Game 13 - May 30, 2005
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Grand Chute, Wisconsin - On Sunday, after the State University of New York-Cortland used five pitchers in a marathon 15-12 win over Chapman University, a reporter asked head coach Joe Brown if he was worried about his team's pitching depth. No worries, Brown stated.
Monday's results provided a ringing endorsement of Brown's response. With a 5-0 win over Wartburg College in Monday's first elimination game, and a 4-1 win over the College of Wooster in the second game, Cortland State (43-8-1) advanced to Tuesday's national championship game against Wisconsin-Whitewater (44-7) at 1 p.m. Whitewater, as the lone unbeaten team remaining in the tournament, will only have to win one game to claim the national title; Cortland State would have to win twice over the Warhawks, in the 1 p.m. game and the 4:30 p.m. "if-necessary" game, to claim a national title for the first time in school history. Wooster finished its season at 39-10, claiming third-place honors at the national finals.
Two dominant pitching performances highlighted the day for Cortland State on Monday - a complete-game five-hitter by Jim Dougher in the victory over Wartburg, and a seven-and-two-thirds-inning performance by Ryan Hooper (pictured left) in the win over Wooster. Hooper struck out five while allowing just one walk and six hits in the victory, only allowing a run after a leadoff double by Kurt Kapferer in the second inning. From the third inning on, Hooper only allowed seven runners to reach base, and his defense was able to squelch several Wooster rallies.
"They proved my point," Brown said of his pitchers. "Getting a performance in the first game was huge by Jimmy Dougher. Jimmy gave us nine innings, he stepped up and helped us. (There was a) great discussion as to who we were going to start in the second game … In the coaches' minds, we felt a good curveball pitcher had to be someone that could go out on the mound. Ryan has one of the better curveballs (on the team). This kid has had one start this year, and what he did today was monumental."
Reliever Nick McPartland, making his third pitching appearance of the tournament, picked up his sixth save of the season, recording a strikeout and just one walk in an inning-and-one-third of work.
"I was just hoping to give the team as much of myself as possible, as many innings as I could get, to try to save the arms to make it to the next game," said Hooper, who recorded his longest outing of the season on Monday.
After an opening-round loss to Wooster on Friday - a 7-6 loss that ended at 1:45 a.m. - Cortland State has now won four games in a row, and avenging the earlier loss to the Scots proved to be a tempting challenge for the Red Dragons. "That was a close game we played in the first game, and we thought we were the better team. We lost a few opportunities to win that game," said center fielder Jimmy Basnight. "It's fun. Playing right now is fun. We don't even think of it as, we're one loss away from losing (the season). It's how many more wins do we need? But I feel like it was a lot of payback in this game. They beat us and we wanted to beat them back."
Meanwhile, Wooster also got a solid pitching performance in its final game of the season, from brothers Adam (pictured right) and Walt Samson. Freshman Adam started and pitched his longest performance of the season, netting a season-best five strikeouts against just one walk in seven innings of work, and junior Walt relieved him and struck out two in the eighth inning. "Adam was phenomenal," said teammate Luke Ullman, the senior shortstop and Division III National Player of the Year. "He pitched an excellent game. As a freshman going out there in a decisive game, and competing the way he did, it showed a lot about his character and about how he's going to be in the future."
Cortland State took an early lead, as Basnight led off the first inning with a single and scored on a sacrifice fly by Andy Mead (pictured left middle). In the fourth, Mead led off the inning with a double off the left field wall, moved up a base on a throwing error and scored on a single to right by Ricky Piovesan (pictured left). Both Mead and Piovesan had two hits to lead the Red Dragons.
Wooster had several scoring threats -- getting runners on base in each of the final four innings, including having runners at second and third with just one out in the fifth. But none could advance further as Cortland State had a solid defensive effort, pulling off a double play early and netting key inning-ending defensive plays down the stretch. Rob Romick had two hits to lead the Scots.
