Game 1 - May 28, 2004
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Grand Chute, Wisconsin - After waiting 58 years to qualify for their first NCAA Division III Baseball Championship berth, the State University of New York-Brockport baseball team made its first finals game memorable. The Golden Eagles rode the talented left arm of senior pitcher Ben Kimball, (pictured left) who scattered 10 hits and allowed just two runs over eight and two-thirds innings of work as Brockport defeated Aurora University, 5-2, in the opening game of the 2004 NCAA Division III Championship Friday at Fox Cities Stadium.
Facing a daunting offensive lineup in which the top five batters entered the finals hitting .330 or better, Kimball used a balanced assortment of off-speed pitches and a well-placed fastball to keep the Spartans at bay.
"He had an amazing outing," Brockport coach Mark Rowland said. "In this atmosphere - we've never been here before - he had a lot of pressure on him." Kimball handled that pressure well, getting ahead in just about every count and relying on a stingy defense, as well as a little luck, to help him out of a couple jams.
"I felt good out there today," Kimball said. "Getting ahead of hitters is the key, I didn't have my best stuff in the beginning, I'll admit. I battled though, I had a good changeup all day, but towards the end when I was getting tired I went to my curve and that worked well."
After Aurora took 1-0 lead in the first inning, the Golden Eagles manufactured a pair of runs in their half of the frame to go up 2-1, and that's the way it stayed for a while. Aurora starter Jeff Salzmann (pictured below left) was equally brilliant on the mound. After the two-run first, Salzmann settled down and held the Golden Eagles at bay for the next five innings before running out of gas in the seventh.
With two on and one out in the bottom of the inning, Salzmann left a hanging curve out for Brockport shortstop Tim Wilson (pictured above right), who tripled to left to put the Golden Eagles up 4-1. Leadoff man Mike Ranalli followed with an RBI squeeze bunt to the shortstop, but was thrown out at second. Second baseman John Morgan followed that with a ground out to end the inning and Salzmann's day.
"[Salzmann] did a good job settling down until the seventh when he just kind of ran out of gas," Aurora coach Shaun Neitzel said. "Not to the point where I thought we had to get him out of there right then, because he had done a good job of battling, but he just hung a couple curveballs."
The Spartans came back to add a run in the top of the eighth, but couldn't get the clutch hits necessary for the win. In all, Aurora stranded nine runners on the day.
"Everybody was hitting the ball well, up and down the lines all day," Aurora right fielder Jay Lavender said. "We just couldn't buy a break. Line drives right at people . . . line drives into a double play . . . balls landing a foot foul, it just wasn't our day." Lavender finished the day three-for-four with an RBI and a run scored, while John Hopkins and Brian Chelgren each added a pair of hits.
Offensively, while Brockport wasn't dominant, the Golden Eagles were opportunistic. Left fielder Matt Johnson (pictured right) was the only Brockport player with multiple hits, adding a run and RBI to his ledger. Brockport finished with just eight hits, but with Kimball throwing effectively, that's all the Golden Eagles needed. Kimball set a school record with his ninth win of the season against no losses, and threw 133 pitches.
"That's baseball, it's a tough way to lose," Neitzel said. "But we'll come back and do it again tomorrow." The Golden Eagles (34-13) will face Eastern Connecticut, while Manchester will play Aurora (26-18) in an elimination game.
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Aurora Univ. 2 (26-18) Name (Pos) AB R H RBI BB SO PO A John Hopkins cf........... 3 1 2 0 1 0 2 0 Dan Gregory 2b............ 5 0 0 0 0 2 2 3 Jay Lavender rf........... 4 1 3 1 0 1 0 0 Brian Chelgren 1b......... 4 0 2 0 0 0 10 2 Brian Brandenburg 3b...... 4 0 1 1 0 0 1 2 Jason Smith lf............ 3 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 Kevin Morris dh........... 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chris Forbes c............ 4 0 1 0 0 0 6 0 Aaron Thor ss............. 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Jeff Salzmann p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 Ryan Baird p.............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Totals.................... 35 2 10 2 1 3 24 12 SUNY-Brockport 5 (34-13) Name (Pos) AB R H RBI BB SO PO A Mike Ranalli rf........... 3 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 John Morgan 2b............ 3 0 1 0 0 0 3 3 Rob Gladwell 1b........... 3 0 0 0 1 1 14 0 Matt Johnson lf........... 4 1 2 1 0 2 0 0 Andy Petersen dh.......... 4 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 Jeff Schwegler c.......... 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 Joe Lux c................. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ryan Mohr 3b.............. 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 4 Rob Astalos cf............ 3 1 1 0 0 2 4 0 Tim Wilson ss............. 3 1 1 2 0 0 1 5 Ben Kimball p............