NCAA baseball regional: Indiana State rallies past Wright State, escapes with 6-5 win
Indiana State's first game hosting an NCAA baseball regional came with some drama prior Friday's opener, with some questioning the Missouri Valley Conference champs getting the chance to host to begin with.
Well, the drama didn't stop there.
The Sycamores trailed 5-3 headed to the bottom of the eighth inning, but were able to flip the script on Wright State to escape with a 6-5 win Friday at Terre Haute's rowdy Bob Warn Field.
An Adam Pottinger sacrifice fly scored Josue Urdaneta to make it 5-4, and then Wright State pitcher Tristan Haught walked consecutive ISU batters to load the bases, the second coming via a called ball four due to a pitch clock violation.
With two outs and the bases loaded, ISU catcher Grant Magill poked a bloop single into right field to score two runs for the Sycamores' first lead of the game.
Jared Spencer came in to close the game out for ISU, retiring all three batters he faced for the save.
“That wasn’t the way we drew it out, by any means," ISU coach Mitch Hannahs said. "I told our club that we made some really uncharacteristic mistakes and put ourselves in a tough spot... It wasn’t the prettiest, but it worked out. I told our club that we didn’t play real well, but sometimes toughness, fight and resiliency trumps that, and I felt that’s what happened today.”
The top-seeded Sycamores (43-15) struggled for much of the day with Wright State starter Sebastian Gongora, the Horizon League Pitcher of the Year. But ISU kept chipping away, eventually erasing a 5-2 deficit.
Zach Davidson, who came in to relieve starter Matt Jachec, kept ISU in the game, throwing four scoreless innings and striking out five.
Pottinger went 1-for-3 with two RBIs and his solo home run in the bottom of the sixth made it 5-3.
Indiana State advances to Saturday's 6 p.m. winners bracket game against the winner of Iowa vs. North Carolina (ESPN+).
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: NCAA baseball regional: Indiana State rallies to beat Wright State
