CARY, N.C. – The fourth seeded Southern New Hampshire relished the “underdog” mantra after falling fighting their way through the loser’s bracket to fend off a comeback attempt against the third seeded UC San Diego 7-4 in the tenth game of the 2018 Division II Baseball Championship.
The championship is being held at the USA Baseball National Training Complex, and is being co-hosted by the Town of Cary and the University of Mount Olive.
Southern New Hampshire fought off elimination for the second straight contest to advance in the championship to face fifth seeded Augustana on May 31 at 1pm. The Penmen and Vikings will take the field in a rematch of game one of the championship. Augustana took the contest 5-2. UC San Diego was eliminated following the loss.
Southern New Hampshire grabbed the momentum early as the Penmen cleared the fence twice in the opening three innings to jump out to an early 7-0 lead. Tom Blandini put SNHU out front early with a lead-off home run in the bottom of the first inning. Singles by Sam Henrie and Idelson Taveras in the second inning continued the swing. Kyle Pangallo won a seven pitch at-bat lifting a three-run blast to left field for the 4-0 advantage.
The Penmen continued their attack in the bottom of the third inning as Caleb Potter singled to center and Dakota Mulcay drew a walk to chase the UC San Diego starting pitcher. Ryan Sullivan promptly welcomed the reliever with a RBI single to left center before a wild pitch plated another run. Idelson Taveras picked up a two-out RBI single for the final run of the inning.
UC San Diego would shift the momentum in the top of the fifth as Michael Palos led off the inning with a solo home run. Shay Whitcomb drew a full count walk before two quick outs. The Tritons looked to push across another run in the inning as Keenan Brigman doubled down the left field line, but a perfectly executed relay by Sam Henrie to Kyle Pangallo to Dakota Mulcay nabbed Whitcomb at the plate for the final out.
Tritons’ reliever, Cameron Kruz, held the Penmen hitters at-bay tossing the final 4.2 innings collecting six strikeouts and did not allow a hit.
UC San Diego would chip away at the deficit in the sixth inning as Justin Beck doubled and Zander Clarke drew a walk on eight pitches. Tyler Durna would load the bases as a bit of luck occurred for the Tritons as the batted ball hit the third base bag. Michael Palos worked a walk to plate a run before an inning ending double play kept the score 7-2.
The Tritons continued to fight in the seventh as Nick Kritzmann started off the inning with a walk. Brandon Stewart doubled to left to keep the rally going. Keenan Brigman plated a run on a sacrifice fly before a Zander Clarke single allowed Stewart to score to cut the deficit to 7-4.
UCSD was unable to find the final runs in the contest to dig out of the early hole.
Quotes
Southern New Hampshire
Head coach Scott Loiseau
“That was a really good battle between both teams. We were able to get on them early, then they brought in that reliever who did an outstanding job. He gave them a chance to get back in the game.”
“If we don’t turn that double play in the sixth, who knows what happens. … Wes has done an unbelievable job all year of coming into situations like that and getting the double play. It feels like he’s done that ten times.”
“Maybe you guys felt like we were hanging on late, but it didn’t feel like that in the dugout, especially with Wes on the mound. He walked the first guy in the seventh, which wasn’t a good move, kind of gave those guys some life. But in the eighth when he got the leadoff guy, everyone felt a little different.”
Shortstop Kyle Pangallo
“It was just a very intense game of baseball.”
“I just see the ball really well at this park. I got a fastball two strikes in and just reacted.”
Third baseman Tom Blandini
(On getting a leadoff home run) “It makes us feel good about ourselves and really sets the tone for the entire game. Little stuff like that starts sparks for us.”
UC San Diego
Head coach Eric Newman
“We dug ourselves a pretty big hole. It’s a good team. They came out ready to hit and capitalized on some mistakes. Seven runs is a lot to come back from. These guys put everything they had into it, and we had a couple of opportunities, darn near pulled it off. But it was just too big of a hill to climb.”
“We talked in the dugout in about the fourth inning and I said, ‘we’re too emotional. We just need to calm down and get back to just playing baseball.’ It started to turn. You could feel the momentum on our side. We just had too far to go.”
“This season, we had a lot of growth that we had to make. We weren’t playing very well halfway through the season, and our pitchers weren’t throwing a lot of strikes. We challenged them to make some changes and they did that.”
Catcher Michael Palos
(On his home run) “I just tried to lead by example, have a good at-bat, change the momentum. We were at a point where we hadn’t had too many good at-bats in a row, so it was just about having a good at-bat and passing it on.”
“It’s been a pleasure going out there all year with my teammates and doing whatever it takes. I like to be ready when my number is called, and I went out there today and played for my teammates. Backs against the wall and we came up a little bit short, but I’ve had their backs and they’ve had mine.”
Relief pitcher Cameron Kurz
“It got to a point where we needed to switch momentum, and I just tried to go out there and give us that so we could win. The guys rallied hard, we just couldn’t pull it off. I just tried to pitch. That’s all you can do in that situation.”
“It was fun to contribute this year and help us get to where we are. I just love every guy on that team. I loved going out to pitch for them. They believed in me all year and I believed in them.”