Mortensen, Gonsoulin lift no. 1 Pilots past no. 11 Lindsey Wilson
May 11, 2012
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PADUCAH, Ky. - The second game of the NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening round was a pitcher's duel as Jared Mortensen pitched the no. 1 Pilots past the no. 11 Lindsey Wilson Blue Raiders 1-0 on Friday afternoon at Brooks Stadium-Doc Hideg Field. Ridge Gonsoulin nailed the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning for the second out as the Pilots earned their way to the Championship Game in the tournament.
LSUS (50-4) picked up their 15th straight victory out-dueling the 11th ranked Blue Raiders as both starting pitchers tossed a complete game. For the Pilot's Mortensen, it was his sixth time this year that he has gone the distance. The senior right-hander needed 123 pitches striking out 10 for the four-hit shutout.
Despite allowing two hits in the bottom of the 9th, Mortensen retired 15 batters in a row to pace the swift game of one hour and forty-five minutes. Alex Harper's single to lead off the 9th snapped the streak of consecutive batters retired by the LSUS right-hander and no defensive play was bigger than Gonsoulin's rocket to nail the potential tying run at the plate for the second out.
Lindsey Wilson's (42-15) Darren Travers was just as impressive as he used his defense to do a little work behind him needing only 93 pitches to hold the nation's top scoring team to one run for his 8th complete game of the season. Travers allowed seven runs with one walk and three strikeouts.
The Blue Raiders made some fine defensive plays behind Travers turning two double plays and Travers helped himself by picking off one Pilot on the bases.
Greg Friesen topped the box score for the all hitters as the Pilot's first baseman was 3-for-4 with the game's only RBI. LSUS claimed seven of the game's 11 hits.
The Pilots will advance to play in tomorrow's championship game at 5 p.m. against the winner of the 1 p.m. game featuring Lindsey Wilson and the winner of the 6 p.m. game on Friday: Peru State and Bellevue. LSUS needs just one win to claim the opening round victory for their second straight trip to the Avista-NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho.
