The Raven Baseball team earned a walk-off series win over Baker University on Saturday in the Opening Round of the 2021 Heart Baseball Championship Series.
After winning big on Friday in game one of the series, 17-7, over the Wildcats, the Ravens used a bases-loaded walk by Jacob Pavlyak to earn a 13-12 win to sweep the best-of-three series.
Saturday was a win-or-game home scenario for Baker. Benedictine jumped ahead to a 7-0 lead through four innings and looked well on their way to taking the series with little resistance from Baker. An eight-run seventh inning from the Wildcats not only erased the Ravens lead, it gave Baker a 12-11 lead.
The Wildcats held on to their advantage until the bottom of the ninth when the Ravens rallied for the win. Three consecutive walks to open the inning by two Wildcats pitchers loaded the bases for Michael Slaten. Slaten punched one in front of the plate that allowed Hunter Moffett to scored to tie the game. Danny Favazza was hit by a pitch during the next at-bat to load the bases and put Pavlyak in position to win the game. He too earned a walk that scored Daryl Myers and handed the Ravens the series win.
Friday's series opener was all Benedictine. Behind seven innings from Michael Kruse, the Ravens used 19 hits to score their 17 runs. Kruse earned the win, giving up three earned runs off nine hits with three strikeouts. Hunter Ostertag finished off the game, holding Baker hitless over two innings.
The top half of the Raven batting order finished game one with a total of 18 hits and all 17 RBI. Favazza went 6 for 6 with a home run and 2 RBI. Slaten added two home runs, a double, and 6 RBI while Myers finished with a triple, home run, and 4 RBI. Pavlyak and Jackson Doherty each added 2 RBI while Jack Harpole finished with 3 singles and 2 runs scored.
In what ended up being the series finale on Saturday, Slaten took the hill for the Ravens. He went five innings and was in position for the win, giving up just one run off two hits with nine strikeouts before the Wildcats started their comeback against the bullpen. Carson Kasl threw a hitless top of the ninth inning to put Benedictine in position to earn the win in their half of the inning. As a result, Kasl was credited with the win.
Favazza, Pavlyak, Slaten, and Myers all hit home runs for the Ravens on Saturday while Doherty and Harpole added a double each. Slaten ended the game with 5 RBI while Pavlyak finished with 3 RBI.
As winners of their series, Benedictine earns an automatic berth into the Heart Championship Series at US Baseball Park in Ozark, Mo., starting on Thursday. Their seeding in the series is still be determined based conference winning percentage of the teams that qualify for the series.
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