal of a runner leaving second base early on a one-out sacrifice fly, which initially took the Rose-Hulman’s go-ahead run scored from third base off the board, and which ended the inning.

After a 10-minute umpire discussion, the appeal stood, but the run was restored (see related story).

• Wooster got a run back in its half of the sixth when Rose-Hulman catcher Keenan Long threw his glove at a high relay throw. Using equipment to stop the ball is illegal, and a Wooster runner advanced from third base to tie the game.

Squeezed between the surreal circus, there were outstanding plays in the field, clutch pitching performances by both teams, just enough timely hitting to force extra frames.

“It was nuts. There’s not really any word to describe it. I thought we kept our composure well considering,” Rose-Hulman first baseman Alex Decker said.

The game was exciting from the start. Wooster took a 3-0 lead, only to have Rose-Hulman tie it with a three-run fourth inning. Wooster scored two more in its half of the fourth to make it 5-3.

That’s when it got weird. Rose-Hulman rallied in the sixth, scoring runs on a Gabe Focke single and Michael Kovacs walk to tie it.

With the bases-loaded and one out, Decker hit a deep fly to center, scoring Kirk Thompson easily from third and advancing Focke to third. Wooster appealed Focke’s tag at second, and second base umpire Chuck Adya ruled that Focke left the bag early. After a 10-minute discussion, the Rose-Hulman run that had been taken off the board was restored, the Engineers had a 6-5 lead, and Wooster was simmering.

The lead didn’t last. Wooster took the lead on an equally strange play in the bottom of the sixth. Bubba O’Donnell scored from first on a Jake Sankal double to right. The relay throw from Tim Tepe to get Sankal at the plate was high, and Long tossed his glove at the ball to keep it from going to the backstop. Sankal advanced to third on the initial error and scored on the illegal play by Long.

Rose-Hulman tied it in the eighth on an Andrew Bilse single and from there, the game was an attrition battle between Wooster reliever Scott Miller and Rose-Hulman relievers Joe Valerioti and Nick Maloney. All were outstanding. Valerioti and Maloney combined to pitch six shutout innings. Miller, Wooster’s closer, pitched 6 1/3 innings, allowing just one earned run.

Rose-Hulman took the lead in the top of the 13th on a Michael Matsui sacrifice fly. Closer Sam Deters got two outs in three batters to start the 13th, but a controversial batter’s interference call caused a near-10-minute delay as three Wooster coaches were ejected.

After the delay, Wooster saved its bacon. With a runner on, little-used Brad Stuetzer (18 at-bats entering the game) slapped a single. John Warren, a defensive replacement, drew a walk to load the bases for Johnson, Wooster’s No. 8 hitter. Johnson crushed a 1-1 Deters’ offering well over the left field fence for an amazing game-winning grand slam.

“The delay didn’t help. Sam’s elbow was hurting and he was trying to gut it out,” Jenkins said. “We ran into too many situations earlier where we could have scored and didn’t.”

Wooster’s players, who had been irate just moments before, jumped all over each other at home plate in a wild celebration.

Rose-Hulman’s disappointed players gathered for a 30-minute, team-only discussion in the Rose soccer field.

“We have a small, but great, group of seniors, but besides that, nearly everyone is back. We’re going to enjoy this and hopefully it will carry into next year,” Jenkins said.

In other action, Adrian beat Heidelberg 4-1 to advance to today’s championship round. Heidelberg eliminated Wooster 1-0 in the nightcap on a bottom of the ninth single by the Student Princes. Adrian and Heidelberg play at noon today for the championship. If Heidelberg wins, they will play again at 3:30 p.m.