Game 7 - May 27, 2000
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Grand Chute, Wisconsin - The University of St. Thomas did what the State University of New York-Cortland couldn't do Saturday night.
The Tommies took advantage of their scoring chances and that added up to an 8-3 victory over the Red Dragons in a winner's bracket game at the NCAA Division III Baseball Championships at Fox Cities Stadium. The Red Dragons, who stranded 10 runners, lost despite pounding out 14 hits. St.Thomas had eight hits but used two squeeze bunts and good baserunning to pull away from the Red Dragons.
"That was the game we lost in the series last year, this one, to get to the championship round," St. Thomas designated hitter Dan Novak said. "It's kind of nice to get into the championship round and know we're kind of in the driver's seat. Some team has to beat us twice, and it would be nice to know that we're in the driver's seat and we can keep going."
St. Thomas (34-12) advances to play either Wartburg College or Allegheny College in a noon game Monday. Cortland (36-8) drops into the loser's bracket and faces Chapman University (32-11-1) at 3:30 p.m. Sunday.
"I can't explain it," Cortland coach Joe Brown said. "We played hard, we tried hard, and we came up on the short end of the stick. This is a good baseball team. All I know is we're still here. We still have the opportunity to play another baseball game, and that's all you can ask for.
" Cortland jumped on the board in the top of the first inning with a pair of runs. Mike LaPointe and Craig Kerner led off the game with singles and both moved up on a sacrifice bunt. Two hitters later, Mike Burns hit a looping line drive into left field to score both runners and give the Red Dragons a 2-0 lead.
The score remained 2-0 until the bottom of the third inning. Tom Wilberg and John Frein led off the inning with singles for St. Thomas, and both runners scored on Paul Rafferty's one-out triple to tie the game at 2-2. After a walk to Jake Mauer, Novak's squeeze bunt allowed Rafferty to score. Mauer and Novak moved to third and second, respectively, on a passed ball. Mauer then scored on Steve Aronson's squeeze bunt to give St. Thomas a 4-2 lead.
"When (Novak) squeezed, we were just a little tight and wanted that run," St. Thomas head coach Dennis Denning said. "We had our best pitcher on the mound and we wanted to get that run back and it worked. We got two runs back that inning with squeezes.
" St. Thomas increased its lead to 5-2 in the fourth. Tom Wilberg drew a one-out walk and went to second on a ground out. He then scored on Brad Bonine's single to left field.
The Red Dragons cut the lead to 5-3 in the top of the fifth. Cory Haggerty and Greg Scerba led off the inning with singles, but Haggerty was then erased on a 1-5-3 double play. Kerner, who went 4-for-5, followed with a single up the middle to score Scerba. St. Thomas starter Mike Honsa avoided further damage by getting Scott Seabury to ground out to end the threat.
Cortland could have cut into the lead more in the sixth but couldn't capitalize on a pair of two-out singles.
The Tommies came back in their half of the sixth and scored three times.Ryan Benson led off the inning with a single and went to second on a sacrifice bunt. An error allowed Wilberg to reach base and Benson scored on the play to give St. Thomas a 6-3 edge. Frein then walked and that was it for Cortland starter Kyle Johnson (5-2). Brian Silsbee came on in relief and Brad Bonine greeted him with a slow roller to the right of the mound to load the bases. Silsbee then hit Rafferty to force home Wilberg and put theTommies up 7-3. Mauer followed with a run-scoring groundout and St.Thomas led 8-3.
The Red Dragons continued to hit the ball hard, getting two hits in both the seventh and eighth innings. Cortland couldn't come up with a key hit in either inning and failed to score.
"I think it was a matter of when you get the hits," Kerner said. "You can have 20, 25 hits, and if you're getting them with two out and no men on, we were kind of shooting ourselves in the foot on a couple of plays. I just think it's a matter of timing,a nd today our timing just wasn't right."
Honsa (9-3) went the distance to get the win. He allowed 14 hits, walked two and struck out three.
Story | Boxscore | Play-by-Play
Cortland State 3 Name (Pos) AB R H RBI BB SO PO A Mike LaPointe 2b.......... 4 1 2 0 1 0 2 2 Craig Kerner lf........... 5 1 4 1 0 0 1 0 Scott Seabury 1b.......... 4 0 0 0 0 0 8 1 Scott Weston cf........... 4 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 Mike Burns c.............. 4 0 1 2 0 0 5 0 Travis Smith 3b........... 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Larry Williams ss......... 4 0 3 0 0 0 2 4 Cory Haggerty dh.......... 3 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 Greg Scerba rf............ 4 1 1 0 0 1 5 0 Kyle Johnson p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 Brian Silsbee p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chris Cobb p.............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Totals.................... 36 3 14 3 2 3 24 12 St. Thomas (Minn) 8 Name (Pos) AB R H RBI BB SO PO A Brad Bonine cf............ 5 0 2 1 0 2 4 0 Paul Rafferty 1b.......... 4 1 1 3 0 1 9 1 Jake Mauer 2b............. 3 1 1 1 1 0 2 2 Dan Novak dh.............. 2 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 Steve Aronson lf.......... 3 0 1 1 0 0 4 0 Ryan Benson rf............ 4 1 1 0 0 0 2 1 Jon Guion 3b.............. 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 Tom Wilberg c............. 3 3 1 0 1 0 3 4 John Frein ss............. 2 2 1 0 2 0 1 3 Mike Honsa p.............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Totals.................... 29 8 8 7 5 4 27 14 Score by innings: R H E ---------------------------------------------- Cortland State 200 010 000 - 3 14 1 St. Thomas (Minn) 004 103 00 - 8 8 1 ---------------------------------------------- E - Seabury; Frein. DP - Cortland 1; St. Thomas 2. LOB - Cortland 10; St. Thomas 6. 3B - Rafferty. SB - Kerner; Bonine; Frein 2. CS - Weston; Rafferty. SH - Seabury; Haggerty; D Novak; Aronson; Guion. Cortland State IP H R ER BB SO AB BF Kyle Johnson........ 5.1 7 8 5 3 3 21 27 Brian Silsbee....... 1.2 1 0 0 1 0 6 8 Chris Cobb.......... 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 2 3 St. Thomas (Minn) IP H R ER BB SO AB BF Mike Honsa.......... 9.0 14 3 3 2 3 36 40 Win - Honsa 9-3. Loss - K Johnson 5-2. Save - None. PB - M Burns. HBP - by Silsbee (Rafferty). Umpires - Home:Semph 1st:Sill 2nd:Topp 3rd:Drouches Start: 5:30pm Time: 2:33 Attendance: 934
