FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
Appleton, Wisc. – Sophomore Matt Sullivan (North Reading, Mass.) and senior tri-captain Guy Gogliettino, Jr. (Wallingford, Conn.) drew back-to-back bases loaded full count walks with two out in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Trinity College Bantams edged the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays 5-4 in the NCAA Div. III National Championship Tournament final game today, giving the Bantams the Div. III National Title.
Gogliettino, in his first at-bat of the Championship Tournament, was hoisted on his teammates shoulders as the Bantams celebrated his heroic at-bat in which the third baseman, who entered the game as a defensive replacement, fouled off seven pitches before drawing a full count walk to win the game.
Just an inning earlier, senior Matt Stafford (Plymouth, Mass.), who saw just two at-bats in the Tournament, was summoned in a pinch-hit situation before delivering a pressure-filled two-out two-strike RBI single to tie the game.
In the top of the ninth, Johns Hopkins had runners on first and third with one out, then a sacrifice fly from senior Matt Benchener (Newton, Pa.) gave the Blue Jays a 4-3 lead. Johns Hopkins, who had ruined Trinity’s perfect season just a game earlier, was just one out away from taking the National Championship out of their hands as well before Trinity came up in the bottom of the ninth.
In the most important inning in Trinity baseball history, sophomore Kent Graham (Longmeadow, Mass.) got things started with a one-out single up the middle. With Graham running on the pitch, sophomore James Wood (Nashua, N.H.) singled through the right side, sending Graham to third. Senior Chandler Barnard (Lubbock, Tx.), who had five hits on the day, was given a free pass to first, setting up Sullivan and Gogliettino’s game-winning walks. Graham came in to score the game-tying run, and Wood the game-winning run for the Bantams.
Sophomore Jeremiah Bayer (Greenfield, Mass.) started on just three days rest, going 7 2/3 gutsy innings, allowing just one earned run, and senior tri-captain Michael Regan (West Roxbury, Mass.) went the final 1 1/3 innings for the win.
In Game One, Bantam starter, senior Tim Kiely (Swampscott, Mass.), and Blue Jays starter and Tournament Most Valuable Player, junior Chez Angeloni (Jenkintown, Pa.), battled for nine strong innings, Angeloni coming out victorious when senior Issac Katz (Merion, Pa.) scored on a dropped third strike to give the Blue Jays a ninth-inning lead.
Back in the fifth inning of that game, with the score at 2-1 in favor of the Blue Jays, junior Sean Killeen (Greenfield, Mass.) hit a 2-RBI double to put Trinity back up, 3-2. In the sixth, Blue Jay senior Tony Margve (Randolph, N.J.) scored on a slow rolling two-out infield single by Benchener, cutting the Trinity lead to one.
Four innings later, sophomore Chris Huisman (Davidson, Md.) doubled to start off the ninth. Katz pinch ran and moved to third on a Benchener sacrifice bunt. Katz then scored, giving the Blue Jays a 4-3 lead, and Angeloni finished the ninth, capping a complete game performance, three days after throwing a complete game win on Saturday.
Kiely threw his second complete game in four days after pitching a complete game win on Friday, striking out 10 and allowing just three earned runs in the tough-luck loss today. Junior Ryan Piacentini (Portland, Me.) had two hits and two runs in the first game. Kiely and Barnard were both selected to the All-Tournament team.
The Bantams, who joined the 1990 Trinity College softball squad as the only NCAA baseball or softball teams in any division to go undefeated in an entire regular season earlier in the year, cap their magical run with their first National Title.
