Box ScoreMARIETTA — With each passing inning, Daniel Sondag believed it would be his final one on the mound.
But his relief performance kept going and going until finally in the 13th inning Case Western Reserve's Aaron Cain smashed a single to center that plated Andrew Gronski for a 3-2 victory over Widener at Don Schaly Stadium Sunday night.
"Early on in the year coach kind of said during playoffs I'd have to throw more than just an inning at a time. We prepared for something like this happening, but I thought it would be as a starter," said Sondag. "The main thing I focused on was looking at each individual inning and give it my all because I kept saying that better be the last one."
Now the Spartans, who now have a school record 34 victories, must beat Salisbury (36-7) twice on Monday in the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional. The winner will advance to the Baseball Championship, which starts Friday, in Appleton, Wis.
All anyone could talk about Sunday night, though, was Sondag (2-1). Trailing 2-0, he came on in relief of Ray Kelly, who made his first start since 2012. All Sondag did was give up four hits and no walks as he held Widener (33-12) scoreless over the final 7 2/3 innings.
"Dan was about as good as somebody could be. He had to face some adversity with missed opportunities," said CWRU coach Matt Englander. "He just went out there and was even keel and I thought that was spectacular."
Sondag's performance would have been for naught if Cain hadn't delivered a clutch, one-out single.
"We love seeing Aaron Cain at the plate in the last inning," Englander said. "I don't think that is something that doesn't necessarily show up in the box score but he's had several walk off hits."
Widener had a serious threat in the 12th inning when Paul Sheppard singled to lead off the inning and was sacrificed to second. Bob Barnett ripped a liner that appeared was going to sail over right fielder Jordan Dague's head, but he made a running catch and Sheppard had to retreat to second. Michael Riverso grounded out to end the threat.
Widener pitcher Glenn Stanners stymied CWRU, who scored 18 runs earlier in the day in a win over Thomas More, through the first six innings. The Spartans threatened in the sixth with runners on second and third with two outs, but Stanners got hard-hitting Andrew Gronski to ground out to second to end the threat.
Stanners, a senior, delivered a gem for Widener. He allowed five hits and two runs, while walking five over 9 2/3 innings. He was relieved by staff ace Robert Barth with two runners on and two outs. Barth got out of the inning by getting Kerrigan Cain to fly out to center.
Jordan Dague went 2-for-4 with a walk for CWRU, while Kerrigan Cain added a single and one RBI.
Sheppard went 3-for-5 for Widener, while Matt Scherer and Barnett each had two hits.