Story | Boxscore | Play-by-Play
Score by innings: R H E ---------------------------------------------- Cortland State 200 010 000 - 3 14 1 St. Thomas (Minn) 004 103 00 - 8 8 1 ---------------------------------------------- Cortland State inning 1 LaPointe singled to left field. Kerner singled to right field; LaPointe advanced to second. Seabury grounded out to p, bunt, SAC; Kerner advanced to second; LaPointe advanced to third. Weston struck out swinging. M Burns singled to left field, 2 RBI; Kerner scored; LaPointe scored. T Smith popped up to 2b. 2 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB. St. Thomas (Minn) inning 1 Bonine flied out to lf. Rafferty struck out swinging. Mauer grounded out to 2b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Cortland State inning 2 L Williams singled to left field. Haggerty grounded out to c, bunt, SAC; L Williams advanced to second. Scerba fouled out to c. LaPointe flied out to lf. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB. St. Thomas (Minn) inning 2 D Novak struck out looking. Aronson singled to pitcher. Benson flied out to rf. Guion flied out to rf. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB. Cortland State inning 3 Kerner singled to catcher. Seabury flied into double play rf to 1b; Kerner out on the play. Weston walked. Weston out at second c to 2b, caught stealing. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB. St. Thomas (Minn) inning 3 Wilberg singled to center field. Frein singled to third base, bunt; Wilberg advanced to second. Bonine struck out swinging. Rafferty tripled down the rf line, 2 RBI; Frein scored; Wilberg scored. Mauer walked. D Novak reached on a fielder's choice, bunt, SAC, RBI; Mauer advanced to second; Rafferty scored. D Novak advanced to second; Mauer advanced to third on a passed ball. Aronson grounded out to p, bunt, SAC, RBI; D Novak advanced to third; Mauer scored, unearned. Benson grounded out to ss. 4 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB. Cortland State inning 4 M Burns flied out to rf. T Smith flied out to lf. L Williams grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. St. Thomas (Minn) inning 4 Guion popped up to 2b. Wilberg walked. Frein out at first p to ss to 1b; Wilberg advanced to second. Bonine singled to left field, RBI; Wilberg scored. Bonine stole second. Rafferty flied out to rf. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB. Cortland State inning 5 Haggerty singled to right field. Scerba singled to right field; Haggerty advanced to second. LaPointe grounded into double play p to 3b to 1b; Scerba advanced to second; Haggerty out on the play. Kerner singled to center field, RBI; Scerba scored. Kerner stole second. Seabury grounded out to ss. 1 run, 3 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB. St. Thomas (Minn) inning 5 Mauer singled to right field. D Novak grounded into double play 2b to ss to 1b; Mauer out on the play. Aronson fouled out to rf. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Cortland State inning 6 Weston grounded out to ss. M Burns flied out to lf. T Smith singled to right field. L Williams singled to center field; T Smith advanced to second. T Smith out at third c to 3b. 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB. St. Thomas (Minn) inning 6 Benson singled to right field. Guion grounded out to p, bunt, SAC; Benson advanced to second. Wilberg reached on a throwing error by 1b; Benson scored. Frein walked; Wilberg advanced to second. Silsbee to p for K Johnson. Bonine singled to pitcher; Frein advanced to second; Wilberg advanced to third. Rafferty hit by pitch, RBI; Bonine advanced to second; Frein advanced to third; Wilberg scored, unearned. Mauer grounded out to ss, RBI; Rafferty advanced to second; Bonine advanced to third; Frein scored, unearned. D Novak walked. Aronson lined out to 1b. 3 runs, 2 hits, 1 error, 3 LOB. Cortland State inning 7 Haggerty grounded out to 2b. Scerba flied out to cf. LaPointe singled to left center. Kerner singled to left center; LaPointe advanced to third. Seabury flied out to cf. 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB. St. Thomas (Minn) inning 7 Benson flied out to rf. Guion popped up to 2b. Wilberg flied out to cf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Cortland State inning 8 Weston singled to left field. M Burns flied out to cf. T Smith reached on a fielder's choice; Weston out at second 2b to ss. L Williams singled to right center; T Smith advanced to third. Haggerty struck out swinging. 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB. St. Thomas (Minn) inning 8 Cobb to p for Silsbee. Frein walked. Frein stole second, failed pickoff attempt. Bonine struck out swinging; Frein stole third. Rafferty reached on a fielder's choice, bunt; Frein out at home p to c. Rafferty out at second p to 1b to ss, caught stealing, picked off. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Cortland State inning 9 Scerba struck out swinging, out at first c to 1b. LaPointe walked. Kerner reached on a fielder's choice; LaPointe advanced to second on an error by ss, assist by 1b. Seabury flied out to cf. Weston flied out to lf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 error, 2 LOB.
Updated Sept 2003