When the 2002 college baseball season
started, Eastern Connecticut State University head coach Bill Holowaty made a
prophetic statement.
Holowaty, whose program was on the verge
to breaking the 1,000-win plateu, said
his team shouldn't be remembered only as
the team that gave ECSU it's 1,000th
victory.
Tuesday afternoon, his team made sure of
that.
In a matchup of two of Division III's
most storied programs, ECSU defeated
Marietta College, 8-0 to claim it's
fourth National Championship, and first
since 1998.
"I knew before the season started
that these kids were special,"
Holowaty said. "I told our Sports
Information Director that, and I don't
know why I said it, I just knew that
these kids had something in them."
Eastern got all the runs it needed in the
top-half of the second inning.
Senior first baseman John Kubacha led off
with a single to centerfield. With one
away, Jared Holowaty lined a 2-0 fastball
from Maritta starter Trey Lamb up the
middle for a base hit. Third baseman
Inaki Ormaecha's single loaded the bases
before shortstop Tom Koch swung and
missed for the second out.
A fielding error by Marietta second
baseman Dusty Childress allowed Matt
Funaro to reach, and scored Holowaty and
Kubachka.
With two on, Morgan Thompson singled and
brought home Ormaecha to give ECSU a 3-0
lead.
It was a long road to a championship for
the team. After a rather inauspicious
start, the Warriors were eliminated from
the Little East Conference Tournament in
two games, and weren't even sure they
would qualify for NCAA competition.
So, with the memory of last season's loss
in the Regional Final, and knowing that
more was possible than what had been
accomplished, ECSU rallied.
After winning it's first two games in
dramatic fashion.
In the opener, Bill Holowaty had to leave
the game in the second inning after
dislocating his hip. After a 29-minute
delay, the Warriors eventually rallied in
the bottom of the 10th inning to defeat
Concordia University at Austin, 5-4.
Game two was another come-from-behind
thriller, won in the bottom of the ninth
when third baseman Inaki Ormaechea hit a
two-run double to beat Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute, 10-9.
The Warriors then handed Marietta its
first loss on Monday morning, a 4-2
decision which earned a spot in the
championship game, despite a 6-5 loss to
Christopher Newport University later that
night.
With a near-miss turned into celebration,
and a season's worth of setbacks, tough
losses and injuries behind them, the
Warriors were finally able to relax a
little bit.
"Being a senior this year, and
remembering what it felt like to lose [at
regionals a year ago], it's a great
feeling," Kubachka said. "We
know how hard it is to get here, and get
through this system."
Marietta, which finished its season with
a 41-9-1 record, beat The College of New
Jersey twice, and a pair of games
Christopher Newport University; the first
on Sunday and again on Tuesday to earn a
spot in the campionship game.
Written By Andrew Wagner
Photos By Lehigh Photo
|
Justin Waz
