GRAND CHUTE, Wis. - Chapman University (Calif.) right-hander Matt Irsfeld pitched a complete-game six-hitter and helped his team avoid elimination in a 4-2 victory over Farmingdale State College (N.Y.) Saturday (May 23) afternoon at the 2009 NCAA Division III Baseball Championships at Time Warner Cable Field in Grand Chute.
The senior said he started throwing his split fastball late in the game. “I don’t throw it too often,” said Irsfeld. “We knew they were looking to swing at first pitch strikes throughout the game and we wanted to get early outs in the count.”
“The key to this game was Matt going from start to finish for us,” said Chapman head coach Tom Tereschuk. “We didn’t do a lot offensively, but Matt didn’t let them get anything going throughout the game.”
With the win, Chapman (31-16) advances to play The College of Wooster (Ohio) or Kean University (N.J.) Sunday, May 24 at noon. The Panthers are making their first straight appearance in the NCAA Division III Baseball Championships and won the national title in 2003.
Farmingdale State, making its first-ever appearance at the NCAA Division III Baseball Championships, finishes its season with a record of 30-17.
“This is a tough way to go out, but we’ve come a long way,” said Farmingdale State head coach Keith Osik. “I’m really proud of the way they competed all year.”
The Rams took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second as Mike Labrozzi opened the inning with a double and moved to third on an Irsfeld wild pitch. After a walk to Don Moscatelli, Vinny Block drove in Labrozzi with a sacrifice fly.
With two outs in the bottom of the fourth, Chapman scored an unearned run to force a 1-1 tie. Halston Barcelo singled for the Panthers and scored after Tyler Hadzinsky single was misplaced by the Rams’ Moscatelli.
Each team tallied a run in the sixth inning as Farmingdale State pinch-runner Vincent Sanquini scored on a double steal with Labrozzi to give the Rams a 2-1 lead, but Chapman came right back in the bottom half of the inning to score its second unearned run of the game. John Semel reached on a fielding error to lead off the inning and moved to second on Patrick Ohail’s single. Tristan Phillips then put down a sacrifice bunt and reached first as Rams’ second baseman Rich Gili couldn’t get his foot on the bag for an error to load the bases. After Barcelo fouled out for the first out of the inning, Semel scored on Hadzinsky’s sacrifice fly.
The Panthers took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of seventh without the benefit of a hit. Ryan Hall was hit-by-pitch to start the inning and advanced to second on Ryan Prechtl’s sacrifice bunt. Ben Owens then put down a sacrifice bunt and the Rams’ third baseman Steve King threw the ball away to allow Hall to score. Chapman finished the scoring with a run in the eighth on Joe Lehman’s sacrifice fly to score Barcelo.
“We made some mistakes defensively today and you can’t do that here,” said Osik. “We hit and pitched well at the regional last week, but we didn’t deserve to move on to another day. It makes for a long day if you don’t catch the ball or throw strikes,” added Osik.
Farmingdale State’s Mike Gionesi suffered his first loss of the season (3-1) Saturday, pitching 8.0 innings, allowing nine hits and four runs (two earned) with one strikeout. Mike LaBrozzi was 3-for-4 at the plate for the Rams with one run scored.
Hadzinsky was 3-for-3 with an RBI for Chapman while Ohail and Barcelo each had two hits. Barcelo also scored twice.
By David Johnson (Sports Information Director, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse)