TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - The Davenport baseball team won for the ninth straight time on Friday with a 6-5 decision over #24 Wayne State in the GLIAC Tournament. The Panthers improved to 12-2 at neutral sites and also beat the Warriors for the fourth straight time this season. The fourth-seeded Panthers are the only 2-0 team in the tournament and had to come-from-behind to get the victory over the Warriors at Pit Spitters Park.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Panthers went down in order in the top of the first and then Wayne State scored three runs in the bottom of the inning. James Rogers struggled to locate the strike zone and also gave up two hits. A leadoff walk to Ryan Foley was followed by a Jacob Finkbeiner single. Justin Kelly also walked and the bases were loaded with no outs. Hunter DeLanoy singled to first as Rogers did not cover the bag. Davis Graham grounded out to shortstop as the second run scored. Jack Schmidt then laid down a great bunt as Rogers dove to attempt a tag at home plate but Kelly avoided it for a 3-0 lead. Rogers limited the damage with two strikeouts including the final out with the bases loaded. Wayne State sent nine batters to the plate and Rogers threw 42 pitches in the inning.

Rogers got the hook in the second inning as he walked Foley and Finkbeiner and then went to a 2-0 count against Kelly. Spencer Vainavicz entered at that point and got an infield fly to second and a pop out into foul territory for a double play as Foley was thrown out at third.

Davenport had a great chance to score in the third as Dylan Watson was hit by a pitch followed by a Jimmy Filipski single and Hunter Ruhstorfer walk. Jacob Buchberger grounded to the pitcher who started the 1-2-3 double play. Nolan Bryant then hit a soft liner that was caught by a diving Finkbeiner at third to end the inning.

Wayne State scored again in the third as Noah Miller had a sacrifice fly which scored Graham for a 4-0 lead. Davenport started to chip away in the fourth with their first run. Travis Harvey singled with one out and Kamrin Markwardt followed with a single down the right field line. Alex Huard had a good at-bat and lifted an 0-2 pitch to right field for the sacrifice fly.

The Warriors got that run back in the bottom of the fourth. Foley walked and stole second and was still there after a pair of outs. Foley broke for third and then a wild pitch got away from Markwardt as Foley kept going all the way to home for the 5-1 lead.

Davenport scored three runs in the fifth to get back into the game. Harvey was the man of the moment as he stepped up with the bases loaded and cleared them with a double over the head of left fielder Rudy Ramirez. Vainavicz walked the leadoff man in the fifth and got a pop out before Pete Zeimis came into pitch as DU's third hurler of the game. He stranded two runners on base as Schmidt was thrown out at the plate by Ruhstorfer after a single.

The Panthers tied it up at 5 in the sixth inning. Brennan Cox took the mound for the Warriors after Dillon McInerney gave them five innings. Watson led off with a hustle double to left and then took third on a wild pitch. Ruhstorfer had a one-out RBI single after going down 1-2 in the count. Zeimis stranded two more runners in the sixth and another one in the seventh to keep it tied.

Davenport took the lead in the eighth as Josh Nelson took the mound. Huard doubled to the bottom of the wall in left center to start the inning. After a strikeout, Filipski hit a grounder to shortstop and Huard broke for third. The throw hit Huard who was diving head-first into the bag and then the ball caromed into the dugout allowing Huard to score the game-winning run.

Zeimis retired the Warriors in order in the eighth and started off the ninth with a walk on a full count to Graham. Greg McDade entered as a pinch runner and moved into scoring position on a grounder to third. Ramirez fouled out to first for the second out and Miller popped out to shortstop to end the game.

GAME NOTES
Zeimis improved to 4-2 this season and lasted the final 4.2 innings. He allowed three hits, no runs, three walks and struck out one. He threw 77 pitches including 41 strikes. Nelson took the loss (3-2) in his one inning of work in relief. Davenport pitchers walked 10 batters but still managed to get the victory. Harvey went 3-for-5 with those three RBI in the fifth. He is now 6-for-10 at the dish in the tournament. The Warriors left 12 men on base for the game and had no extra-base hits.

ON DECK
The Panthers (32-16) will have to wait for Saturday's opponent as Ashland and Wayne State will play at 10:30 a.m. The winner of that will face the Panthers at 6 p.m.