Game 4 - May 26, 2006
Story | Boxscore | Play-by-Play
A near-record crowd at Fox Cities Stadium was treated to a tremendous pitchers' duel between two All-Americans in the final game of Friday's first day of action at the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship, as Marietta College scored a 2-1 win over the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
The game provided a close-to-home atmosphere for UW-Stevens Point, a school just an hour drive from the Appleton area. As a result, the turnstile crowd was tallied at 2,467, the second-largest single-game mark in the seven years that the Division III championship has been held at Fox Cities Stadium.
And the two starting pitchers gave the crowd a great effort. Marietta starter Mike Eisenberg (pictured left), a first-team All-American, struck out 11 in eight innings of work, allowing just four hits, two walks and one unearned run in the fourth inning. Meanwhile, UW-Stevens Point starter Jordan Zimmerman (pictured right), a second-team All-American, threw his eighth complete game of the season, also striking out 11 with just one walk and four hits allowed.
With the win, Marietta's first in championship finals play since 2002, the Pioneers (40-11) advance to face Montclair State (34-17-2) in a championship-round game on Saturday at 7:45 p.m. Marietta won NCAA Division III titles in 1981, 1983 and 1986, and is making its 18th appearance in the finals. "We're real excited about where we are and pleased to have the opportunity to play in the winner's bracket again tomorrow night," said Marietta coach Brian Brewer, who improved to 105-32-1 in his three seasons with the Pioneers.
UW-Stevens Point (34-17) will face Aurora (34-13) in an elimination game on Saturday at 1:15 p.m. But given the Pointers' recent history in its second appearance in the finals, facing elimination is nothing new. In its prior playoff appearances this season - in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament and the Division III Wisconsin Rapids Regional - UW-Stevens Point has played nine elimination games … and has won all nine. The Pointers are now 2-10 in one-run games this season, with all three postseason losses this season by one run.
Zimmerman is now 5-5 on the year, with the team scoring a total of just seven runs in his five losses. "In close games, you have to be able to execute in the small facets of the game of the game offensively in order to win," said UW-Stevens Point coach Pat Bloom. "We know that when Jordan's on the mound, he's going to give us nine really solid innings. We have to be able to do the little things in order to move runners over, so that we can score runs and we didn't do it tonight."
Meanwhile, Eisenberg claimed his sixth double-digit strikeout effort of the season with his 11-strikeout performance. He has had at least five strikeouts in 14 of his 20 pitching appearances this season. "He's a first team All-American for a reason," said UW-Stevens Point catcher Doug Coe. "He spotted the ball well all night long, and we didn't make the necessary adjustments." "We established the fastball early, and the curveball got us deep into a lot of counts," Eisenberg said. "Later in the game, we threw more change-ups. Keeping them off balance helped us out, but good defense was the key today."
Marietta struck in the fourth inning, scoring two runs. Ryan Belanger led off the inning with a double to right-center field, then came across on a bloop single to right by Justin Steranka. Steranka stole second and moved to third on a throwing error, then scored on a sacrifice fly by Joe Litke.
UW-Stevens Point scored its lone run in the bottom of the inning, as Nat Richer (pictured left) led off the inning with a bunt single and advanced to second on a throwing error. A single to left-center by Adam Evanoff drove home Richter.
In the seventh, Richter stuck again to start the inning, but Marietta survived the leadoff threat. Richter hit a fly ball to left field that Marietta left-fielder Josh Beebe misjudged. Richter ended up at second on the error, and moved to third after a double-play grounder. A groundout ended the inning and the Pioneers escaped unscathed.
The Pointers went in order in the eighth, and left the potential tying run on base in the ninth against Marietta's Mike DeMark, who recorded his first save of the year in just his sixth relief appearance. Doug Coe hit a single to center, but a pop-fly bunt was turned into a double play, as a pinch-runner was caught off of first. Chuck Brehm singled and stole second, but a strikeout ended the game.
Jarrod Klausman (pictured right) had two of Marietta's four hits, including a first-inning double.
