Champions: Red Raiders Win First PSAC Title Since 2003 with 18-6 Victory Over California
May 5, 2007
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - Following their loss
to Kutztown in the first round of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference
Baseball Championship, the Shippensburg Red Raiders had lost seven of nine
and were on the brink of elimination. But using two complete-game pitching
performances and an opportunistic offense, the Red Raiders battled through
the consolation bracket and captured the 2007 PSAC Championship, the 16th
in school history, with a 18-6 victory over California (Pa.) at Jack Critchfield
Park on Saturday.
Only 364 days ago, first-year Shippensburg head coach Matt Jones had just
won his third conference title in seven years as the coach of Division III
Elizabethtown. He becomes just the third Shippensburg
coach since 1922 to win a conference title in
his
first
season
at the helm. He is also joins
Art Fairchild, Bill Rickenbach and Bruce Peddie as the fourth-straight
Red Raider coach to win a PSAC Championship during his tenure.
"All year long, we've said that we needed to stay focused on getting better," Jones said. "Sometimes wins and losses don't tell the tale. With it being my first year, (the players) had to get to know me, and I had to get to know them, and it clicked at the right time."
The 2007 title comes
on the same field that he won a PSAC West championship on as a Slippery
Rock player in 1995.
"(Slippery Rock) Coach Jeff Messer is my mentor and
friend and the people of Slippery Rock did a great job with the tournament,"
stated Jones. "It
was special to have
my college coach congratulate me. Once you are between the
lines you don't think about it, but I
was in his office before I left the stadium. You want people you care about
sharing
the experience."
Shippensburg (27-22), which entered the tournament as the No. 3-seed from the PSAC West, defeated the No. 2-seeded Slippery Rock in the semis and then routed the No. 1-seed Vulcans (36-15) for the title. It is Ship‚s first conference title since 2003 and eighth in the last 25 years.
"When you
have 10 seniors and guys that are good kids, we just stuck to the plan,
stayed focus on why we play the games, what we were playing for," Jones
stated. "We stayed true to the fact that the conference champ gets the
automatic bid."
Entering the title tilt, the Red Raiders had scored just 13 runs in
the first four games of the tourney and had posted double-digit
runs only twice
all
season, but against Cal, the Ship offense erupted for 19 hits.
Six different Red Raiders tallied at least two hits, and seniors Eric Perlozzo
(Cumberland, Md./Bishop Walsh) and Brandon White (State College/State College) each
tallied four hits. White also drove in four runs against Cal.
It was a sweet ending for Perlozzo, who returned to Shippensburg
as a graduate student after missing all but four games in 2006
with a
season-ending injury.
His four-hit, three-run performance in the championship capped
a PSAC Tournament in which
he hit
.409 (9-for-22),
drove
in a pair
of runs,
scored six times and swiped two bases.
It was sophomore Kasey Kuhn's (Three Springs/Southern Huntingdon) timely
hitting, however, that earned the tournament MVP award. In the
finals, he totaled five RBIs, including his first career grand
slam in the
eighth inning.
He also drove in three runs in the semifinal against Slippery Rock.
The Red Raiders, running short on arms, used three pitchers, including
two in the first four innings. After the Red Raiders jumped out
to a 2-0 lead
in the first, Cal delivered a four-run second inning, bouncing
senior starter Stephen Slatcoff (Windber/Windber) from
the game. But Cal's starter, Ryan Heeman (3-4) lasted just one
full inning, allowing two runs to start
the second before handing the ball to Nathan Ley and Adam Smith.
The relievers faired no better, as the Red Raiders proceeded to
score six more runs, seven in the second alone, to build an 11-4
lead after
three
innings.
Junior Phil Harnick (Lancaster/Hempfield) entered
the third and worked through a pair of innings and allowed tow
runs before
sophomore Timothy Freshour
(Johnstown/Richland) entered in the fifth.
Freshour, who had pitched just three innings all season, cruised
through the final five innings, surrendering no runs and no walks
while scattering
just three hits and striking out four.
His gutsy pitching performance allowed the Red Raiders to continue
to build their lead as they added three more in the fifth and four
on Kuhns' blast
in the eighth. Freshour sealed the championship with a strikeout
for the final out.
Also contributing offensively was senior Scott Goss (Johnstown/Wesmont
Hilltop),
who went 3-for-4 with a homer, three RBIs and four runs scored.
Junior Justin
Garber (Elizabethtown/Elizabethtown) scored a career-high
five runs, drove in three and recorded two hits.
According to Jones, many Shippensburg faithful made the trip to
Slippery Rock and
helped the Red Raiders make the run.
"We had so many parents and so many alumni come out,
and I just want to say thank you to all of them for the unbelievable support," Jones
said. "Our fans had our backs and pushed us through some really tough
stretches."
With the automatic bid, Shippensburg
will make its first NCAA Division II North Atlantic Region appearance since
2004. The tournament,
likely to be
held at Kutztown, begins on May 17. Shippensburg will learn
its opponent on Sunday, May 13 at 8:30 p.m. The NCAA selection
show can be watched
on www.ncaasports.com. For more information regarding Shippensburg's
regional game, check raiders.ship.edu.
- Red Raider Baseball -
