Trinity Baseball Looks To Repeat As NCAA National Champions This Weekend in Wisconsin
Hartford, Conn., May 19, 2009 -- The defending NCAA Champion Trinity College baseball team, which boasts a 33-5 record and won all of its seven post-season games the last two weeks to take its second consecutive New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) and NCAA Division III New England Regional Championship titles, returns to Wisconsin for its fourth appearance in the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament this weekend. The Bantams will open the defense of their NCAA crown against the 2007 NCAA Champion Kean University Cougars (38-9), which won an NCAA Regional title in New Jersey in their first game of the eight-team, double elimination tournament on Friday, May 22 at 2:15 p.m. EST. The Bantams reached unprecedented heights last spring with a 44-game winning streak to start the season en route to winning the College's first NCAA Championship title in any sport.
The tournament will once again be held at Fox Cities Stadium May 22-26 in Grand Chute, Wisc. Trinity, Kean, Shenandoah University, St. Thomas (Minn.), Chapman Farmingdale State, Carthage, Carthage, and Wooster make up the field, and play begins May 22 at 11 a.m. EST when Carthage takes on Wooster. Trinity plays Kean in the second game Friday, followed by two more first round contests. Serving as hosts of the finals of the 2009 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship are Lawrence University and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. The tournament is being held at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium for the 10th consecutive year. Tickets for the tournament can be purchased in advance by contacting the Lawrence University Ticket Office at (920) 832-6773. Credit card orders will be accepted until Wednesday (May 20).
The Bantams, coached by Bill Decker (19th season, 455-192), opened the NCAA Regional last Wednesday with a third win this spring over Westfield State, 6-4, handed then-No. 6-ranked Southern Maine a 6-0 loss, exacted revenge on WPI, which had broke Trinity's 16-game winning streak at home in late March, 14-0, and edged then-No. 3-ranked and tournament-host Eastern Connecticut, 5-4, in the tourney's final game. Trinity is currently ranked No. 5 D3Baseball.com National Poll.
Junior OF James Wood (Windham, N.H.) went 2-for-4 with two runs and three RBI, including a three-run homer to the left-center gap to tie the score at 3-3 in the fourth inning in the win against Westfield State. Freshman LHP James Ramsey (Belmont, Mass.) earned the win on the mound, allowing six hits and two earned runs allowed over six innings with three walks and five K's, while sophomore righty Andrew Janiga (Ellington, Conn.) earned a seven-out save in his first relief appearance of the season and his first career NCAA appearance. Senior RHP Jeremiah Bayer (Greenfield, Mass.) tossed a seven-hit shutout against Southern Maine, and junior LHP Derek Anderson (Great Falls, Va.) allowed three hits and no runs in eight innings on the mound with nine strikeouts to blank Worcester Tech later the same day. Anderson improved to 5-1, while Wood finished 3-for-5 with three runs, two RBI, and a double, and Killeen went 3-for-6 with three runs, two doubles, and a triple. In the finals against Eastern Connecticut, Bayer allowed one hit and one run with seven strikeouts over 4.1 innings of relief to improve to 12-0 this spring and 21-0 in his two years as a Bantam. Senior co-captain 2B Ryan Piacentini (Portland, Maine) delivered a game-tying single to center field and freshman DH Kevin Mortimer (Spencer, Mass.) followed with a single that gave the Bantams the lead for good at 4-3. Piacentini and Wood each had two hits and two RBI for the Bantam offense, and both joined Killeen, Graham, and Bayer on the all-tournament team. Bayer was also selected as the tourney's most outstanding player for allowing one run in 13.1 innings pitched.
Trinity ranks second the nation in with 7.39 hits allowed per nine innings, third in earned run average at 2.67, and ninth in slugging percentage at .541, and tops the offensively with a .355 team batting average. Bayer tops the league and the nation in ERA with a 0.52 mark, while Janiga is second in NESCAC at 2.83. Bayer, who also leads the NESCAC in strikeouts with 87 against just 19 walks in 87 innings, is 12-0 (1st in nation, College record for wins) with a save, while Janiga is 5-2 in 54 innings with one save and 33 strikeouts, and Ramsey is 7-1 in 57.1 innings with 48 K's and a 3.61 ERA. Bayer pitched a seven-inning no-hitter against Amherst a month ago. Junior RHP Conor O'Sullivan-Pierce (Cambridge, Mass.) is 2-0 with a 1.78 ERA and 33 strikeouts in 30.1 IP, and Anderson is 5-1 with a 3.21 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 33.2 innings of work.
At the plate, Killeen leads the way with a .467 batting average (63-1352nd in NESCAC), while Graham is hitting .426 (60-141, 6th in NESCAC), junior OF Matthew Sullivan (North Reading, Mass.) is batting .385 (45-117), and Piacentini is batting .373 (50-134). Killeen also has 56 runs, 18 doubles (tied College record), three triples, 11 home runs, 33 walks (College record) and 53 RBI, while Graham boasts 44 runs scored to go with 13 doubles, 10 homers, and 54 RBI. Wood and fellow junior OF Jack Abbott (Longmeadow, Mass.) are batting .356 and .364, respectively, while sophomore SS Robert Martin (Lowell, Mass.) bats .324.
