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GBM College - Showdown Shockers |
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Written by Chip Armonaitis
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Wednesday, 04 June 2008 |
 (Publisher's Note - With so much going on behind the scenes at GOtham these days, this great piece by our College Editor got lost in the shuttle. We apologize to Chip and all GBM College fans)
“There was no joy in Mudville, cause the Mighty Casey had struck out.”
Mudville might be a happier place than Gotham, at least on the college
baseball scene, as the Memorial Day Weekend saw the high hopes and
expectations of most of Gotham’s college baseball teams come to a
crashing, and at times shocking, end.
And also coming ot an end is Mattingly Baseball's "Beast of the Week" honors - at least for 2008. SO who win's the coveted last spot?
Beast of the Week: Mason Heyne (Rider) - If you look solely at the numbers, you might question this selection. But on Showdown Saturday, Heyne drove in six runs on three hits, and scored three runs, as Rider advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Heyne drove in four in the Broncs 9-8 loss to Siena on Saturday, but helped the Broncs bounce back with two more in their 12-5 victory.
Pitcher of the Week: Gary Novakowski (Stony Brook) - Novakowski’s gem over top-seeded Binghamton advanced the Seawolves into the Conference final with a 2-0 record, needing to win one of two to advance to the NCAA Tournament. Novakowski struck out nine, allowing on four hits, in eight innings, en route to a 1-0 shutout victory.
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America East
One of the post-season success stories, Stony Brook moves to the post-season from the second seed in the America East tournament, due to strong pitching. After beating Maryland Baltimore County, 4-3, on Justin Echevarria’s double in the bottom of the ninth in the opening game, the Seawolves did not allow a run the rest of the way.
UMBC had rallied from a 3-0 deficit to tie the game, before Echevarria’s double scored Keith Fier from first with the winning run. Michael Tansey had led the inning off with a double, and moved to third on a wild pitch, before being thrown out at the plate on Fier’s grounder to shortstop.
Jeremy Nowak improved to 7-2 with the win.
Gary Novakowski limited top-seed Binghamton to four hits in eight innings, with Jordan Purington picking up his seventh save of the season with a scoreless ninth. The Seawolves once again scored in their final at bat, as Steevn Mazzurco scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the eight for the game’s only run.
Saturday, Stony Brook eliminated the need for a win-or-go-home scenario, winning 6-0 behind the pitching of Mike Errigo, who tossed a five-hit, complete game shutout. Tansey had four RBI, including a three-run home run in the fourth, giving Stony Brook a 4-0 lead.
The Seawolves advance to the NCAA tournament as the America East Tournament champion, with a 34-24 overall record.
Metro Atlantic
For the Rider Broncs, the upset story was positive. But the end of the Manhattan Jaspers season was shocking, not only for its suddenness, but harshness.
Manhattan, on a 10-game win streak entering the MAAC Tournament, was handed two devasting losses. Thursday, Siena pounded second-seeded Manhattan, 24-3, as the Saints pounded out 26 hits and took advantage of four Jasper errors. Friday, Canisius, pounded out 18 more, handing Manhattan a 16-7 loss that ended the Jaspers seasons.
The Golden Griffins scored six in the first and three in third off starter Mike Gazzola, and never looked back.
For Rider, on the other hand, the story was different. A distinct underdog, despite being the host school, Rider entered as the fourth seed, and served notice in game one, defeating Canisius, 4-3. Mike Petrowski won his second game of the year, holding Canisius to just three runs in 6.1 innings despite allowing seven hits and four walks. James Hayes would pitch the final 2.2 innings for the save, his 10th of the season.
Sean Olson drove in three of Riders four hits.
Hayes and Jimmer Kennedy would combine to shut-out Siena on Friday, 3-0 to advance to the champuionship round a perfect 2-0. Kennedy tossed eight scoreless innings, allowing just three hits and a walk, while fanning two. The winning run scored in the second inning, as Jon Leise scored on a wild pitch.
Chamionship Saturday turned out to be a tense one for Rider. With a chance to win the MAAC title, Hayes, going for his third save, picked up the loss as Siena rallied from a one-run deficit in the ninth to tie the game at 6-6; and then again, scoring three runs in the tenth to overcome a 8-6 deficit.
