Pitcher Matt DeSalvo set
a new NCAA Division III Championship record with 19 strikeouts, as his Marietta
College (45-7-1) baseball team opened its tournament run with a 1-0 win over Salisbury
State University (31-12) in the second game of the Division III Championship tournament
Friday afternoon at Fox Cities Stadium.
DeSalvo’s 19 strikeouts – 12 swinging
and seven caught looking – broke the old record of 18, set by Dave Lohrman
of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (N.Y.) in 1996 and Mike Abbruzzese of North
Carolina Wesleyan in a 13-inning performance in 1997.
"They were swinging at wherever I threw it.
I spotted it pretty well, but the pitches that I left up or way out of the strike
zone they also chased, which also helped me out," said DeSalvo, who earned
first-team All-America honors and was named Division III Pitcher of the Year on
Thursday night.
Marietta advances to face Montclair State University,
which topped Chapman University 5-1 in the opening game of the tournament, on
Friday at 4:30 p.m. Chapman and Salisbury State will play in an elimination bracket
game Friday at 10 a.m.
DeSalvo walked just two Salisbury batters, allowed
only four hits and faced just 33 batters in notching his fifth shutout win of
the season. He improved to 16-1 on the season.
The Pioneers’ 27th victory in a
row was preserved when Todd Timmer drove in Dusty Childress on a two-out single
to center field in the bottom of the eighth inning. Timmer redeemed himself from
an earlier at-bat, when he flew out to center with a runner on third with two
outs in the bottom of the fourth.
"I was still mad from the first time I got
up and didn’t get the run in," Timmer said. "I walked up to the
plate knowing I was going to get a hit. I’m a senior, it’s my last chance
and I’m the last batter for the bottom of the eighth. If I get a hit, we
score. If I don’t, we have to rely on Matt getting them out in the ninth
and try to score again. He threw me that curveball that hung over the middle and
I lined it right back up the middle. It was probably one of the greatest feelings
I’ve ever had."
Salisbury stranded six batters on base in the game,
and had its biggest threat of the game go by the wayside in the eighth inning,
when Justin Taylor led off the frame with a triple to center field. However, DeSalvo
struck out the next two Sea Gulls to step to the plate, and the final hitter of
the inning flied out.
Marietta head coach Don Schaly noted that he was
surprised the Sea Gulls didn’t attempt a squeeze play to bring the run in,
but Salisbury State head coach Doug Fleetwood said that his team was facing a
tough situation against a tight Marietta defense.
"I wish we would have hit a three-run homer
in the fifth inning, then we wouldn’t have to worry about it," Fleetwood
joked. "They were playing in pretty tight on it. When you’re sitting
there with one out, it’s one thing. But we felt real good, sitting there
with no outs and a runner on third base. You feel that you’re going to put
the ball in. Not only is it tough to put a squeeze play on in that situation,
it’s also a great time to hit a ground ball. You’re not going to get
much movement defensively, you’re not going to have the angles. You put the
bat on the ball and you’re probably going to get a chance to score a run."
Salisbury State pitcher Derek Harman pitched well
in a losing effort, striking out five and allowing only five hits in a complete-game
performance.
Marietta had several opportunities to score against
Harman, stranding two runners in the fourth and the bases loaded in the fifth
before Timmer’s game-winning hit in the eighth.
"I knew we belonged here. I think each and
every teammate on my team knows we belong here," Harman said. "Whether
we have to prove something or not, I think we proved something there. That’s
a great ballclub and we hung with them every step of the way until the end. They
came one run out. That’s all you can do. This tournament is far from being
over, I guarantee you that." |
