GRAND CHUTE, Wis.
If Trinity (Conn.) College wants to be the first team to repeat as NCAA Division baseball champions in three decades, the Bantams will have to do it the hard way.
Kean University (39-9) beat 2008 champion Trinity (33-6) 8-5 in one of four opening-round games played Friday (May 22) at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium.
The College of Wooster (40-9), Shenandoah University (38-8) and the University of St. Thomas (37-12) also were winners on Friday.
In the battle of the last two national champions, Kean (the 2007 champ) scored twice in the seventh to build a 6-2 lead and then added insurance runs in the eighth and ninth. The Cougars got six gritty innings from starter Pedro Rivera, who improved to 5-0 on the season, and took advantage of six Trinity errors.
Trinity starter Jeremiah Bayer, who had allowed only five earned runs all season, gave up four to Kean on Friday.
In the opening game of the day, Wooster downed Carthage College (40-9) 8-1.
Wooster’s Sean Karpen went 3-for-5 with two homers and a double and drove in four runs. The Scots pounded out 15 hits, with Stu Beath and Zack Vesco also picking up three hits. Justin McDowell went eight innings, allowing eight hits while striking out five and walking one, to pick up the win.
In a battle of two teams making their first appearance in the finals, Shenandoah rolled to a 12-2 win over Farmingdale State College (30-16).
Greg Van Sickler went the distance to earn the victory for Shenandoah. He struck out five and walked one. Van Sickler also went 3-for-4 at the plate and drove in three runs. Scott Lambert also had three hits and scored three times for the Hornets.
In the final game of the day, St. Thomas downed Chapman University (30-16) 9-1 behind the pitching of Matt Schuld. Schuld allowed only five hits and went the distance. He struck out seven and walked three to improve to 11-1 on the season.
St. Thomas built a 3-0 lead early and then broke the contest open with five runs in the fifth. Tom Wippler had a run-scoring double in the fifth, and Louie Salmen and Taylor Rahm both had RBI singles in the inning. Matt Olson had three hits to pace the St. Thomas attack.
The action begins Saturday (May 23) with a pair of elimination games. Carthage takes on Trinity at 10:00 a.m. and Farmingdale State faces Chapman at 1:15 p.m. Wooster and Kean face off in a winners’ bracket game at 4:30 p.m., and Shenandoah battles St. Thomas in the other winners’ bracket game at 7:45 p |