Hayes, who at the bat had three hits on the day, suffered in his third straight day of work, allowing four runs in 1.1 innings, allowing four hits and a walk in picking up the loss.
In the nightcap, a true elimination game for both Siena and Rider, the Broncs offense came through, as Mo Williams drove in four runs, as Rider advanced to a sloppy, 12-5 victory. Both teams made four errors during the game, and game one winner Petroski came in to pitch the final 2.2 innings to earn his first save of the season.
Leise had four hits in the nightcap, while Olson scored four runs.
Northeast Conference
Going into Saturday, it was chalk. Pre-seaosn favorite, and regular season champion Monmouth needed to win one of two games to advance to the NCAAs. Then Mount St. Mary’s snapped the chalk in half, sweeping the Hawks by scores of 8-3 and 14-2, sending Monmouth home a very disappointed team.
It all fell apart in the bottom of the eighth inning of the opening, as MSM scored five runs off of sophomore reliever Brett Brach. MSM also took advantage of two MOnmuth errors, and advanced to the finale with momentum on their side.
The nightcap was the Hawks worst nightmare, as MSM scored three in the first and two in third and never looked back, cruising to a 14-2 win. Monmouth starter Kyle Breese took the loss, allowing five runs in three innings on eight hits.
Signs of trouble might have been present earlier in the series, as the Hawks struggled beating MSM 12-7 in the opener, and then winning a 10-9 decision against Central Connecticut State.
Wagner, Gotham’s other entrant in the NEC tournament, dropped an 8-4 decision to CCSU and a 5-1 contest to MSM. The Seahwawks finished the year with a 27-28 record.
Big East
No one had as much to gain over the weekend as St. John’s. Ranked in the top 20 in all the polls, the Red Storm had hopes that if they won the Big East Tournament, and some other things broke in their favor, a #1 seed and a shot at hosting a regional were in line.
But the Red Storm never made it to the weekend, losing on Tuesday, 12-0 to Villanova, in a game in which the mercy rule was invoked, and 12-6 to Seton Hall on Wednesday. Instead of a being a favored guest, the Red Storm now must hope to just get an invite.
For the second straight year, the bullpen imploded on the Red Storm, as Tuesday the bullpen allowed 10 runs in seven innings, after started Matt Tosoni left after pitching two innings and allowing two runs. Wednesday, the Pirates got to the bullpen for nine runs in the final 2.2 innings, including four runs, three earned off of closer Colin Lynch, who was only able to get one out.
Seton Hall’s Greg Miller had four hits and three RBI, while leading a 14-hit attack. The Pirates were eliminated in their next game, a 10-0 loss to Villanova.
St. John’s was burned by the strategy of setting up their rotation, as ace George Brown, who went 9-0 in the regular season, did not appear in a game before the Red Storm were eliminated.
Division III
Kean’s defense of their 2007 National Championship ended two games into the DIII College World Series, with a 7-6 loss to Adrian in 12 innings. That loss followed Kean’s first loss in a post-season tournament in four tournaments, a 4-2 loss to Chapman to open the DIII College World Series.
Joe Bartlinksi lost the opener, falling to 8-3 on the season, while Brandon Aich dropped to 7-2 with the loss to Adrian.
In the early going Kean seemed to be handling the Bulldogs scoring in each of the first five innings to take a 5-0 lead. After a change in pitchers, KU would not record another hit until the 11th inning. After recording single runs in the first three innings, the Cougars tallied two in the top of the fourth. Senior Dan Mattonelli led off the inning with a single followed by a single by senior Bryan Burke. After a successful sacrifice by senior catcher Kevin O'Neill senior Maikel De La Rosa drove in both with a single to center.
Adrian responded with four in the bottom of the inning to pull within 5-4. After exchanging runs, Adrian tied things up in their half of the seventh. With two outs, the Bulldogs got things going with back-to-back walks and Brian Bilius tied things up with an RBI single to right.
The Bulldogs threatened in the bottom of the eleventh forcing the bases loaded with one out. Aich got out of the jam getting a pop up to short rightfield and a groundout to short on a bang-bang play to end the inning.
After committing just four errors to this point this season, De La Rosa uncharacteristically recorded three this afternoon while O'Neill's interference call led to four errors this afternoon, their second highest total of the season.
Offensively, De La Rosa was 3-for-5 with three RBI while Burke was 3-for-5 with a run scored and RBI
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