The Red Dragons put two runners aboard on a single to left and an infield single in the sixth, and Shawn Ensel drove a run in on a two-out single up the middle. Cortland State pulled off a double-steal in the eighth inning to add an insurance run, as pinch runner Will Groff came home from third when Zach Tacelli was able to successfully steal second.
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College of Wooster 1 (39-10) Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB ------------------------------------------------------ Luke Ullman ss........... 3 0 1 0 0 1 2 2 2 Shaun Swearingen cf...... 4 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 Jake Frank 3b............ 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Kurt Kapferer dh/1b...... 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 Pat Christensen rf....... 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 Rob Romick 1b............ 2 0 2 0 0 0 2 3 0 Jake Sankal pr.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Walt Samson p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dean Palombaro ph....... 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Brandon Boesiger c....... 3 0 1 1 1 1 7 0 0 Brock Busson lf.......... 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 2 Ross Yoder 2b............ 2 0 0 0 0 1 3 1 0 Josh Keller ph.......... 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Bubba O'Donnell 2b...... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Adam Samson p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 Totals................... 31 1 6 1 2 6 24 8 7 SUNY-Cortland 4 (43-8-1) Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB ------------------------------------------------------ Jimmy Basnight cf........ 4 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 Steve Newman 2b.......... 3 0 0 0 1 0 3 1 0 Travis Robinson 1b....... 4 0 0 0 0 0 8 1 0 Andy Mead rf............. 3 2 2 1 0 1 2 0 0 Pat D'Auria dh........... 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 Will Groff pr........... 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ricky Piovesan 3b........ 4 0 2 1 0 1 0 4 0 Zach Tacelli lf.......... 2 0 1 0 1 1 3 0 0 Shawn Ensel c............ 4 0 1 1 0 2 7 1 1 Nick Wilson ss........... 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 5 Ryan Hooper p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 Nick McPartland p....... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals................... 30 4 7 3 3 7 27 12 7 Score by Innings R H E ------------------------------------------- College of Wooster.. 010 000 000 - 1 6 2 SUNY-Cortland....... 100 101 01X - 4 7 0 ------------------------------------------- E - Ullman 2. DP - Cortland 1. LOB - Wooster 7; Cortland 7. 2B - Kapferer(12); Mead(13); Tacelli(9). HBP - Ullman; Romick. SH - Tacelli. SF - Mead. SB - Groff 2(21); Tacelli(18). CS - Swearingen. College of Wooster IP H R ER BB SO AB BF ----------------------------------------------- Adam Samson......... 7.0 7 3 2 1 5 27 30 Walt Samson......... 1.0 0 1 1 2 2 3 5 SUNY-Cortland IP H R ER BB SO AB BF ----------------------------------------------- Ryan Hooper......... 7.2 6 1 1 1 5 27 30 Nick McPartland..... 1.1 0 0 0 1 1 4 5 Win - Hooper (2-0). Loss - A. Samson (2-1). Save - McPartland (6). WP - Hooper. HBP - by Hooper (Ullman); by Hooper (Romick). Umpires - HP: Bob Lynn 1B: Andre Lanoue 2B: Tim Carey 3B: Bill Ryan Start: 3:28 pm Time: 2:31 Attendance: 1477
Story | Boxscore | Play-by-Play
Score by Innings R H E ------------------------------------------- College of Wooster.. 010 000 000 - 1 6 2 SUNY-Cortland....... 100 101 01X - 4 7 0 ------------------------------------------- College of Wooster starters: 2/ss Ullman; 15/cf Swearingen; 16/3b Frank; 29/dh Kapferer; 9/rf Christensen; 30/1b Romick; 13/c Boesiger; 3/lf Busson; 6/2b Yoder; 26/p A. Samson; SUNY-Cortland starters: 9/cf Basnight; 6/2b Newman; 23/1b Robinson; 3/rf Mead; 21/dh D'Auria; 20/3b Piovesan; 17/lf Tacelli; 22/c Ensel; 5/ss Wilson; 26/p Hooper; College of Wooster 1st - Ullman hit by pitch. Swearingen out on batter's interference. Frank grounded into double play 3b to 2b to 1b; Ullman out on the play. