EASTLAKE, Ohio — At 10 a.m. on Friday, action began at Classic Auto Group Park. Johns Hopkins, the four seed, faced fifth-seeded Baldwin Wallace to kick off a festival of baseball – four games through the day, with each team in the eight-team tournament set to roll through Eastlake.
Thirteen hours later, nearly a quarter-past 1 a.m. on Saturday, all eight teams had their shots. As spectators filed out of the ballpark through the day, instead of raving about Denison’s 44-game win streak or Rowan’s Brayden Davis’ 85 RBIs, a different question was asked: Do seeds even matter anymore?
For Adrian centerfielder Jack Boike, who drove in two runs on two hits in Adrian’s, 10-1, win over Rowan, the answer is simple.
“No sir,” said Boike, as his teammates – Gabe Jones, Landon Kozlowski, and Jake Burns emphatically shook their heads in agreement.
“We knew going in that all eight teams were going to be great, and not to overlook anyone,” said Golke. “Maybe [Rowan] overlooked us. We heard some outside noise that we might be the biggest underdog in the tournament. We knew that we belonged, and hopefully this performance showed that we belong.”
Adrian uncorked in the sixth inning with a go-ahead grand slam off the bat of Gabe Jones, just the third hit of the day to that point in the top of the sixth. The Bulldogs followed it up with four more runs in the inning, and stayed in complete control to send the second-seeded Profs into the elimination bracket.
“Coming out of the loser’s bracket is tough,” said Rowan head coach Mike Dickson. “We’re going to find out what we’re made of tomorrow. It’s win or go home from here on out. It’s survive and advance, or go home. It’s up to us and what we’re made of, we’ll find out in the next couple days.”
Rowan won’t face a low seed in their elimination game on Saturday at 5 p.m., though. They’ll have to deal with three-seed Salisbury, who lost to six-seed Endicott in the finale of a long day one in Ohio, literally for everyone, and figuratively for the top seeds.
“In all seriousness, I think we put four barrels on the ball the entire game,” said Salisbury head coach Troy Brohawn. “That’s just not good enough when that happens. When you make some errors, you make a pitcher get five outs or six outs, you give up a couple runs, those are usually the difference.”
Denison, the top-seeded team in the bracket sporting a 45-1 coming in, was the largest and most surprising domino to fall. East Texas Baptist, fresh off a 2-1 series win over Lynchburg in Super Regionals, beat the Big Red, 5-1, in the second game of the day.
“We were underwater most of the game,” said Denison head coach Mike Deegan. “We were just under duress. … Just overall, [East Texas Baptist] beat us today, just better at-bats, eventually they just got to us. We have a good group, we’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”
In the elimination bracket for day two of the tournament, No. 1 Denison will face No. 4 Johns Hopkins at 10 a.m., and No. 2 Rowan will see No. 3 in the 5 p.m. game. Out of a group that sports a combined 157-29 record, two teams will go home.
As for the underdogs, Baldwin Wallace, Endicott, Adrian, and East Texas Baptist, they’re living their best lives in the winner’s bracket. For comparison, that group of four has won 155 games and lost 53.
Day two action begins in the elimination bracket at 10 a.m., with Denison and Johns Hopkins. Rowan and Salisbury are slated to meet at 5 p.m.
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