Box Score TERRE HAUTE, IND. – An eighth successive 20-plus-wins campaign and 19th appearance in the last 21 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference final fours came to a close Friday, May 13.
Manchester University, bidding to extend its conference tournament stay at Rose-Hulman's Art Nehf Field, appeared on the way to doing so in an elimination game against Transylvania University. After trailing the second-seeded Pioneers 3-0 after three frames, the fourth-seeded Spartans' bats came alive in the fourth and fifth, as senior catcher Elliott Ford (Rome City, Ind.) scooted a single down the right field line past the diving attempt of TU first baseman Taylor Henley, cutting the deficit to 3-2, as freshman right fielder Tyler LaFollette (Warsaw, Ind.) and junior first baseman Tailur Szarenski (Bluffton, Ind.) came across to score. An inning later, junior center fielder Chad Schultz (Fair Oaks, Ind.) hammered a double to dead center field and scored due to a ground out and wild pitch for a 3-3 tie.
However, TU responded behind a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth by center fielder Trey Simpson and added single tallies in the seventh and eighth for a 7-3 advantage. MU (22-19) attempted to rally again in the seventh, loading the bases with one out before a double play ended the threat, and put a runner on second with one out in the eighth but couldn't get any closer.
LaFollette's three-hit afternoon led the Black and Gold offense. Schultz added a multiple-hit outing with two, part of an 11-hit effort.
