Andy Koocher First Base Wheaton College

Pat O'Connor Outfield Wheaton College

Patrick Ohail First Base Chapman Univ.

Joe White Pitcher Wheaton College

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Pat O’Connor was channeling Carlton Fisk on Monday.

In the finest tradition of the 1975 World Series and the Boston Red Sox slugger, O’Connor hit a dramatic three-run homer in the eighth inning that just stayed fair down the left field line. The homer lifted Wheaton College (Mass.) to a 4-3 victory over Chapman University (Calif.) in an elimination game at the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship at Fox Cities Stadium.

“I was yelling stay fair the entire time down the first base line,” said O’Connor, who grew up just 60 miles from Fenway Park in Mattapoisett, Mass.

The homer was fair by less than 10 feet and it came off of All-America pitcher Devin Drag, who leads the nation in earned run average and had allowed only one homer in his previous 87 innings.

“How fitting it came against the guy that two nights earlier had put us in the loser’s bracket,” Wheaton College head coach Eric Podbelski said of Drag, who had fired a six-hit shutout against the Lyons on Saturday.

The win puts Wheaton College (42-9), which is in its first trip to the finals, in Tuesday’s championship game at 12 p.m. against Marietta College (Ohio) (42-11). The Lyons will have to beat Marietta twice to take the title in this double-elimination format.

The Lyons had been stymied by Chapman University starter Wayde Kitchens, who had allowed only three hits through the first five innings.

“I got rid of the game jitters around the second or third inning and found a groove,” said Kitchens, who gave up six hits and struck out seven in 7 1/3 innings.

Podbelski told his team to stay patient and keep piling up quality at-bats, and the fruit of that labor started to pay off in the sixth.

A walk, infield single, fielder’s choice and single to right field loaded the bases with two outs, but Kitchens recovered to strike out O’Connor on a called third strike to end the threat.

“That was big for us for Wayde to step up and make those pitches,” Chapman University head coach Tom Tereschuk said. “He didn’t fall apart. He stepped up and made some great pitches.”

O’Connor’s teammates told him not to get down after that strikeout. He said they told him he would have another shot to redeem himself. How right they were.

After Kitchens struck out the side in the seventh, Travis Anthoine led off the eighth with a triple in the right field corner. After a ground out, Andy Koocher reached on an error and Scott Guillerault walked to load the bases.

That walk chased Kitchens and Tereschuk called Drag from the bullpen.

“He’s as good as any pitcher anywhere,” Tereschuk said of Drag. “Bringing him in there is a no-brainer.”

Drag got Adam Laplante to hit a ground ball to shortstop Kurt Yacko, who flipped to second baseman Kyle Redding for the force out. As Redding was taking the ball from his glove to complete the double play and end the inning, he dropped the ball.

That allowed O’Connor to come to the plate, and he remembered that Drag had Wheaton College hitters swinging and missing at his slider on Saturday. The right-handed hitting O’Connor said he was looking for a slider away and that’s what he got.

“I think I got a little in front,” O’Connor said with a laugh.

“I was still kind of shocked (as I was running around the bases). I didn’t know it had put us up 4-3.”

The fate of the Lyons now rested with Jamie Baker, who had come on in relief of starter Joe White in the top of the eighth. Baker struck out the first batter, got a flyout and struck out Redding to end the game.

“No one is going to go down easy at this point, and we aren’t either,” Podbelski said.

Chapman University (33-13) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first when Jarrod Sammet led off the game with double, went to second on a ground out and scored on another ground out.

The Panthers added two more runs in the fifth to go up 3-0. The inning started when Matt Pearson was hit by a pitch. After a sacrifice bunt and ground out, a throwing error on Sammet’s ground ball allowed him to reach first base and allow Pearson to score. Sammet swiped second and Brian Brubaker followed with a single up the middle to score Sammett.

That looked like it might be enough for the Panthers to get back to the championship game for the first time since they took the title in 2003, but O’Connor spoiled those plans with his dramatics in the eighth.

By Joe Vanden Acker
Lawrence University Sports Information Director

Photography by Lehigh Photo