#25 Baseball Rides Offensive Explosion into Regional Final

WASHINGTON, Pa. -- The 25th-ranked University of Chicago baseball team rode their hot bats into the Regional Final after taking down Scranton 15-8 in the winner's bracket matchup on Saturday night.

After a pair of three-up, three-down innings in the opening frame, the Scranton offense struck first with two runs on a pair of extra-base hits in the top of the second inning. In the bottom of the frame, UChicago struck back as

Harrison Belden singled and

Max Wiesner walked to put runners on for

Jack Sharp who belted his second home run of the season over the left-field wall, putting UChicago on top 3-2.

In the fourth inning, the Royals struck back with four runs of their own, chasing the UChicago starter, and pushed four runs across on three hits and a pair of walks. Despite the adversity, the Maroons did not flinch, responding with six runs in the bottom of the inning to retake the lead. Belden led off the inning with a solo home, his eighth of the season. UChicago then loaded the bases on a walk by Wiesner and a pair of singles by Sharp and

Luke Weston, and

Braden Jirovec added an RBI single to cut the deficit to one. Following an RBI groundout by

Erik Rindner to tie the game at six,

** **Nathan Bae ripped a bases-clearing double into the right-center gap, bringing home three more runs to extend the lead to 9-6.

The Maroons tacked on an insurance run in the fifth inning as

Ryan Bhojwani led off with a triple and Wiesner lofted a deep fly ball to score him on a sacrifice fly, making it 10-6 in favor of UChicago. in the seventh, Bhojwani led off with a hit again, and after he stole second base, Sharp singled him home to extend the lead to 11-6.

Scranton struck back with two more runs in the eighth to keep the score within reach, but the Maroons sealed the win in the bottom of the inning with four more insurance runs. After a leadoff single by Jirovec, he stole second and reached third on a throwing error by the catcher. Rindner then ripped a double over the center fielder's head to score Jirovec. After a single by

Michael Gladden and a walk by Bae, Wiesner sealed the win with a bases-clearing double, putting UChicago in front 15-8.

After the first two pitchers for UChicago combined to allow 6 runs and 6 hits with 4 walks in the first 3.2 innings, the Maroons locked it down with an excellent performance from the bullpen.

Grant Tenuta earned the win after throwing 2.1 innings with 0 hits and 0 walks allowed.

** **Lucien Reed added 1.0 shutout innings, and

David Flanagan added his fifth save of the season with 1.1 shutout innings. Overall, Tenuta, Reed,

Charlie Hahn, and Flanagan combined to throw the final 5.1 innings while only allowing two hits to the Royals.

The UChicago offense was excellent in the win as all nine players recorded a hit and scored a run in the victory.

Jack Sharp led the offensive attack with a 3-5 day with 2 runs scored and 4 RBIs.

Max Wiesner also drove in four runs, and

** **Nathan Bae added three RBIs in the victory.

With the win, the Maroons improve to 29-13 overall on the season and extend the program-record win streak to 18 consecutive games. UChicago will return to action tomorrow afternoon at 12 PM ET as the team takes on #11 Bridgewater College with the Maroons needing just one win in the two possible games to win the first Regional title in program history.