Game 10 - May 31, 2004
Story | Boxscore | Play-by-Play
Grand Chute, Wisconsin - It took 19 hours and 35 minutes, but it time well-spent for Aurora University. After a constant downpour halted their game, the Spartans had to sleep on their 3-1 lead until noon the next day. Aurora then held off a Rowan University rally and beat the Profs 7-4 in an elimination game at the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship.
"You just have to play through it," Aurora left fielder Jason Smith (pictured left) said of the 17 hour, six minute, delay. "You can't worry about stuff you can't change." The Spartans (28-18) advance to play George Fox University.
Aurora built a 3-1 lead heading to the top of the fourth on Sunday evening. Brian Chelgren (pictured right) picked up a sacrifice fly in the first, John Hopkins belted a run-scoring double in the second and Smith had an RBI triple in the third.
Rowan (41-8) got its lone run before the delay on Michael Rucci's first-inning solo homer. After playing for nearly an hour, the rains came. The teams waited for about two hours before play was called for the evening.
The teams returned Monday morning. Rowan coach John Cole said the delay wasn't a factor for his squad. "I think what affected us more was you saw a very good Rowan team against (the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater)," Cole said. "I think we did not handle the success of that ballgame. We almost dropped down emotionally after that ballgame."
Aurora got a gift run in the fourth to increase its lead to 4-1 in the fourth once play resumed. After relief pitcher Jim Gendaszek struck out the first two batters, he walked Hopkins, Dan Gregory reached on Gendaszek's error and Gendaszek then walked Jay Lavender to load the bases. Chelgren then launched a pop up on the infield, but a strong wind blowing out to right field played havoc with the ball and it dropped, allowing Hopkins to score.
Rowan had a chance to cut into the lead in the fifth, with the bases loaded with one out. Aurora starter Adam Hutten, who returned to pitch after starting the game the day before, got Irv McFarland (pictured right) to ground into a double play to end the inning.
Aurora added a run in the fifth to go up 5-1 when Smith tripled to start the frame and scored on a wild pitch.
The Spartans dodged another bullet in the sixth when Matt Enuco grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Rowan tightened things up in the seventh by scoring three times to trim the lead to 5-4. Jimmy Starkey smacked a lead-off double and Brent Dempsey followed with a single. Roger Turley followed with a run-scoring single, and reliever Ryan Baird came on in relief of Hutten. After Bryan Ciconte was hit by a pitch, Chelgren and McFarland both picked up sacrifice flies to score the final two runs of the inning, but the Spartans avoided any more damage.
"That's how it's been all year," said Smith, who went 3-for-4, scored a run and drove in another. "It seems like now we can stop them. Earlier in the year, it would have been an eight-run inning instead of a three-run inning."
Aurora added a pair of big insurance runs in the eighth, with Chelgren delivering an RBI double to score Lavender, who had walked to start the inning. Pinch-hitter Jay Zimmerman then delivered an RBI single to put Aurora up 7-4.
George Creviston (pictured left) pitched the final two innings to pick up the save.
Aurora pounded out 11 hits against the team that entered the tournament with the top earned run average in the nation. "I know that stuff, but these guys don't know," Aurora head coach Shaun Neitzel said of the imposing statistic. "Nobody's here by accident. Everyone here can play, even us."
