Warriors fall behind early, drop Regional opener

Warriors fall behind early, drop Regional opener: The Wayne State baseball team tried to put the disappointing end to its GLIAC tournament run behind on the opening day of the 2012 NCAA Midwest Regional, but the third-seeded Warriors (34-20 overall) dropped its opening round game to the Northern Kentucky University Norse (36-20 overall) 6-4, May 17 at Oestrike Stadium.

NKU got on the board first, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning off of WSU starter Josh Wedesky. The Norse extended its lead by adding three more runs in the third inning – capitalizing on two Warrior errors, making it a 5-0 game. The deficit ultimately proved to be too much to overcome for WSU.

After 2 2/3 innings pitched, Wedesky – who gave up five runs on eight hits and walked three – was replaced by Ethan Vasiliauskas.

The Warriors got on the board in the fourth inning with a four-run rally, cutting the deficit to one. Alex Trojan led off the inning with a single and later scored on Chris Gebara’s RBI single. Brad Guenther drew a bases loaded walk, scoring Kasey Koster – who reached on a fielder’s choice.

Eric Cunningham – who also drew a base on ball – scored as NKU turned a double play, and Andrew Ciennik’s RBI single plated Gebara to make it a 5-4 game.

Vasiliauskas shut the Norse down for three consecutive innings, but became erratic in the seventh, hitting a batter and throwing a wild pitch. Those two mistakes led to a run for the Norse – which scored without tallying a hit in the inning.

That run gave NKU an insurance run, as the Warriors’ comeback came up short.

Needing a victory to stay alive in the tournament, WSU will play the top-seeded University of Indianapolis Hounds on May 18 at 2:30 p.m.