Redshirt sophomore
Thomas Cooper (Brentwood, Tenn. / lifted a go-ahead grand slam in the sixth inning, but the Valparaiso University baseball team was on the wrong end of another game dictated by the slimmest of margins, as host Western Michigan scored in the bottom of the eighth to take a 6-5 lead that held up on Tuesday afternoon at Hyames Field in Kalamazoo, Mich.
How It Happened
- Freshman starter Nick Baffa (Glenview, Ill. / Notre Dame College Prep) struck out three over two scoreless to start the day, but ran into trouble in the third, a frame in which the Broncos scored three times to take the lead.
- Junior righty Hunter Frost (Farmington, Minn. / Farmington) was first out of the Valpo bullpen and was not charged with a run over 1 2/3 innings, limiting the damage when he entered in the third before working a scoreless fourth.
- Lefty Lucas Foley (Deer Park, Ill. / Lake Zurich) inducted a 6-4-3 double play to get out of the fifth with nothing across.
- Valpo packed the sacks with two singles and a walk in the sixth before Thomas Cooper (Brentwood, Tenn. / Ravenwood) unloaded them with a two-out, opposite-field grand slam to give Valpo a 4-3 lead.
- Valpo tacked on in the seventh, scoring a run on an RBI single to right by Kevin Denty (Tinley Park, Ill. / Marian Catholic) that made it 5-3.
- Foley pitched scoreless ball over his first two frames, but was touched for a wind-aided home run to right that made it 5-4 in the seventh. The Broncos went on to score once more in that inning, leveling the score at five.
- Western Michigan started the eighth with a ground-rule double and that runner eventually scampered home on a sac fly to give the hosts a 6-5 edge, which stood as the final.
Inside the Game
- Senior Liam Patton (Barrington, Ill. / Warsaw) had the first triple of his five-year collegiate career, but was left stranded at third in the opening inning.
- Cooper's grand slam was Valpo's first of the season and came a day after the exact one-year anniversary of the team's last slam, which came off the bat of Carson Husmann on April 28, 2024 at UIC.
- Cooper's home run was the fourth of his collegiate career, all this season.
- Denty accounted for half of the team's six hits, his team-leading fifth three-hit game of the season and his 11th multi-hit effort, also tops on the team.
- Valpo fell to 1-9 in one-run games this season, incurring the team's third straight loss decided by a single tally.
Up Next
The Beacons (8-31) will host UIC on Friday at 3 p.m. at Emory G. Bauer Field. Admission is free and the contest can also be seen on ESPN+.
