2001 NCAA Division III Baseball New England Regional
Tournament Statistics
Summary Stats
Team Stats
Individual Stats
Bridgewater State (Mass)
Eastern Conn State
Salve Regina
Southern Maine
Wheaton
Williams
Southern Maine advances with 11-7 victory over Eastern Conn State
Huskies battle back through the losers’ bracket
Harwich, Mass - The University of Southern Maine scored four runs in the top of the first inning and that final margin stood up as the Huskies defeated Eastern Connecticut State University 11-7 Sunday in the championship game of the 2001 NCAA Division III New England Regional Tournament at Whitehouse Field. Second-seeded Southern Maine (36-12) advances to its sixth NCAA Division III national tournament, which gets underway Friday at Fox Cities Stadium at Appleton, WI.
The win in the tournament was the fourth straight for the No. 5 nationally-ranked Huskies, who battled back through the losers’ bracket after an opening loss to fifth-seeded Wheaton College Thursday. Southern Maine had eliminated third-seeded Williams earlier Sunday to reach the title game. Top-seeded Eastern (38-13) had rebounded from a 3-1 second-round loss to fourth-seeded Bridgewater State to defeat Wheaton and third-seeded Williams College by identical 10-1 scores Saturday.
Eastern trailed 6-0 but got four back in the second on four hits and the first of four Southern Maine errors in the game but left the bases loaded. Down 10-5 in the bottom of the sixth, ECSU scored once without a hit (two walks and two hit-by-pitch) but again left the bases loaded when Liddy got a pop to short and ground ball to short. An error and hit put two runners aboard in the seventh but Liddy got Julien to fly to right to end the frame. Southern Maine turned its first double play in the first inning when the Warriors left the bags full after loading the bases on two singles and a walk.
Trailing 11-6 entering the ninth, the Warriors scored once without an out on pinch hitter Nick Scheets’s pinch RBI single to make it 11-7. Southern Maine sophomore righty Pat Liddy got the first out with a strikeout but an infield error on freshman shortstop Eugene Julien’s ground ball loaded the bases and brought the tying run to bat. Liddy, who had pitched a complete-game nine-hitter earlier in the day in the win against Williams, then induced New England career hit leader Nick Tempesta to ground the ball to short on the tenth pitch of the at-bat and the relay to first just beat Tempesta.
Pat Toomey and Andy Lang each had four hits for Southern Maine, which gained a split of this year’s six-game set with Eastern with the victory. Toomey drove in three runs with a double and his fifth home run of the year -- the only home run allowed by the Eastern staff in five tournament -- and also scored twice. Lang scored three times while designated hitter Craig Gureckis drove in two runs with a first-inning double.
The top four hitters in the ECSU lineup combined for nine of the team’s 14 hits -- all of which were singles. Junior first baseman John Kubachka had three hits while Julien, Tempesta and junior righfielder Jared Holowaty had two each. Six ECSU players each had one RBI.
ECSU redshirt freshman Joey Serfass started on the mound but was lifted after Southern Maine’s four-run first. He was the first of five ECSU pitchers in the game. Southern Maine also used five pitchers, with Erik Carlson (3-1) gaining the win after pitching 3.2 innings of middle relief. Liddy earned his second save after allowing only one run over the final 3.2 innings and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.
2001 New England Regional All-Tournament Team
MVP - Pat Liddy, Southern Maine
Catcher - Jeff Funaro, Eastern Conn State; First Base - John Kubachka, Eastern Conn State; Second Base - ; Third Base - ; Shortstop - ; Outfield - ; Designated Hitter - Justin Waz, Eastern Conn State; Pitcher - Pat Liddy, Southern Maine; Brian Gouin, Eastern Conn State.Results
Eastern Conn State 14, Salve Regina 3
Williams 2, Bridgewater State (Mass) 1
Southern Maine 5, Salve Regina 3
Bridgewater State (Mass) 3, Eastern Conn State 1
Eastern Conn State 10, Wheaton 1
Southern Maine 12, Bridgewater State (Mass) 10