Appleton, WI – The Montclair State University baseball team spent last season winning the NCAA Division 3 World Series the hard way.
Montclair State has made things a little easier on itself this year in its bid to defend that championship.
Starter
RYAN COSTELLO was hittable in yesterday's first round, but the Montclair State junior kept the damage to a minimum in a 5-1 victory over Chapman University of California in first-round action at Fox Cities Stadium.
Montclair (36-9) meets Marietta College today at 5:30 p.m. in the winner's bracket. Marietta (45-7-1) defeated Salisbury (Md.), 1-0, yesterday.
Montclair lost its first game last year and had to battle through the loser's bracket to win the title.
Montclair State coach Norm Schoenig likes this position his team now holds in the double-elimination tournament, but he says the focus on the task at hand was the key to yesterday.
"We didn't think about (going to the loser's bracket)," he said. When you start looking at what a loss does for you, it takes your concentration off what you need to do."
That concentration was clearly there against the Panthers (37-10), who did manage two weak singles early, but didn't get their first solid hit off Costello until the fourth inning.
The left-hander allowed eight hits, struck out six and walked two in a complete game.
"Once I got loose, everything started to feel pretty good," Costello said. "That was probably the best I've thrown all year."
Chapman, which entered the game averaging eight runs per game, was held scoreless over the first seven innings.
Meanwhile, Montclair State used the bottom of its batting order to carve out a 2-0 lead through six.
SCOTT CLARK,
GEORGE BECKER and
ADAM CERMINARO – Montclair's bottom third of the order – was 6-for-15 collectively and responsible for both of those runs.
Cerminaro led off the third with a single and stole second. Second baseman
CRAIG CONWAY, who was 4-of-5, later drove home Cerminaro on an infield single.
With one out in the fifth, Becker, who was 3-for-5, and Cerminaro connected for consecutive single. Becker scored when a
DAVE WURST hard grounder went off the glove of Chapman third baseman Brian Menkin.
Montclair State passed the lead with an important run in the seventh.
CHRIS BARAN walked with two outs and scored on a
JEFF SCHRIBER double to the wall in right.
"That was a big at-bat by
CHRIS BARAN," Schoenig said. "In that kind of game, every run is important, and it looked like we need that third run."
Chapman made its only real threat in the eighth, when it put runners at second and third on Kyle Schoonover's single and Alex Taylor's double. Andy Karp grounded out to score Schoonover, but
Costello struck out the next two batters looking to end the inning.
"I thought it would get us going for sure," Schoonover said of the leadoff hit. "I thought that hit was big. We got the leadoff man on, and we needed that the whole game."
