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Norwich, CT - They gave their fans a Sacred Heart attack, but the Pioneers prevailed in the NEC Baseball Tournament title game.
SHU completed its second ninth-inning comeback in four games to defeat defending champion Bryant, 5-4, and capture the fourth conference crown in program history.
“We’ve grown so much this year,” said Sacred Heart head coach Nick Giaquinto. “We always talk about how good teams score late and these guys took a giant step forward in the past few weeks to become a championship team.”
Trailing 4-3 heading into their final at-bat, SHU rallied for two runs and it all started with Jayson Sullivan’s leadoff triple.
Sullivan roped the first pitch of the inning down the leftfield line and flew to third base. The all-NEC outfielder would touch home one batter later as Jesus Medina sent a game-tying single to right field.
Medina, who went 3-for-5 with two runs scored in the title tilt, was a driving force behind the Pioneers’ first ninth-inning comeback on Thursday against Wagner. The all-NEC third baseman led off that final frame by singling and eventually came around to score the tying run.
In four postseason games, Medina batted .444 with a tournament-high eight hits and six runs scored. He also moved from third to the mound and threw 7.0 innings of one-run ball on Saturday. His efforts earned the New York City native the NEC Tournament MVP award.
After Medina’s hit tied Sunday’s game at 4-4, Bryant skipper Steve Owens summoned NEC Pitcher of the Year Kyle Wilcox to replace James Davitt on the hill. Davitt, who took the ball from starter Ross Weiner in the third frame, had twirled 5.1 innings of scoreless relief until facing Sullivan and Medina in the ninth.
Wilcox Induced a pop out from SHU shortstop Zack Short, but Victor Sorrento followed with the go-ahead single.
Bouncing back from yesterday’s rough outing, SHU reliever Dan Wertz worked a 1-2-3 bottom half of the ninth to preserve the 5-4 lead and the celebration was on.
“We knew it would be an emotional rollercoaster and we just tried to keep our equilibrium in balance,” said Giaquinto.
Sacred Heart struck first, plating one run in the second inning and another in the third.
Bryant rebounded by putting four runs on the board in the fourth frame. Catcher Buck McCarthy started the outburst by drawing a one-out walk and eventually came around to score the Bulldogs’ first run on a wild pitch.
After a Zach Wood single and a AJ Zarozny strikeout, Dan Cellucci, Cole Fabio and Brandon Bingel strung three consecutive singles together as Bryant took a 4-2 lead.
It appeared as if the Bulldogs would score more in the inning, but SHU leftfielder Keaton Flint made a Ron Swoboda-esque diving stab to rob Robby Rinn.
2015 NEC All-Tournament Team
INF Brandon Bingel, Bryant
RHP James Davitt, Bryant
C Buck McCarthy, Bryant
OF Shane Siebler, Fairleigh Dickinson
RHP James Cooksey, Sacred Heart
INF PJ DeFilippo, Sacred Heart
RHP Jason Foley, Sacred Heart
SS Zack Short, Sacred Heart
INF/P Jesus Medina, Sacred Heart (MVP)