Late Rally Sinks Baseball in Joe Nuxhall Opener at Miami (OH)

Tuesday, April 10

Oxford, Ohio

6 p.m.

Xavier University

11-20

Miami (OH)

18-10

Xavier

Miami

Late Rally Sinks Baseball in Joe Nuxhall Opener at Miami (OH)

04.11.18 | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Season Stats (PDF)

By: Brendan Bergen, Xavier Athletic Communications

OXFORD, Ohio - Xavier baseball built up a 5-0 lead through three and a half innings, but hosting Miami (OH) came back to steal a 6-5 win at the Joe Nuxhall Classic on Tuesday at McKie Field.

Xavier fell to 11-20 overall and was burned by the walk-off in a third straight game.

The RedHawks improved to 18-10 on the season.

UP NEXT

• Xavier wraps up the Joe Nuxhall Classic on Wednesday, facing Wright State at 3 p.m. in Oxford.

XU AT THE PLATE

• Xavier collected eight hits and worked five walks in the game.
• Matt Warkentin continued his hot hitting, going 2-for-4 with a run scored, a double, a homer and two RBI. The junior first baseman homered in the third inning, a solo shot, for his seventh of the season.
• Warkentin now has four multi-RBI games this season, tying for the team lead. His seven multi-hit performances are tied for second for XU.
• Over his last five games, Warkentin is now 13-for-23 (.565) with 21 total bases. He has raised his season batting average from .190 entering last week all the way up to .271.
• Ryan Altenberger (1-for-4, R, RBI), Chris Givin (1-for-3, 2 R), Joe Gellenbeck (1-for-2, RBI, 3 BB), Allbry Major (1-for-3, RBI), Natale Monastra (1-for-4) and Nate Soria (1-for-3, R, SB) also had hits for XU.
• Givin now has a team-best five game hitting streak.
• Major has reached base in a team-high 11 straight games.

XU ON THE MOUND

• Freshman righty Allbry Major got the start and was impressive, going three scoreless innings and striking out three while allowing just two hits.
• Another freshman, Trevor Olson, came on in relief to throw three innings of one-run ball while striking out five. The lefty surrendered just one earned run on four hits.
• Conor Grammes pitched the seventh, getting through an inning but allowing two earned runs on four hits.
• Evan Miller allowed two earned runs in the eighth, striking out two, but could not get an out in the ninth as Miami rallied to win.

HOW XU SCORED

FIRST INNING | Ryan Altenberger reached to lead off the game on a hit by pitch, moving up as Chris Givin and Joe Gellenbeck were walked back-to-back. With one out, Allbry Major lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to bring Altenberger home and give XU a 1-0 lead. Matt Warkentin followed with a double down the right field line to bring Givin around.
SECOND INNING | Nate Soria singled to left to start things off, going to second on a sacrifice bunt by Andrew Sexton. After stealing third, Soria came in to score on a single to right center by Ryan Altenberger.
THIRD INNING | With one out, Matt Warkentin homered to right center for a solo shot to give XU a 4-0 edge.
FOURTH INNING | With two outs, Chris Givin reached on a hit by pitch and advanced on a wild pitch. Joe Gellenbeck followed with a single through the right side to score Givin and make it 5-0.