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Jairo Ochoa
wasn’t happy with his pitching performance
in his 2003 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship
Series debut Sunday night.
So
he really had no problem taking the mound for
Chapman University less than 24 hours later
in an elimination game with Anderson University
Monday at Fox Cities Stadium.
Defying
laws of probability, and even possibly those
of human physical nature, Ochoa pitched all
nine innings – including 8 1/3 scoreless
– as Chapman advanced with a 6-2 victory.
Ochoa
was brilliant on the hill, giving up just five
hits. He mixed the occasional fastball –
with some often surprising zip to it –
with his usual assortment of off-speed offerings
– to strike out four and walk none.
“He
kept us on our heels today,” Anderson
head coach Don Brandon said.
Just
once in the first eight innings did the Ravens
advance a player into scoring position, a feat
that came a night after collecting 11 hits in
a 12-inning marathon and managing just to score
one run in a 2-1 loss to Christopher Newport.
“Yesterday,
we couldn’t get the runs in,” Brandon
said. “Today we just couldn’t get
the hits.
“Our
mood was fine [after the loss], but I think
that [Ochoa] helped change our mood quite a
bit.”
Anderson
starter Greg Cauble had been impressive himself
early on, as the two right-handers engaged in
an old-fashioned pitchers' duel. After allowing
a lead-off single to Panthers first baseman
Justin Hallenbeck, Cauble retired the next 10
batters he faced before allowing an Alex Taylor
single in the fourth inning.
The
Panthers finally broke through in the sixth
inning with a two-run single from Taylor, and
a clutch, two-out, two-run single to center
off the bat of shortstop Brian Sanders. The
rally got started when Anderson first baseman
Travis Davis misplayed a Shaun Donahoe infield
hit to load the bases with nobody out.
“He
kept all of us off-speed with his changeup the
first few times out,” said Sanders of
Cauble’s performance. “You play
long enough and play enough innings like we
do, and you just take advantage of other team’s
mistakes.
“We
didn’t need much, so we made the most
of the hits we got.”
The
Ravens finally got to Ochoa in the bottom of
the ninth inning, getting a pair of runs as
Ochoa was finally showing signs of fatigue.
“I
just wanted to get [the inning] over with,”
Ochoa said. “I just wanted to get to that
ice real bad.”
Ochoa’s
performance put the 37-12 Panthers into a potential
championship game Tuesday against Christopher
Newport University. The Panthers need to defeat
the Captains twice for the national title. With
the option of throwing his top two pitchers
– including series opener Ryan France
– on nearly full rest, Tereschuk was impressed
and grateful for Ochoa’s outing.
“We
had a lot of confidence in Jairo,” Chapman
head coach Tom Tereschuk said. “We had
a lot of confidence in him to be ready to go.
We needed it out of him, and he was just awesome
from start to finish.”
“He’s
a physical guy, he takes care of himself and
he can bounce back pretty quick. He threw a
significant amount. I don’t think it wasn’t
enough to keep him from coming out today.”
Anderson
completed its season, and its fourth trip to
the tournament, with a 37-12 record.
Written By Andrew Wagner
Photos
By Lehigh Photo
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