2002 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship
Tournament Statistics
Team Statistics
Regional Playoff Results
Records
Eastern Connecticut State University wins the 2002 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship
Serfass becomes fourth pitcher to throw shutout in title game
Grand
Chute, WI -- When the 2002 college baseball season started, Eastern Connecticut
State University head coach Bill Holowaty made a prophetic statement. Holowaty,
whose program was on the verge to breaking the 1,000-win plateu, said his team
shouldn't be remembered only as the team that gave ECSU it's 1,000th victory.
"I knew before the season started that these kids were special," Holowaty said.
"I told our Sports Information Director that, and I don't know why I said it, I
just knew that these kids had something in them." Tuesday afternoon, his team
made sure of that.
Sophomore righthander Joey Serfass pitched a complete-game five-hitter and senior DH Justin Waz drove in two runs in a five-run second inning as the Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team won an unprecedented fourth NCAA Division III national baseball championship with an 8-0 win over Marietta College Tuesday at Fox Cities Stadium.
Serfass (10-1) became only the fourth pitcher in the tournament’s 27-year history to throw a shutout in the title game, spacing four singles and a double as Eastern became the first team in Division III to win as many as four national championships.
The No. 2 nationally-ranked Warriors scored five runs in the second on five hits and a critical infield error to stake Serfass to an early lead, then added a single run in the fifth and two in the ninth in capturing a national championship at a fourth different location.
“The offense got the early lead for me, so I just threw the ball over the plate and the defense did the work,” noted Serfass, who became only the eighth pitcher under 34th-year head Bill Holowaty to win as many as ten games in a season. “With a 5-0 lead, I just went right at them.” Serfass became the first pitcher this year to shut out Marietta (41-9-1), the No.-1 ranked team in the country. He gave up a one-out infield single in the second, a two-out single in the third, a two-out double in the fourth and a leadoff single and a two-out single in the ninth.. He fanned six, walked two and hit one batter.
The Pioneers, making their ninth appearance in the title game (second straight) advanced to the title game earlier Tuesday by eliminating Christopher Newport University 9-6. Both tournament losses for Marietta College came at the hands of Eastern, who got a combined six-hitter from junior righty Adam Czerwinski and sophomore lefty Jeremy Hall in a 4-2 win Monday in the winners’ bracket.
Eastern, a winner of nine of 11 NCAA tournament games this year, scored five times in the second, all coming with two out. The first two runs scored when No. 9 hitter Jeff Funaro drilled the ball between the legs of Marietta second baseman Dusty Childress with the bases loaded; junior second baseman Morgan Thompson made it 3-0 with a single and Waz plated the fourth and fifth runs with a triple to center. Tournament Most Outstanding Player John Kubachka drove in Waz from third with an opposite field single to right in the fifth to push the lead to 6-0 and Waz’s RBI double and an opposite-field single to right by sophomore centerfielder Dwight Wildman plated Waz with the eighth run.
Kubachka, who hit only .130 in the regional tournament, batted .458 in the nationals (11-for-24) with a team-high seven runs while also driving in four. Kubachka made the defensive play of the day when his back-handed scoop of an in-between hop on a throw from third base stranded runners on second and third in the fourth. Waz, senior leftfielder John Hedde and Serfass joined Kubachka on the all-tournament team. Hedde (9-for-21/.429) led all ECSU players with seven RBI while Waz batted .462 (6-for-13). Serfass allowed only three earned runs in 15.1 tournament inning for a 1.76 ERA. He fanned 13 and walked only four and gave up 12 hits.
In the title game, Waz was 4-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored. He had two doubles and a triple. Kubachka was 3-for-5 and scored and drove in a run in the finale.
NOTES: The 8-0 score represented the fourth shutout in the 27-year history of the Tournament. The announced attendance of 927 set a Tournament record for total attendence of 19,575. Prior to this year, Eastern had won the 1982 title at Marietta, OH, the 1990 crown at Battle Creek, MI and the 1990 championship at Salem, VA.
2002 All Tournament Team
MVP - John Kubachka, Eastern Connecticut State University
First Base - John Kubachka, Eastern Conn State; Colin Renick, College of New Jersey; Dan Quinn, RPI; Third Base - Chris Phaup, Christopher Newport; Outfield - John Hedde, Eastern Conn State; Chris Sidick, Marietta; Designated Hitter - Justin Waz, Eastern Conn State; Utility - Travis Teeter, RPI; Pitcher - Joey Serfass, Eastern Conn State; Justin Papania, Marietta; Scott Stocker, Marietta.
2002 Tournament Results
Marietta 5, College of New Jersey 3
Chistopher Newport 12, Carthage 4
Eastern Conn State 5, Concordia-Austin 4 (10)
College of New Jersey 15, Carthage 4
Lakeland 3, Concordia-Austin 2
Marietta 6, Chistopher Newport 5
Eastern Conn State 10, Rensselaer 9
Chistopher Newport 10, Lakeland 1
College of New Jersey 6, RPI 5
Eastern Conn State 4, Marietta 2
Marietta 3, College of New Jersey 1
Chistopher Newport 6, Eastern Conn State 5