Story | Boxscore | Play-by-Play
Rowan Univ. 4 (41-8)
Name (Pos) AB R H RBI BB SO PO A
Bryan Ciconte rf.......... 3 0 0 0 1 0 2 1
Nick Urbanovich 2b........ 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 2
Irvin McFarland 1b........ 3 1 1 2 0 1 10 0
Michael Rucci c........... 3 0 0 0 0 0 7 0
Jesse Pappler dh.......... 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Matt Enuco ss............. 3 0 1 0 1 0 1 2
Jimmy Starkey cf.......... 4 1 1 0 0 1 2 1
Brent Dempsey 3b.......... 4 1 1 0 0 1 0 1
Roger Turley lf........... 3 1 2 1 1 0 1 0
Brian McLaughlin p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
Jim Gendaszek p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Michael Sclafani p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
Totals.................... 29 4 6 4 3 4 24 11
Aurora Univ. 7 (28-18)
Name (Pos) AB R H RBI BB SO PO A
John Hopkins cf........... 3 2 1 1 2 0 2 0
Dan Gregory 2b............ 3 0 0 0 1 1 5 3
Jay Lavender rf........... 2 1 1 0 2 0 3 0
Brian Chelgren 1b......... 3 2 2 3 1 0 11 2
Brian Brandenburg 3b...... 5 0 1 0 0 1 0 6
Jason Smith lf............ 4 2 3 1 0 0 0 0
Kevin Morris dh........... 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Jay Zimmerman ph.......... 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
Chris Forbes c............ 3 0 1 0 2 1 3 1
Aaron Thor ss............. 4 0 1 0 0 2 2 5
Adam Hutten p............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Ryan Baird p.............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
George Creviston p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Totals.................... 32 7 11 6 8 6 27 18
Score by innings: R H E
----------------------------------------------
Rowan Univ. 100 000 300 - 4 6 1
Aurora Univ. 111 110 02 - 7 11 1
----------------------------------------------
E - Gendaszek; A. Thor.
DP - AU 2. LOB - RU 6; AU 13.
2B - Starkey(14); J. Hopkins(8); B. Chelgren(13); J. Smith(9); C. Forbes(9); A. Thor(3). 3B - J. Smith 2(2).
HR - McFarland(6).
SB - Ciconte(12). CS - D. Gregory.
SH - D. Gregory. SF - Urbanovich; McFarland; B. Chelgren.
Rowan Univ. IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
Brian McLaughlin.... 3.0 4 3 3 3 4 11 16
Jim Gendaszek....... 1.1 3 2 1 1 2 8 10
Michael Sclafani.... 3.2 4 2 2 4 0 13 18
Aurora Univ. IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
Adam Hutten......... 6.0 6 4 4 2 3 23 27
Ryan Baird.......... 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4
George Creviston.... 2.0 0 0 0 1 1 5 6
Win - A. Hutten 5-4. Loss - McLaughlin 6-3. Save - G. Creviston (2).
WP - Gendaszek.
HBP - by Gendaszek (J. Lavender); by A. Hutten (Urbanovich); by A. Hutten (Rucci); by Sclafani (J. Smith); by R. Baird
(Ciconte).
Umpires - Home:Manny Salazar 1st:Dan Eversole 2nd:Bill Ryan 3rd:Mike Rosen
Start: 5:53 pm Time: 2:29 Attendance: 1567
A. Hutten faced 3 batters in the 7th.
Story | Boxscore | Play-by-Play
Score by innings: R H E ---------------------------------------------- Rowan Univ. 100 000 300 - 4 6 1 Aurora Univ. 111 110 02 - 7 11 1 ---------------------------------------------- Rowan Univ. inning 1 Ciconte grounded out to ss. Urbanovich out at first 1b to p. McFarland homered, RBI. Rucci grounded out to 3b. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Aurora Univ. inning 1 J. Hopkins walked. D. Gregory grounded out to p, SAC, bunt; J. Hopkins advanced to second. J. Lavender singled to shortstop; J. Hopkins advanced to third. B. Chelgren flied out to rf, SAC, RBI; J. Hopkins scored. BBrandenburg struck out swinging. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB. Rowan Univ. inning 2 Pappler struck out swinging. Enuco grounded out to 3b. Starkey grounded out to 3b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Aurora Univ. inning 2 J. Smith doubled to right center. K. Morris struck out swinging. C. Forbes walked. A. Thor struck out swinging. J. Hopkins doubled, RBI; C. Forbes advanced to third; J. Smith scored. D. Gregory struck out swinging. