2004 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship
Tournament Statistics
Team Statistics
Regional Playoff Results
Records
Bruins - National Champs!!!
George Fox defeated Eastern Conn State 6-3 in Championship Game
Grand Chute, Wisconsin - Hyde went the distance, pitching a five-hit
gem to lead Bruins to a 6-3 victory over Eastern Connecticut State University.
"I'm not sure what it was physically that kept me going," said Hyde, who had
thrown 11 innings in the tournament, including two yesterday, before taking the
hill for all nine innings in the title game. "My arm just kept going for me."
When asked at what point during the game he tired during the game, Hyde
replied, "From the start to the end."
Hyde's stunning performance almost never was. George Fox coach Pat Bailey, now desperately short on pitching, was going to start freshman Zach Wilson, who had thrown only two innings all season. When Bailey saw that Eastern Connecticut had All-American Ryan DiPietro as its starter, he changed his mind and went with Hyde. "It's like a boxing match, punch-counterpunch," Bailey said. "If they were going to start DiPietro, we were going to start Scott. We thought we would get three innings out of him."
George Fox got to DiPietro early by scoring a pair of runs in the top of the second. Derrick Jones belted a double to score Greg Dombek to get the Bruins on the board. A two-out throwing error by the shortstop on Tye Tinner's ground ball allowed Jones to score.
The Warriors answered with two runs of their own in bottom of the second. After Marc Garofalo singled, Randy Re tripled to score Garofalo. Zach Mehrbach followed with a sacrifice fly and the game was tied at 2-2.
George Fox pulled back on top in the third. Stephen Donohue led off with a single and moved to second on a bunt. After a passed ball moved him to third, Donohue scored on Dombek's single to left field.
Eastern Connecticut answered again, as Dwight Wildman hit a monster homer to dead center field for the second consecutive day to tie the game at 3-3. "I thought after I hit the (home run) today, we could get something started," Wildman said. "I don't know if it motivated (Hyde) or whatever, but he just pitched better."
Hyde struck out five of the next seven batters on his way to retiring 18 of the final 20 batters. "He did an awesome job," Eastern Connecticut coach Bill Holowaty said of Hyde. "He was the difference in the ballgame. When he got in situations, he got even tougher. He didn't break. It was a classic battle, and their kid out-pitched our kid."
Nursing a 5-3 lead, the Bruins added a big insurance run in the seventh. Jones blasted a two-out solo homer off the scoreboard in left-center field against reliever Jeremy Hall. Jones went 4-for-5 with three runs scored and two runs batted in. "I wanted to find out some way to help Scotty," Jones said of his pitcher. "I wanted to hit a line drive, but I got a little more than that."
All Tournament Team
MVP - Scott Hyde, George Fox
Catcher - Greg Dombek, George Fox; Second Base - CR Braniff, George Fox; Third Base - Tye Tinner, George Fox; Shortstop - David Peterson, George Fox; Outfield - Dwight Wildman, Eastern Conn State; John Hopkins, Aurora, Jay Levander, Aurora, Randy Re, Eastern Conn State; Pitcher - Scott Hyde, George Fox; Joey Serfass, Eastern Conn State; Ryan DiPietro, Eastern Conn State.
2004 Tournament Results
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highlights from WILI
Eastern Conn State 10, Manchester 0
Rowan 8, Wisconsin-Whitewater 2
Wisconsin-Whitewater 8,. Salisbury 1
Eastern Conn State 2, Brockport State 1
Wisconsin-Whitewater 4, Brockport State 3
George Fox 9, Eastern Conn State 8
Eastern Conn State 2, Wisconsin-Whitewater 1