Box Score

ESPN would call this one an “instant classic.”

In one of the wilder games in recent memory at the finals of the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship, Johns Hopkins University downed the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater 12-11 Monday (May 26) in an elimination game.

The Blue Jays broke an 11-11 tie with a run in the bottom of the ninth at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium, as the teams combined for 38 hits and used seven pitchers.

Johns Hopkins advances to play Trinity College (Conn.) in the national championship game at 11 a.m. Tuesday (May 27). Trinity (44-0), which defeated Johns Hopkins 8-5 in a winner’s bracket game on Sunday (May 25), is attempting to be the first team to go undefeated and win a national title.

“That was an epic battle, and as I told their coach that’s one of the times that being the home team was a huge advantage,” Johns Hopkins head coach Bob Babb said. “We knew every time that we came up what we had to do. Right there in the last inning we knew we had to play for one run. If we could get that, we wouldn’t have to worry about their bats anymore.”

The game was tied 11-11 in the top of the ninth, and Joe Munn led off with a long fly ball to center field. Rob Pietroforte appeared to lose the ball in the sky near the wall and then recovered to make the catch for the first out.

“I knew it was hit well,” said Johns Hopkins pitcher Matt Wiegand, who was on the mound at the time. “I knew it was way up, and I saw that he lost it, and oh God. I saw him recover and make the play.”

Babb quickly interjected, “I know my heart stopped.”

After giving up a hit batsman, Wiegand struck out the next two batters to set up some drama in the bottom of the ninth.

Jon Solomon, who went 4-for-5 on the day, led off with a double and Chris Huisman was then intentionally walked. The Warhawks brought in ace Adam Dominick to face pinch-hitter Dan Merzel in a bunting situation.

“He’s our best bunter and I put (Merzel) in to bunt,” Babb said. “If he can bunt one out of three, then I made a poor decision.”

After fouling off two bunts, Merzel bunted one near the third-base line. The ball looked like it was going to roll foul but came to rest on the line – fair ball.

“I thought it was a foul ball,” Babb said. “When I saw it roll with the spin, but the one thing we’ve marveled at the whole time we’ve been here is the groundskeepers are fantastic. They are the only ones I’ve ever seen who do the line and then come back over it the second time so that the line is actually elevated a little bit. That may have been the difference.”

Dominick was certain he had the out when he saw the bunt rolling.

“Me and BJ (catcher Billy Johnson) were for sure it was going to go foul,” Dominick said. “It was going straight there.”

With the bases loaded and no one out, Nate Adelman grounded to third and Solomon was thrown out at the plate.

Jonas Fester, who went 5-for-6, then hit an 0-2 pitch back up the middle to score Huisman with the winning run.

“I was just trying to stay aggressive,” Fester said. “I knew if I hit the ball hard down on the ground somewhere hopefully it would get through. It was just a pitch that was up and didn’t have much break to it.”

Whitewater head coach John Vodenlich was confident his team would find a way to win in the extra inning he figured were coming.

“It was so much in so little time. The only thing that sticks in my mind in bases loaded, one out, ground ball up the box,” Vodenlich said.

“I was confident going into the last inning that we would get out of there unscathed and put some on the board in the next inning. “

The teams traded the lead from literally the first inning on, as there wasn’t an inning in which at least one run was scored.

Johns Hopkins grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Fester led off with a single, moved to second on a ground out and then scored on Todd Emr’s single.

Whitewater tied it in the top of the second when Kevin Zalnis blasted a lead-off homer.

The Blue Jays took the lead back in the bottom of the third with a pair of runs. Fester doubled to start the inning, and Brian Youchak followed with a single. After a hit batsman loaded the bases, Emr grounded into a double play to Fester. Tony Margve’s infield single then scored Youchak to put the Blue Jays up 3-1.

Whitewater came right back in the top of the fourth to take the lead back.

Zalnis got things started with a one-out triple, and Ben Prather followed with a single to drive him in. Two batters later, Munn connected for a two-run homer to give the Warhawks a 4-3 edge.

The lead didn’t last long, as Johns Hopkins struck back for three runs in its half of the fourth.

Huisman walked to start the frame, and Matt Benchener then smacked a triple to tie the game at 4-4. Adelman followed with a single to score Benchener, and Fester then singled to put runners at first and third. Youchak hit into a double play, and Adelman scored to put the Blue Jays up 6-4.

Whitewater rallied again in the top of the fifth to tie the game at 6-6 with the help of the sun and a pair of infield singles.

A one-out single by Kuhlmann was followed by a strikeout. Fester couldn’t get an out on pinch-hitter Tom Corcoran’s ground ball to bring Zalnis to the plate. He hit a soft liner at Benchener at first, but he lost it in the sun, and Kuhlmann scored to cut the lead to 6-5. Prather followed with an infield single to score Corcoran and the game was tied again.

Johns Hopkins grabbed a 9-6 lead after it scored three times in the bottom of the sixth. The Blue Jays had runners at the corners with one out when Youchak’s infield single scored Adelman to put Johns Hopkins up 7-6. Pietroforte followed with a two-run double for a 9-6 edge.

Whitewater came right back in the top of the seventh to score three times and tie the game at 9-9. The Warhawks were helped out by a pair of infield singles, and Munn delivered the big blow with a three-run triple.

In its half of the seventh, the Blue Jays took the lead right back. A single and hit batsman put a pair of runners aboard, and Fester delivered a two-run single two batters later to give Johns Hopkins an 11-9 lead.