Story | Boxscore | Play-by-Play
Marietta 2 Name (Pos) AB R H RBI BB SO PO A Tony Piconke rf........... 4 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 Ryan Belanger 2b.......... 4 1 1 0 0 1 3 1 Jarrod Klausman 1b........ 4 0 2 0 0 2 13 0 Justin Steranka 3b........ 4 1 1 1 0 1 1 3 Joe Lithe dh.............. 3 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 Josh Beebe lf............. 4 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 Lee Guerrera c............ 3 0 0 0 0 1 7 5 Chris Hendricks cf........ 2 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 Ryan Eschbaugh ss......... 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 Mike Eisenberg p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Mike DeMark p............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals.................... 30 2 4 2 1 11 27 14 Wisconsin-Stevens Pt 1 Name (Pos) AB R H RBI BB SO PO A Jake Fromback ss.......... 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 Nat Richter 2b............ 3 1 1 0 0 1 1 3 Ryan Byrnes lf............ 3 0 0 0 1 2 1 0 Doug Coe c................ 4 0 1 0 0 1 12 0 Joel Hojnacki pr.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Adam Evanoff 1b........... 4 0 1 1 0 1 9 0 Chuck Brehm cf............ 3 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 Tim Schlosser dh.......... 4 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 Stewart Larsen 3b......... 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 Brandon Scheidler rf...... 3 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 Jordon Zimmerman p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 Totals.................... 30 1 5 1 2 12 27 8 Score by innings: R H E ---------------------------------------------- Marietta 000 200 000 - 2 4 2 Wisconsin-Stevens Pt 000 100 000 - 1 5 1 ---------------------------------------------- E - Belanger; Beebe; Coe. DP - Marietta 2. LOB - Marietta 4; Wisc-SP 6. 2B - Belanger; Klausman. SB - Steranka; Eschbaugh; Brehm 2. SH - Richter. SF - Litke. Marietta IP H R ER BB SO AB BF Mike Eisenberg...... 8.0 4 1 0 2 11 27 31 Mike DeMark......... 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 3 3 Wisconsin-Stevens Pt IP H R ER BB SO AB BF Jordon Zimmerman.... 9.0 4 2 1 1 11 30 33 Win - Eisenberg 12-2. Loss - Jo Zimmerman 5-5. Save - DeMark (1). HBP - by Jo Zimmerman (Eschbaugh); by Eisenberg (Brehm). Umpires - Home:Eric Thorton 1st:Dteve Reinhardt 2nd:Brandon Jackson 3rd:Carmene Perotti Start: 07:45 Time: 2:09 Attendance: 2467 Eisenberg faced 1 batter in the 9th.
Story | Boxscore | Play-by-Play
Score by innings: R H E ---------------------------------------------- Marietta 000 200 000 - 2 4 2 Wisconsin-Stevens Pt 000 100 000 - 1 5 1 ---------------------------------------------- Marietta inning 1 Piconke struck out swinging. Belanger grounded out to 1b unassisted. Klausman doubled down the lf line. Steranka grounded out to 3b. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB. Wisconsin-Stevens Pt inning 1 Frombach singled to third base. Richter out at first p to 2b, SAC, bunt; Frombach advanced to second. Byrnes struck out swinging, out at first c to 1b. Coe struck out swinging, out at first c to 1b. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB. Marietta inning 2 Litke struck out looking. Beebe struck out looking. Guerrera struck out looking. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Wisconsin-Stevens Pt inning 2 Evanoff struck out swinging. Brehm struck out swinging, out at first c to 1b. Schlosser grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Marietta inning 3 Hendricks grounded out to p. Eschbaugh grounded out to 2b. Piconke struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Wisconsin-Stevens Pt inning 3 Larsen struck out swinging, out at first c to 1b. Scheidler grounded out to ss. Frombach grounded out to 3b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Marietta inning 4 Belanger doubled to right center. Klausman struck out swinging. Steranka singled to right field, RBI; Belanger scored. Steranka stole second, advanced to third on an error by c. Litke fouled out to lf, SF, RBI; Steranka scored, unearned. Beebe grounded out to p. 2 runs, 2 hits, 1 error, 0 LOB. Wisconsin-Stevens Pt inning 4 Richter singled, advanced to second on a throwing error by 2b. Byrnes grounded out to ss. Coe flied out to cf; Richter advanced to third. Evanoff singled to left center, RBI; Richter scored, unearned. Brehm struck out swinging. 1 run, 2 hits, 1 error, 1 LOB. Marietta inning 5 Guerrera grounded out to 2b. Hendricks grounded out to p. Eschbaugh hit by pitch. Eschbaugh stole second. Piconke flied out to rf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB. Wisconsin-Stevens Pt inning 5 Schlosser flied out to rf. Larsen walked. Scheidler struck out swinging. Frombach struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB. Marietta inning 6 Belanger struck out looking. Klausman singled to first base. Steranka popped up to 2b. Litke grounded out to p. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB. Wisconsin-Stevens Pt inning 6 Richter reached on a fielding error by lf, advanced to second. Byrnes walked. Coe grounded into double play 2b to 1b; Byrnes out on the play; Richter advanced to third. Evanoff grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 error, 1 LOB. Marietta inning 7 Beebe struck out swinging. Guerrera grounded out to 2b. Hendricks walked. Eschbaugh popped up to c. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB. Wisconsin-Stevens Pt inning 7 Brehm hit by pitch. Brehm stole second. Schlosser struck out swinging. Larsen grounded out to 3b; Brehm advanced to third. Scheidler flied out to cf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB. Marietta inning 8 Piconke flied out to rf. Belanger flied out to rf. Klausman struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Wisconsin-Stevens Pt inning 8 Frombach fouled out to 1b. Richter struck out swinging. Byrnes struck out looking. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Marietta inning 9 Steranka struck out swinging. Litke popped up to p. Beebe struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Wisconsin-Stevens Pt inning 9 Coe singled to center field. Hojnacki pinch ran for Coe. DeMark to p for Eisenberg. Evanoff popped into double play 3b to 2b; Hojnacki out on the play. Brehm singled to left field. Brehm stole second. Schlosser struck out swinging, out at first c to 1b. 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Updated May 2006