CARY, N.C. – The top-seeded Florida Southern pounded out a championship high 17 hits to stave off elimination in an 8-0 shutout against sixth seeded Texas A&M-Kingsville in the ninth 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.
With the win, Florida Southern advances to play unbeaten Columbus State in Game 12 of the championship on May 31 at 10am. Texas A&M-Kingsville was eliminated with the loss.
The opening salvo of the contest did not take long to appear as Florida Southern would take a 1-0 lead over Texas A&M Kingsville in the top of the first as Austin Mauer hit his second home run of the championship with two outs. The Mocs would continue to pose a threat in the inning as back-to-back base knocks to left field by Omar Villaman and Logan Browning. TAMUK would get out of the early jam with a punch out.
The Javelinas looked to even the contest in the bottom half of the second inning as Christian Caudle singled to center field. A throw back to first by the catcher sailed into foul territory down the right field line allowing Caudle to scamper to third. FSC’s starter, J.T. Hintzen, produced two groundouts to end the threat.
Florida Southern tacked on a run in the fourth inning as the leading home run hitter for the Mocs, Hayden Marze, clubbed a solo shot over the wall on the second pitch of the at-bat. TAMUK’s starter, Isaiah Lybarger, would settle back in to sit down the next three batters.
After back-to-back hits by Cody Burgess and Pablo Cabrera to open the fifth inning spelled the end for the Javelinas’ starter. Omar Villaman stretched the lead to 3-0 following a double play with a RBI single through the right side of the infield.
The power hitting Hayden Marze for the Mocs blasted his second home run (409 ft) of the afternoon down the left field line to push the advantage to 4-0.
The Mocs continued to string together hits as Dylan Costa opened the eighth inning with a double to right center. Pablo Cabrera singled to right field to score Costa. Alex Goebel continued the inning with a full-count walk before Cabrera and Goebel advanced up a base on a balk. Omar Villaman and Logan Browning welcomed the new TAMUK reliever with RBI single and double respectively to stretch the advantage to 8-0.
T.J. Hitzen surrendered a one out double to pinch hitter, Travis Geiser, in the eighth inning after sitting down the previous 19 Javelinas. Hitzen would finish the inning with a strikeout and a fly out to end his outing.
Quotes
Florida Southern
Head coach Lance Niekro
“J.T. has been our go-to guy in the bullpen for two years now. In the regional last week, we asked him to start against Tampa, and we asked him to start this game. It’s his only two career starts for us. To ask him to do that, and for him to go out and throw the way he did, was just amazing. I’m proud of him, and proud of all these guys for coming back from a tough loss the other night.”
“It might have been a little bit of a wake-up call losing the other night. There’s no doubt that getting rest helped. We’ve had a rough go the past week and a half, so giving the guys two days off was big. We actually went bowling to get our minds off baseball for a couple of hours and refocused.”
Starting pitcher J.T. Hintzen
“I was just trying to stay around the strike zone and pitch to contact for the most part, get our guys back on offense as quickly as possible.”
“Regardless of whether it says I’m a reliever or starter next to my position, I always train like a starter. I always made sure I’m throwing a lot. Even when I wasn’t starting, I was going back-to-back games, so I have to make sure my arm is well-conditioned.”
Designated hitter Hayden Marze
(On the first home run) “I’ve been seeing nothing but sliders lately, so it was just adjusting to it and sitting back. Finally, he threw a pitch away. I knew he was about to come with one, and I sat back on it. It was a relief.”
(On the second home run) “I figured since they hung the first one, they would try to pound me inside. He came in, and then came in again. I just got the barrel to it.”
Shortstop Omar Villaman
“I was feeling it today. The first game I had a rough time. The past two games I’ve been feeling good, seeing the ball better. Probably some of the jitters have gone. It was good that we could all hit today like we know how to hit.”
Texas A& M-Kingsville
Head coach Jason Gonzales
“The first thing you have to do is congratulate Florida Southern. Very good team, tremendous program. Hats off to their pitcher. He threw extremely well today. We knew that they were a very good team and we would have to play very good baseball to be in the game. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t our game today.”
“Their pitcher had a lot to do with our lack of offense today. He came in with tremendous numbers, so his performance today wasn’t a fluke. He’s done that all year long. He kept us off-balance, moved the ball around, in and out. When you can shut down those hitters like that, unfortunately all you can do is tip your cap to him.”
“We talk every year about trying to be elite. It’s rare company, and it’s hard to do. I told the team after the game that they did it, they made it. They went toe-to-toe with the best in the country, and they set some standards that are going to be extremely hard to follow.”
Catcher Christian Caudle
“Their pitcher had a good, live fastball. He attacked the zone. He did well moving it in and out, throwing both of his pitches for strikes. I think we touched a few balls that found gloves. They had it going and we didn’t. That’s baseball.”
“This has been an unbelievable ride. Coming out of high school, I would never have seen this, being able to come and do this my senior year – get to the world series for the first time, get our first win in the world series. It’s extremely humbling. Those guys I played with, I love them more than anything in the world. They are truly brothers to me. Truly family.”