MAY 5-6 — Season Concludes In MCC Tournament
Leafs take runner-up finish in four-team event; narrowly miss NAIA at-large berth

Marion, IN — When the smoke finally cleared at this weekend’s Mid-Central Conference baseball tournament, the Goshen College baseball team found itself in a familiar position.

Close, but not close enough.

After a regular season that ended with the Leafs missing out on the MCC’s North Division Championship by the narrowest of margins (.014 percentage points) and the most peculiar of situations (click here for related story), Goshen again found itself just on the outside looking in, finishing as the runner-up in the four-team weekend tournament and missing out on an NAIA Regional at-large berth by — fittingly — the slimmest of margins.

With the MCC’s North Division champs (Spring Arbor University) and South Division winners (Marian College) each securing two of the MCC’s three automatic bids to NAIA Regional competition, the winner of the four-team, second- and third-place MCC Tournament (played at Indiana Wesleyan University on Thursday and Friday) would receive the final automatic slot to advance to the post-season. In essence, the Leafs missed out on that berth by a single run, as the host Wildcats defeated Goshen in the first game of the event in 10 innings by a 2-1 count. The Leafs responded, however, defeating Huntington College 8-7 Thursday night to stay alive in the double-elimination tournament. After drilling Indiana Wesleyan Friday by a 14-0 score to stay alive for the championship, Goshen fell to Bethel College by a 21-2 count Friday night. Since the Leafs had already lost a game, Bethel was declared the winners of the tournament. Had Goshen defeated the Pilots on Friday night, the teams would have faced off again in a winner-take-all match-up Saturday afternoon. Bethel’s dominating performance Friday night kept that from happening, however, and again the Leafs were forced to play the waiting game.

It was assumed by most MCC coaches that regardless of which team finished as the runners up in the MCC Tournament, that team would advance to NAIA Regional competition via an at-large berth. Incredibly, as Goshen waited to hear the NAIA post-season field, the team was once again barely out of the loop. Indiana Tech received four votes by regional raters compared to Goshen’s three, sending the Warriors to the NAIA Regional field and sending the Leafs home for good.

“We thought we might still have a chance for a regional berth (following our runner-up finish), but the at-large berth went to Indiana Tech who has won the regional for the past several years,” said Josh Keister, Goshen assistant coach. “It is a difficult way for the season to end, but we are still proud of our accomplishments. They just weren’t quite enough to continue our season.”

Goshen (20-14, 14-8) looked to have its initial game against Indiana Wesleyan in firm control after seven full innings Thursday, as MCC Player of the Year Ben Taylor (junior) was his usual dominant self on the mound. Goshen led by a 1-0 score with just an inning and a half to play, but somehow, Indiana Wesleyan managed to score a run in the top of the eighth. After Goshen and IWU couldn’t generate any offense in the ninth inning, it was the Wildcats coming up with the play of the afternoon, scoring the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th to put the pressure on the Leafs. Goshen couldn’t get its bats to cooperate, and Wesleyan had defeated Taylor (7-2) and the Leafs in a shocker. The loss marked Taylor's first against MCC competition this season, in his final appearance on the mound.

“No player had more than one hit and there were no extra base hits in the game,” Keister said. “Ben Taylor took the tough luck loss on the mound going the full 10 innings. Neither of the runs IWU scored was the result of hard hit balls.”

Facing elimination, Goshen rebounded to take Thursday’s nightcap by an 8-7 score over Huntington. After a three-run seventh inning from the Foresters knotted the score at 7-7, the Leafs came through in the eighth, pushing the game-deciding run across the plate and advancing to competition on Friday. Freshman Mike Staehle was huge at the plate, going 3-3 with a triple and two RBI. Sophomore Nate Colclasure blasted a two-run homer, while junior Josh Snyder was 2-4 with a pair of runs batted in. Senior Erik Hisner also had a big day at the plate, going 1-2 with three walks and a run scored. Senior Dan Samaritoni (4-2) took the win on the mound, coming in relief of sophomore starter Dann Hunt in the eighth inning. Snyder recorded his second save of the year in a closer mode, finishing off the game in the ninth.

Realizing it was just a single loss from being ousted from the tournament — and at that point any chance of a runner-up finish and thus, a possible NAIA Regional at-large berth — Goshen responded in incredible fashion, defeating Indiana Wesleyan 14-0 in a rematch from its tough loss the night prior. Junior Dan Fensler (4-1) took the complete-game win on the mound for the Leafs, limiting Indiana Wesleyan to just five hits on the afternoon. Meanwhile, Goshen began to heat up: A four-run first inning spelled the beginning of the end for the Wildcats, as the Leafs continued to pile it on. Hisner finished an incredible 3-6 from the plate, scoring twice while knocking in a run. Colclasure was 2-3 while Staehle again was big, blasting a two-RBI double. Snyder finished 2-4 from the plate as well.

Facing Bethel in Friday’s final game, the team understood it would have to knock off the Pilots in order to guarantee another game — and possible tournament championship — on Saturday. Sadly, it was never a contest, as Bethel scored all 21 of its runs in the middle six innings. Snyder (1-3) took the loss on the mound, though the Leafs threw nearly everyone in the rotation at the Pilots: Samaritoni came in for relief in the third inning, followed by junior Greg Koop in the seventh, and Hisner (in his first pitching appearance of his career) in the eighth. Hisner did make his final game in a Goshen uniform memorable from a positive aspect, however, as the school’s all-time leader in career hits, RBI, batting average and homers blasted his sixth round-tripper of the year, going 2-4 from the plate.

“Overall we felt like we played well especially after losing in the first round and having to come back through the losers’ bracket,” Keister said.

Goshen managed to finish as the tournament’s runner-up despite being without the services of sophomore Brian Shelton, whose pulled hamstring kept him out of the lineup for the entire event. Shelton finished the year as the Leafs’ second-leading hitter and fifth-best pitcher.

“Shelton’s injury hurt us,” Keister said. “He didn’t play at all due to a pulled hamstring, and we definitely could have benefited from his play, like we have all season.”

Even without the post-season bid, Goshen reached the 20-win plateau for just the sixth time in program history. Check back to this website for up-to-date off-season news, including recruiting information and team events.