UIC rallies to beat WSU for HL championship

An unspecified injury forced Wright State starting pitcher Jeremy Randolph out in the fifth inning of the Horizon League tournament finals, and Illinois-Chicago pounced immediately for a game-winning rally.

David Cronnin ripped a two-run triple to right on the second pitch he saw from Raiders reliever Derek Hendrixson to spark a three-run inning, and the host Flames added an insurance run in the sixth on the way to a 4-2 victory at Curtis Granderson Stadium for their first Horizon League tournament title since 2008.

“They’re a terrific team and when they put people on base they’re going to have a chance to do some damage,” WSU coach Jeff Mercer said of UIC. “We got a couple of double-play balls earlier in the game, but there’s enough great players in that lineup that if you keep putting them on, they’re eventually going to make you pay for it.”

Wright State, which won the tournament in 2015 and 2016, finished 38-20 in Mercer’s first season as coach.

The Raiders went into the day needing to beat the Flames (39-15) twice after dropping a 4-1 decision to the hosts Friday in the winners bracket final.

Junior Matt Morrow gave WSU an early lead with a two-out solo home run in the bottom of the first, and Randolph was making it stand up before the injury issue began in the bottom of the fifth.

UIC put two on with one out on an error, sacrifice bunt and four-pitch walk. After Randolph threw a first-pitch ball to Cronnin, Mercer went to the mound to check on him.

But after Randolph missed on his next two pitches, Mercer brought Hendrixson in to face with Cronnin with a 3-0 count.

“When I went to check on him he said, ‘I’m fine, I’m fine,’ but after he threw a couple more pitches I knew he wasn’t,” Mercer said. “The Hendrixson kid has been great for us all year, but that was a tough spot to go in. It was kind of a series of unfortunate events.”

After Cronnin’s triple gave the Flames a 2-1 lead, HL player of the year Rob Calabrese barely beat the throw to first to avoid a double play and plate another run with an RBI fielder’s choice.

Wright State got one of the runs back in the sixth when Gabe Snyder’s two-out RBI single scored JD Orr, but UIC pushed the lead to 4-2 in the bottom half on No. 9 hitter Thomas Norton’s two-out RBI single.

“I’m so extremely proud of our guys to be able to battle and come back and tack another run on and threaten again,” Mercer said. “We had so many opportunities to put pressure on them, and they handled it every time.”

Three Flames relievers held the Raiders to one hit over the final three innings to preserve the win for Jack Anderson (5-2), who allowed five hits in six innings with three strikeouts and a walk.

HL reliever of the year Alex Padilla capped the championship with a perfect ninth for his 10th save, setting off the celebration by getting Cory Heffron to fly to center to end the game.

“I am absolutely, 100 percent proud of these guys and everything they did this year,” Mercer said. “After the transition with the new coaching staff and losing five guys to the draft and losing (pitcher and reigning freshman of the year) Caleb Sampen for the year with an injury and (outfielder) Peyton Burdick for the year with an injury, to go through all that and come out and to really put their stamp on this program and the milestones of being ranked in the top 25 in the country for the first time in program history and win 38 games and go back to the championship series for the eighth time in nine years, the program is in great hands for the future.

“As a first year coach replacing someone as terrific as Greg Lovelady and Justin Parker and those guys and you have in many ways a new team, I’m just very appreciative of the belief and the support from our players,” Mercer continued. “I’m very appreciative of the belief and support from our administration and our community. Everyone has rallied around this team and I’m so thankful for all that, and I mean that genuinely.”

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