Hold ’em Texas: MCC is on the way
MANCHESTER – (May 11, 2008) Dan Nelson (Glastonbury) pitched a complete game and Kevin Clements (Vernon) had four hits as MCC beat Massasoit CC 7-4 in the NJCAA Division III Region 21 Championship game Sunday afternoon at McCormick Field.
The Cougars (29-11-2) advance to the NJCAA World Series in Tyler, Texas and will play Richland (Texas) College Saturday at 4pm at Mike Carter Field in Tyler.
MCC was the lone unbeaten team left in the double-elimination tournament when play began Sunday. Massasoit eliminated Holyoke in Game 5 Sunday morning and beat MCC 9-1 in Game 6 Sunday afternoon to force the 4pm championship game.
Clements had a monster tournament, with 10 hits in 17 at-bats (.588) including six runs scored, four doubles and three RBI.
“He’s unbelievable,” Ninth year MCC Head Coach Chris Strahowski said the sophomore Tri-Captain. “He’s very hard to get out in clutch situations. He doesn’t waste at-bats. He doesn’t waste swings. Early in the count he takes man-hacks and later on in the count he shortens it up and hits the ball to center, right-center. He’s a tough out.” Clements was 22nd in the nation in hitting during the regular season with a .438 average.
Nelson scattered ten hits and struck out six in the complete game effort, his longest outing of the season.
“As the game went on, I felt I had a little more strength,” Nelson, who was 1-3 in the regular season despite a 1.93 ERA and 37 strikeouts in 32 2/3 innings, said. “The first half my fastball wasn’t that good, so I started mixing in a lot of curves just to throw them off. For the most part, I had good bite on them.”
MCC was trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the first inning when catcher James McGowan (South Windsor) put the Cougars ahead to stay with a carving three-run double to the opposite field. The Cougars added a run in the second inning when Clements drove in Aaron Guilbeault (Lebanon) with a two-out single. Dan Angelillo (Wethersfield) drove in Clements and Bryan Hager (Burlington) with a double to the deepest part of the park in center field in the fourth inning, putting MCC on top 7-2.
Meanwhile, Nelson overcame a shaky first inning when he gave up two quick runs and stranded four runners through seven innings. The lanky lefty retired the side in order in the second and fifth innings and promptly picked off Massasoit’s leadoff hitter, Brendan Murphy, after he led off the second with a single.
“After the first inning, he settled down, got a little loose,” Strahowski said of Nelson, who did not walk a batter. “From the second inning on, he was nothing but first pitch strikes. I don’t care who it is, it’s tough when you are hitting 0-1 every at-bat.”
Nelson gave up a run in the eighth inning and an unearned run in the ninth, but struck out William Alexander to end the game and give MCC their first NJCAA World Series berth since 1994.
“It’s fantastic, it’s about time, you know?” Strahowski said after watching his team pose with the Texas flag after the traditional championship dog pile. “I thought we had some good teams before, but this is by far the best team we’ve had since I’ve been here and anything less than this would have been a disappointment, so I’m happy.”
On Saturday, the Cougars beat Massasoit 8-4 in the opening round behind Liam Ohlmann (Wallingford) and Steve Simon (Middlefield), who all eight batters he faced to earn the save. In their second game, MCC beat no. 1 seed Holyoke 7-6. Jeff Raymond (Hebron) threw 117 pitches (84 strikes) over 8 1/3 innings for the win. Kevin Garrison (Berlin) retired the final two batters for the save.
NJCAA Region 21 Division III Baseball Tournament
at Manchester, Connecticut
May 11, 2008
Game 5
Massasoit CC 300 003 100 — 7 7 4
Holyoke CC 003 000 000 — 3 3 5
M – Alex Simas and Daniel Coury; H – Brandon Obuchowski, Justin Hall (7) and Paul Pollini. WP -Simas, LP – Obuchowski. Records: M – 30-12; H- 24-17.
Game 6
Massasoit CC 032 040 000 — 9 14 1
Manchester CC 000 000 000 — 1 5 1
MS – Jason Cregan and Daniel Coury; MC – Mike Quagliaroli, Steve Simon (5), Ken Martinik (6) and Derek Grundmann. WP – Gregan; LP Quagliaroli;. Records: MS – 31-12; MC 28-11-2.
Game 7
Massasoit CC 200 000 011 — 4 10 1
Manchester CC 410 200 00x —- 7 12 1
MS – Dan Nelson and James McGowan; MC – Robert Fredrickson, Dennie Finnigan (2), Cory Collins (4), Marc Doyle (4), Andrew Foster (8) and Daniel Coury. WP – Nelson; LP – Fredrickson.. Records: MS – 31-13; MS – 29 11-2
MCC moves on to NJCAA Division III World Series in Tyler, Texas and will play on Saturday, May 17 at 4pm at Mike Carter Field.
