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Athens, GA -- Designated hitter Daniel Murphy had three hits, including a pair of doubles as Jacksonville University eliminated Sacred Heart 4-3 Saturday at Foley Field to remain alive in the NCAA Baseball Athens Regional.
Jacksonville, 43-18, took a 2-0 lead in the fourth off SHU starter Chris Aldrich. The first run came via a solo home run to left from Justin Young, his fifth of the year. Next, Gordie Gronkowski reached on an error by Pioneer second baseman Jason Maiella and then advanced to third on a single to center from Daniel Murphy. Then, Mike McCallister drove in a run with a single to center.
Sacred Heart, which finishes the season 26-30, got on the board with a run in seventh to make the score 2-1 as Josh Enos singled up the middle and came around to score on double to left from Maiella.
In the top of the eighth, the Dolphins went up 4-1 and chased Maiella from the game. Gronkowski drew a walk to start the inning then Murphy delivered an RBI double to left center and Matt Lopez singled in a run with a hit to left field. Chris Howard came out of the bullpen and gave up consecutive singles to load the bases but got the next two batters to end the inning.
In the bottom of the frame, the Pioneers pulled back to within one at 4-3. Senior Dan Garcia led off with a pinch hit home run to right center, his first of the year. Then, Dave Kaloyanides singled to center, advanced to second on a groundout, and scored on a single to left from Bobby McKee.
The Dolphins got a strong pitching peformance from D.J. Ackley who allowed just one run on six hits before leaving with one out in the seventh. He improved to 7-4 as Matt Davis tossed the final 2.2 innings to preserve the win for his sixth save. Aldrich took the loss to fall to 6-7. He suurendered four runs on 10 hits in 7.1 innings. Chris Howard pitched 1.2 scoreless innings in relief to keep it a tight contest.
"I tried hitting my spots and mixing it up as much as possible today," said Ackley. "I was pretty much just throwing combinations of fastballs and curveballs - trying to pitch backwards. I had my curve ball going pretty good today, especially after the second or third inning when I started to settle in. I tried to start off with breaking balls and follow-up with fastballs in strikeout situations."
"Today was a game of survival," said JU head coach Terry Alexander. "We embarrassed ourselves yesterday. Certainly, everyone wanted to come out and play today. It looked like we pressed early on and tried to do too much. We needed a big performance from our pitcher to hold it until we got our feet back under us and get our bats going - that’s exactly what we got from D.J. (Ackley) today."
"My guys have a lot to be proud of, especially an NEC Championship," said Pioneer head coach Nick Giaquinto. "I want to congratulate Jacksonville on a great game they played today. It was a hard fought contest, and I’m just proud of my guys. We are actually the first male sport (from Sacred Heart) to go to a regional. We had our women’s basketball team go this year, women’s soccer went a couple years ago, and field hockey went this year too."
Quotes
Sacred Heart Head Coach Nick Giaquinto:
"This is going to be a little tough. Our season is over. It was a great season for us. We made some strides and we are going to continue to get better. My guys have a lot to be proud of, especially an NEC Championship. I want to congratulate Jacksonville on a great game they played today. It was a hard fought contest, and I'm just proud of my guys."
"We are actually the first male sport (from Sacred Heart) to go to a regional. We had our women's basketball team go this year, women's soccer went a couple years ago, and field hockey went this year too."
(On Dan Garcia's pinch hit home run): "That was tremendous. Dan has a lot of power. We were hoping he would be up the inning before with a couple of guys on base, but it didn't work that way. Our number nine guy was up, so if we were going to give Dan a shot, I said `Let's do it right now,' and we got him in there and he made the most of his opportunity."
Sacred Heart senior Dan Garcia:
(On hitting a home run): "In junior college I had a few home runs but that was actually my first one of this year."
Sacred Heart second baseman Jason Maiella:
(On making a comeback late in the game): "We've been like that all season. We've been down before, but coach always preaches to us that good teams score late. That's been our bread and butter right there. We're never down and when we see those seventh, eighth, and ninth innings, we know its time to kick it up a notch."