UD Rallies Into Finals
HARRISONBURG, Va. (May 25, 2012) - Jimmy
Yezzo had three hits, including two during a 10-run Delaware seventh inning, and
drove in four runs to lead the Blue Hens to a 12-9 victory over Hofstra Friday
night in the losers' bracket final of the Virginia 529 CAA Baseball
Championship at Veterans Memorial Park.
The victory sends third-seeded Delaware to
Saturday's 1 p.m. championship round against top-seeded and regular-season
league winner UNCW. Undefeated UNCW can
claim the tournament title and the conference's automatic NCAA Baseball
Championship bid with a victory in the 1 p.m. game. Should Delaware win the 1 p.m. contest, the
teams will play a second game for the tournament title.
Second-seeded Hofstra finished the season
with a 34-22 record after scoring twice without a hit to get to within 12-9 and
having the potential tying run at the plate during the bottom of the ninth.
Delaware's appearance in the CAA championship
round will be its third in 11 seasons in the league while UNCW will be making
its third championship-round appearance in four seasons and its fifth
overall. Delaware was second in the 2004
and 2007 tournaments, and UNCW was second in 2009 and 2010 and the tournament
winner in 2004 and 2006. UNCW beat
Delaware 3-2 in Friday's noon game to advance to this season's championship
round.
Delaware overcame a 7-2 deficit with its
decisive rally in the seventh inning during which it sent 15 batters to the
plate, had nine hits and scored seven times after two were out. The Blue Hens had only one extra-base hit
during the frame but took advantage of a leadoff walk, three infield hits and a
bases-loaded hit batsman.
Yezzo's RBI double started Delaware's
seventh-inning scoring barrage, and he plated the inning's sixth run - putting
his team in front 8-7 - with a bases-loaded, infield single. The Blue Hens during the inning also got a
pinch hit single and a two-run single from Joe Giacchino, a two-run single from
Alex Maruri, and RBI singles from D.J. Long, Tyler Powell and pinch hitter E.J.
Stoltzfus. Nick Ferdinand was hit by a
pitch with the bases loaded to force in another run.
Yezzo gave Delaware a 2-0 lead in the top of
the first inning on a home run to straightaway center field following
Ferdinand's one-out single, and he also drew a walk in six trips to the plate. Powell had two singles and drew two walks,
and Long singled twice and was hit by a pitch for Delaware, which had 14 hits
overall.
Devon Pearson, the third of six Delaware pitchers
in the game, was the beneficiary of his team's big seventh inning. He worked two scoreless innings, allowing two
hits and two walks, to gain the win and raise his record to 6-1. Jeff Murray was credited with his second
save, issuing a walk but recording two outs after two other Blue Hens' hurlers
walked the first three Hofstra batters during the bottom of the ninth. Murray walked the first man he faced but then
got a RBI groundout fielder's choice and a strikeout to end the game.
Hofstra answered Yezzo's early two-run homer with
four runs in the bottom of the first and added a run in the third and two in
the sixth in building its 7-2 edge. Matt
Ford's one-out double plated Dalton Rouleau, who had singled, for the Pride's first
run, and Jared Hammer drove in Ford with a single. Hammer advanced to second on a groundout and
to third on a passed ball and scored on the back end of a double steal. Kevin Flynn, who had walked and advanced to
second on the double steal, scored the frame's fourth run on Matt Reistetter's
double.
Hofstra increased its lead to 5-2 in the
third inning on Austin Nyman's bases-loaded fielder's choice that scored Kevin
Flynn, who was hit by a pitch. The Pride
added two more runs in the sixth on Kenny Jackson's two-out single that scored
Danny Poma, who was hit by a pitch, and Rouleau, who had singled.
Poma, Rouleau and Ford each had two hits for
Hofstra.
Brett Schreiber, the second of five Hofstra
pitchers, took the loss and fell to 3-2 for the season. He gave up three runs and three hits in
one-third of an inning.