Blowing a 10-2 lead in two innings will do that to a coach.
Glover was so upset that he gave the squad a severe tongue-lashing for about 15 minutes following the loss, and then made his players run several times from the left field foul line to the outfield fence in centerfield. Not happy with the effort, he gathered the squad in front of him again, and after several minutes, sent his players running again.
"That's probably the worst defensive showing I've ever seen in my life," Glover said of his team's six-error performance. "Chris (Honer) threw well. It was my mistake for taking him out. I wanted to get the other guys some work, and we fell apart."
Honer worked the first five innings, allowing two unearned runs and three hits. He fanned five and didn't walk a batter. His successors, Pat Hughes and Jimmy Pierce, weren't so fortunate. They allowed nine runs in 1 1/3 innings, but only four of them were earned.
"Chris was doing a great job," Glover said. "He never wants to go out.
"I knew we had to see what Pat could do," Honer said. "We had an eight-run lead. My fastball wasn't that great. I wasn't able to locate it on the corners. My curve was working really well again."
Hughes started the sixth, and he was out after two outs and eight batters.
After one out, Fernando Benitez walked and moved to second when pinch-hitter Jeremy Joustra singled. Zach Stone singled up the middle, scoring Benitez to make it 10-3. After Chris Rabe flied out, freshman Jason McNeil was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Walks to ninth-place hitter Cody Williams and Trevor O'Sullivan made it 10-5.
Enter Pierce, and it didn't get any better.
Zach Bryson singled to deep short, scoring McNeil to make it 10-6. Iain Dykins followed with a hard ground ball to Luke Rippee at short. He threw to second, but Marc Walling got there late, and couldn't handle the low throw. Williams scored to make it 10-7. Benitez was hit by a pitch to make it 10-8 before the Tigers could get off the field.
Douglas put runners on first and third with two outs, but Walling was called out on strikes to end the rally.
Singles by Stone and Williams plus an error by Bryan Miller loaded the bases with one out. Brandon Huff relieved Pierce, and got O'Sullivan to ground weakly to second for the second out. Stone scored on the play to make it 10-9. Bryson was walked intentionally to set up a force play at any base. Dykins spoiled that strategy with a solid single to left, giving the Colts a miracle win.
Even Wooster coach Ron Malcolm didn't think his squad would come back.
"All we were trying to do was work on our short game a little, and one thing led to another," the Wooster coach said. "They put a different pitcher in, and he struggled. I don't know why he took him (Honer) out unless his pitch count was up."
The late-game collapse wiped out a nice offensive performance by left fielder James Bunting, who went 3-for-4 with five RBIs.
Bunting hit a two-run double to center, keying the Tigers' four-run third inning, and his bases-loaded double scored three runs and keyed the six-run fourth inning.
"James is swinging it as well as anybody," Glover said. "He's showing some leadership out there."
The Tigers also got two hits each from Jake Neilsen, Walling and Brandon Silveira.
Notes: The teams play Saturday (10 a.m. doubleheader) at Douglas. The Tigers will send Huff and Austin Graham to the mound, and Wooster is expected to counter with Joustra and Collin Black.
