Team Red, led by senior general managers; Tanner Boros, Gage Carpenter, Tanner Griggs, Jack Hollinshead, and Patrick Kenny captured the fifth annual Tiger Cup with a 4-3 thrilling 13-inning come-from-behind victory on Saturday, October 24th at Wittenberg's Carleton Davidson Stadium.
The teams for the Tiger Cup were drafted by seniors during a 6-round live draft. Team Red was led by the above-listed seniors, and Team Black was led by seniors; Jeff Chonko, Mason Davis, Rusty Hayhurst, AJ Juelg, Ryan Probst, Jack Siefert, and Parker Thompson. The live draft took place outside in a socially distanced environment held at Carleton Davidson Stadium on Thursday, October 22nd.
Team Red owned the first overall pick in the draft and selected Chase Whisner. Team Black followed that pick by also selecting an infielder, Dylan Jackson, with their first pick and second overall. The draft followed with remaining picks by Team Red selecting; Nick Cunningham, Joe Horoszko, Jared Burick, Tyler Defibaugh, and JC Bricker. The draft picks of Team Black consisted of; Connor O'Malley, Cole Weaver, Matt Shanor, Austin Morrow, and Connor Goss. The remaining non-drafted players were then split up by the coaching staff to even out the teams positionally.
The game would prove to be an absolute thriller and would have to go 13 innings to decide a winner. Cunningham (pictured) was honored with the MVP award after the game for his clutch 2-run double in the bottom of the 13th to tie the game and push the eventual winning run to third. Horoszko (pictured) would take home the Pitcher of the Game award for tossing 4 scoreless innings late in the game for Team Red.
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Most Valuable Player – Nick Cunningham |
Pitcher of the Game – Joe Horoszko |
Team Black would come out swinging in the top of the first and would waste no time getting on the scoreboard. Probst would get it started by hitting a one-out single. Siefert would keep the inning alive with a two-out single. O'Malley would follow Siefert with a clutch two-out single of his own that would bring Probst around to score and make the score 1-0 heading into the bottom of the first. Hayhurst got the start on the mound for Team Black and would keep their early momentum going with a quick 1-2-3 inning, which included a strikeout.
Both teams would threaten in the second inning, but both were unable to plate any runs. In the top of the second, Chonko would get the inning started for Team Black with a leadoff single. Two batters later, Morrow would collect a single of his own. However, Team Black's inning would stall after that as Griggs would collect a strikeout looking and a flyout to stifle the threat. Team Red would get things started in the bottom of the second with a single by Hollinshead. Boros would follow that up with a walk. The threat would end there though, as Hayhurst would be able to get a 6-4-3 double-play, along with a groundout to second to end the inning.
Team Black would again try to threaten in the top of the third inning, as Luke Thomas would start the inning off with a double down the right-field line. Two batters later Probst would be hit by a pitch. However, Team Black's inning would again stall after that as two flyouts to right-field would bring an end to the top of the third. Team Black would get a great performance on the mound in the bottom of the third, as Beau Foster struck-out the side on 11 pitches.
After the third inning, the game would prove to be a pitcher's duel and Team Black would hold their 1-0 lead until the bottom of the eighth inning. Brayden Woods would get things started for Team Red in the bottom of the eighth with a one-out single. Gabe Stacy would follow that up with a double that would bring Woods home to score and tie the game up at 1-1. That would be all for Team Red in the eighth, as a groundout to third and flyout to centerfield would bring an end to the inning.
Horoszko and Shanor would both make sure that the score remained at 1-1 until the thirteenth inning, as both pitched four huge scoreless innings for each of their respective squads. Horoszko would work innings eight through eleven for Team Red, while Shanor would throw innings nine through twelve for Team Black.
Team Black would break the scoring drought in the top of the thirteenth inning. The inning would start with Goss drawing a leadoff walk. The next two batters of the inning would both fly out and bring Siefert to the plate with two outs. Siefert would reach base safely on a throwing error by the third baseman that would bring Goss around to score and give Team Black a 2-1 lead. O'Malley would come up to the plate next and hit a huge two-out RBI single to bring Siefert around to score and extend Team Black's lead to 3-1.
Team Red would come to the plate in the bottom of the thirteenth trailing 3-1. The inning would start off with a strikeout. Lane Johnson would be next up and draw a one-out walk. Burick would follow that up by drawing a walk of his own. Bricker would also draw a walk that would load up the bases with one out. Cunningham would be next up and would hit a huge two-run double to left-center to bring Johnson and Burick around to score and tie the game 3-3 and would move Bricker over to third. Justin Maynard would come to the plate with 1oneout and a runner on second and third. During Maynard's at-bat, a wild-pitch would be thrown that would allow Bricker to hustle home from third and beat-out a throw from the catcher to win the game for Team Red, 4-3.
Notable Performances
Team Black Team Red
Rusty Hayhurst: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K Joe Horoszko: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
Beau Foster: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K Gabe Stacy: 1-4, 1 double, 1 RBI
Matt Shanor: 4 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K Jared Burick: 1-2, 1 single, 2 BB, 1 R
Connor O'Malley: 2-4, 2 singles, 2 RBI, 1 BB Nick Cunningham: 1-4, 1 double, 2 RBI
Ryan Probst: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 1 R Brayden Woods: 1-3, 1 single, 1 R
Jack Siefert: 1-4, 1 single, 1 R Jack Hollinshead: 1-3, 1 single, 1 BB
Austin Morrow: 2-4, 2 singles