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Shawn Mahoney p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals.................... 29 5 8 5 2 6 27 14 Score by innings: R H E ---------------------------------------------- Aurora Univ. 100 000 010 - 2 10 0 SUNY-Brockport 200 000 30 - 5 8 1 ---------------------------------------------- E - Gladwell. DP - AU 1; SUNY-B 3. LOB - AU 9; SUNY-B 3. 2B - J. Lavender(10); Astalos(2). 3B - Wilson(4). SH - Morgan. Aurora Univ. IP H R ER BB SO AB BF Jeff Salzmann....... 7.0 8 5 5 2 4 26 29 Ryan Baird.......... 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 3 3 SUNY-Brockport IP H R ER BB SO AB BF Ben Kimball......... 8.2 10 2 2 1 3 34 37 Shawn Mahoney....... 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Win - Kimball 9-1. Loss - J. Salzmann 8-3. Save - Mahoney (2). WP - J. Salzmann. HBP - by Kimball (J. Smith); by Kimball (J. Hopkins). Umpires - Home:Gary Kalkopf 1st:Dennis Semph 2nd:Michael Rosen 3rd:Manny Salazar Start: 9:59 Time: 2:19 Attendance: 1107
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Score by innings: R H E ---------------------------------------------- Aurora Univ. 100 000 010 - 2 10 0 SUNY-Brockport 200 000 30 - 5 8 1 ---------------------------------------------- Aurora Univ. inning 1 J. Hopkins singled to left field. D. Gregory struck out looking. J. Lavender doubled down the rf line, RBI; J. Hopkins scored. B. Chelgren grounded out to ss. BBrandenburg flied out to rf. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB. SUNY-Brockport inning 1 Ranalli walked. Morgan out at first p to 2b, SAC, bunt; Ranalli advanced to second. Gladwell fouled out to 1b. Johnson singled to center field, advanced to second on the throw, RBI; Ranalli scored. Petersen singled to left field, advanced to second on the throw, RBI; Johnson scored. Schwegler grounded out to ss. 2 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB. Aurora Univ. inning 2 J. Smith grounded out to ss. K. Morris grounded out to 2b. C. Forbes singled to second base. A. Thor flied out to cf. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB. SUNY-Brockport inning 2 Mohr grounded out to 1b unassisted. Astalos struck out swinging. Wilson flied out to lf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Aurora Univ. inning 3 J. Hopkins walked. D. Gregory grounded into double play ss to 2b to 1b; J. Hopkins out on the play. J. Lavender singled to left field. B. Chelgren singled to center field; J. Lavender advanced to second. BBrandenburg fouled out to 1b. 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB. SUNY-Brockport inning 3 Ranalli grounded out to 1b unassisted. Morgan singled to left field. Morgan advanced to second on a wild pitch. Gladwell walked. Johnson struck out swinging. Petersen flied out to cf. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 2 LOB. Aurora Univ. inning 4 J. Smith singled to center field. K. Morris grounded into double play ss to 2b to 1b; J. Smith out on the play. C. Forbes flied out to cf. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB. SUNY-Brockport inning 4 Schwegler flied out to cf. Mohr grounded out to 3b. Astalos struck out looking. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Aurora Univ. inning 5 A. Thor lined out to 3b. J. Hopkins lined out to 1b. D. Gregory flied out to cf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. SUNY-Brockport inning 5 Wilson flied out to lf. Ranalli grounded out to p. Morgan out at first 1b to p. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Aurora Univ. inning 6 J. Lavender struck out looking. B. Chelgren grounded out to ss. BBrandenburg singled to shortstop. J. Smith hit by pitch; BBrandenburg advanced to second. K. Morris reached on a fielder's choice; J. Smith out at second ss unassisted; BBrandenburg advanced to third. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 2 LOB. SUNY-Brockport inning 6 Gladwell struck out swinging. Johnson singled to third base, bunt. Petersen grounded into double play 3b to 2b to 1b; Johnson out on the play. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Aurora Univ. inning 7 C. Forbes grounded out to p. A. Thor grounded out to p. J. Hopkins singled to second base. D. Gregory struck out looking. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB. SUNY-Brockport inning 7 Schwegler grounded out to 2b. Mohr singled to center field. Astalos doubled to right center; Mohr advanced to third. Wilson tripled down the lf line, 2 RBI; Astalos scored; Mohr scored. Ranalli singled to shortstop, bunt, RBI, out at second ss to 1b to 3b; Wilson scored. Morgan grounded out to 2b. 3 runs, 4 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Aurora Univ. inning 8 J. Lavender singled to left center. B. Chelgren singled to right center; J. Lavender advanced to third. BBrandenburg reached on a fielding error by 1b, assist by 3b, RBI; B. Chelgren advanced to second; J. Lavender scored. J. Smith lined into double play 1b unassisted; BBrandenburg out on the play. K. Morris grounded out to 3b. 1 run, 2 hits, 1 error, 1 LOB. SUNY-Brockport inning 8 R. Baird to p for J. Salzmann. Gladwell grounded out to p. Johnson struck out swinging. Petersen struck out looking. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Aurora Univ. inning 9 C. Forbes flied out to cf. A. Thor grounded out to 3b. J. Hopkins hit by pitch. Mahoney to p for Kimball. Lux to c for Schwegler. D. Gregory reached on a fielder's choice; J. Hopkins out at second 3b to 2b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Updated June 2004