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB. Rowan Univ. inning 3 Dempsey, B. struck out swinging, out at first c to 1b. Turley singled to left field. Ciconte reached on a fielder's choice; Turley out at second 3b to 2b. Ciconte stole second. Urbanovich grounded out to 2b. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB. Aurora Univ. inning 3 J. Lavender walked. B. Chelgren reached on a fielder's choice; J. Lavender out at second rf to ss. BBrandenburg flied out to cf. J. Smith tripled to right field, RBI; B. Chelgren scored. K. Morris grounded out to p. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB. Rowan Univ. inning 4 McFarland struck out swinging. Rucci grounded out to ss. Pappler reached on a fielding error by ss. Enuco singled to third base, bunt; Pappler advanced to second. Starkey flied out to rf. 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 error, 2 LOB. Aurora Univ. inning 4 Gendaszek to p for McLaughlin. C. Forbes struck out swinging. A. Thor struck out swinging. J. Hopkins walked. D. Gregory reached on a fielding error by p; J. Hopkins advanced to second. J. Lavender hit by pitch; D. Gregory advanced to second; J. Hopkins advanced to third. B. Chelgren singled to second base, RBI; J. Lavender advanced to second; D. Gregory advanced to third; J. Hopkins scored, unearned. BBrandenburg flied out to rf. 1 run, 1 hit, 1 error, 3 LOB. Rowan Univ. inning 5 Dempsey, B. lined out to cf. Turley walked. Ciconte walked; Turley advanced to second. Urbanovich hit by pitch; Ciconte advanced to second; Turley advanced to third. McFarland grounded into double play 3b to 2b to 1b; Urbanovich out on the play. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB. Aurora Univ. inning 5 J. Smith tripled to right field. J. Smith scored on a wild pitch. K. Morris fouled out to 1b. C. Forbes doubled down the lf line. Sclafani to p for Gendaszek. A. Thor grounded out to 2b; C. Forbes advanced to third. J. Hopkins grounded out to 3b. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB. Rowan Univ. inning 6 Rucci hit by pitch. Pappler reached on a fielder's choice; Rucci out at second ss to 2b. Enuco grounded into double play ss to 2b to 1b; Pappler out on the play. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Aurora Univ. inning 6 D. Gregory grounded out to ss. J. Lavender grounded out to 2b. B. Chelgren walked. BBrandenburg singled to left field; B. Chelgren advanced to second. J. Smith hit by pitch; BBrandenburg advanced to second; B. Chelgren advanced to third. K. Morris grounded out to p. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 3 LOB. Rowan Univ. inning 7 Starkey doubled down the lf line. Dempsey, B. singled to left field; Starkey advanced to third. Turley singled to left field, RBI; Dempsey, B. advanced to second; Starkey scored. R. Baird to p for A. Hutten. Ciconte hit by pitch; Turley advanced to second; Dempsey, B. advanced to third. Urbanovich flied out to rf, SF, RBI; Ciconte advanced to second; Turley advanced to third; Dempsey, B. scored. McFarland flied out to cf, SF, RBI; Ciconte advanced to third; Turley scored. Rucci grounded out to ss. 3 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB. Aurora Univ. inning 7 C. Forbes walked. A. Thor doubled to left center; C. Forbes advanced to third, out at home cf to ss to c. J. Hopkins grounded out to 1b unassisted; A. Thor advanced to third. D. Gregory walked. D. Gregory out at second p to 2b, caught stealing. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB. Rowan Univ. inning 8 G. Creviston to p for R. Baird. Pappler flied out to rf. Enuco walked. Enuco out at second p to 1b to ss, picked off. Starkey struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Aurora Univ. inning 8 J. Lavender walked. B. Chelgren doubled to left center, RBI; J. Lavender scored. BBrandenburg flied out to cf. J. Smith lined out to lf. J. Zimmerman pinch hit for K. Morris. J. Zimmerman singled to right center, RBI; B. Chelgren scored. C. Forbes fouled out to 1b. 2 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB. Rowan Univ. inning 9 Dempsey, B. popped up to 2b. Turley popped up to ss. Ciconte grounded out to 3b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Updated June 2004