SALEM, VA – On a day when all four higher seeds had to rally for victory in the Championship Round of the NCAA Division III Tournament, the University of Rochester and Birmingham Southern College staged a classic battle. BSC wound up winning when first-year catcher Leah Wood hit a home run over the left centerfield fence on the first pitch of the ninth inning.
 
Wood's homer gave BSC a 3-2 victory over Rochester. It puts the Yellowjackets into the elimination round on Friday at 12:30 p.m. against the University of St. Thomas of Minnesota. UST lost to second-seeded Virginia Wesleyan, 3-0, in a game just before the Rochester-Birmingham tilt. Virginia Wesleyan and Birmingham will meet in a winners' bracket game at 7 p.m.
 
Rochester can stay alive in the tournament by posting a win over the Tommies. If Rochester can post the victory, UR will play the loser of Friday's BSC-VWU tilt on Saturday. The loss snapped a nine-game Rochester winning streak dating back to an 8-0 win over Clarkson in the second game of a DH on Southside Field. The Yellowjackets are 35-9 overall. Starting with a 1-0 victory over Ithaca College in a DH on the road, Rochester is 17-3 through the loss to Birmingham Southern.
 
The Panthers won their sixth straight and 11^th in the last 12 games. BSC won a regional at East Texas Baptist University last weekend, beating Salisbury, 9-0, then posting back to back wins over host ETBU (3-2, 3-1) to earn the trip to Salem. Overall, the Panthers are 33-8. BSC was ranked #5 in the last poll by the NFCA just before the playoffs started. Rochester is #14 in that same poll.

 
Rochester jumped in front, 2-0, in the second inning and was on the verge of adding more runs in the third when BSC made a pitching changes. UR reached Lauren Keplinger for five hits and two runs in 2.1 innings. In the UR third, Jen Carson hit a one-out single to left and Hannah Keiper singled down the left field line, moving Carson to second. Keplinger departed, replaced by Hailee Bryan. She retired Toni Anne Hahn on a popup to third and got Alizah Ayon on a liner to left. In the final 6.2 innings, she allowed one hit (Hunter Gilbreath singled in the fourth) and walked two (Keiper in the fifth, Alexis Pope in the ninth). Keriper also reached on a throwing error in the eighth but a foulout and a flyout ended that inning.
 
Emily Sharlach took the loss for Rochester. Hannah Leahy pitched the first three innings. She left after Sam Hilyer doubled leading off the fourth and Rochester ahead, 2-1. Over the first three innings, BSC got six hits and scored one run. Hilyer was bunted to third by Wood. Carson made a nice shoetop catch of a sinking liner by pinch-hitter Cassidy Dixon. Hilyer was able to score the tying run on a passed ball with Alyssa Fowler at bat. Sharlach got out of it.
 
The Panthers got back to back two-out singles in the fifth, but Hilyer popped out to Madi Turner. Sharlach set 'em down in the sixth. In the seventh, Morgan McGuire singled. That had the BSC fans roaring, anticipating a sacrifice and a game-winning hit. Kaylan Chapman bunted in the air. Pope, creeping in at third base, caught the ball in the air and fired it to Turner covering first for a DP that erased the runner. Keiper caught a foul pop to end the inning.
 
Rochester went ahead quickly in the second. With two down, Pope reached on an infield single. Turner doubled to right center with Pope coming around to score. Gilbreath lined a full-count pitch up the middle to bring in Turner for the 2-0 lead.
 
The Yellowjackets recorded a couple of unusual putouts on back to back plays. With one down, Hilyer popped up in foul territory near the start of the Rochester dugout. Keiper and Gilbreath converged on it. Gilbreath reached for it, but the ball popped out of her glove and right to Keiper who clutched it for the out. Wood reached on a walk. With the count at 1-1, Izzy Berkopec grounded the ball up the middle. It struck the runner in the foot. Berkopec was credited with a single and the putout when to Turner since she was the closest fielder. It was the third out of the inning.
 
Sharlach is 13-4, Bryan 15-3. In the earlier games Thursday, DePauw rallied past Wisconsin-Oshkosh, 2-1, and Texas Lutheran scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to slip past Tufts, 4-3.