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. SUNY-Cortland 1st - Basnight singled through the left side. Newman walked; Basnight advanced to second. Robinson reached on a fielder's choice; Newman out at second 1b to ss; Basnight advanced to third. Mead flied out to lf, SF, RBI; Robinson advanced to second on the throw; Basnight scored. D'Auria popped up to ss. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB. College of Wooster 2nd - Kapferer doubled to center field. Christensen lined out to cf. Romick singled through the left side; Kapferer advanced to third. Boesiger reached on a fielder's choice, RBI; Romick out at second 3b to 2b; Kapferer scored. Busson flied out to rf. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB. SUNY-Cortland 2nd - Piovesan struck out swinging. Tacelli doubled to right center. Ensel flied out to cf. Wilson struck out looking. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB. College of Wooster 3rd - Yoder struck out swinging. Ullman struck out swinging. Swearingen flied out to rf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. SUNY-Cortland 3rd - Basnight reached on a fielding error by ss. Newman flied out to rf. Basnight out at second p to 1b to ss to 2b, picked off. Robinson out at first 1b to p. 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 error, 0 LOB. College of Wooster 4th - Frank grounded out to 3b. Kapferer out at first 1b to p. Christensen struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. SUNY-Cortland 4th - Mead doubled to left center. D'Auria reached on a throwing error by ss; Mead advanced to third. Piovesan singled to right field, RBI; D'Auria advanced to second; Mead scored, unearned. Tacelli out at first p to 2b, SAC, bunt; Piovesan advanced to second; D'Auria advanced to third. Ensel struck out swinging. Wilson popped up to 2b. 1 run, 2 hits, 1 error, 2 LOB. College of Wooster 5th - Romick hit by pitch. Boesiger walked; Romick advanced to second. Busson reached on a fielder's choice; Boesiger out at second 2b unassisted; Romick advanced to third. Busson advanced to second on a wild pitch. Yoder flied out to lf. Ullman grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB. SUNY-Cortland 5th - Basnight flied out to lf. Newman grounded out to ss. Robinson grounded out to 2b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. College of Wooster 6th - Swearingen singled up the middle. Frank struck out looking. Swearingen out at second c to ss, caught stealing. Kapferer struck out swinging. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB. SUNY-Cortland 6th - Mead singled through the left side. D'Auria flied out to lf. Piovesan singled to third base; Mead advanced to second. Tacelli struck out swinging. Ensel singled up the middle, RBI; Piovesan advanced to second; Mead scored. Wilson flied out to cf. 1 run, 3 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB. College of Wooster 7th - Christensen grounded out to 3b. Romick singled to right field. Sankal pinch ran for Romick. Boesiger singled to shortstop; Sankal advanced to second. Busson flied out to cf. Keller pinch hit for Yoder. Keller grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB. SUNY-Cortland 7th - Kapferer to 1b. A. Samson to p for Sankal. O'Donnell to 2b for Keller. / for A. Samson. Basnight struck out swinging. Newman flied out to lf. Robinson grounded out to 1b unassisted. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. College of Wooster 8th - Ullman singled up the middle. Swearingen grounded out to p; Ullman advanced to second. Frank grounded out to ss; Ullman advanced to third. McPartland to p for Hooper. Kapferer flied out to lf. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB. SUNY-Cortland 8th - W. Samson to p for A. Samson. Mead struck out swinging. D'Auria walked. Groff pinch ran for D'Auria. Groff stole second. Piovesan flied out to rf; Groff advanced to third. Tacelli walked. Tacelli stole second; Groff stole home. Ensel struck out looking. 1 run, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB. College of Wooster 9th - Christensen grounded out to ss. Palombaro pinch hit for W. Samson. Palombaro walked. Boesiger struck out looking. Busson flied out to lf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Updated June 2005