Baseball News

Team Black rallies from three down to win game five, Cols World Series

After falling in game four and being forced to play a fifth game, Team Black fell behind by three runs early, but rallied to tie the game and then win it 4-3 in the bottom of the fifth inning to win the Fifth Annual Cols' World Series in five games Thursday, Oct. 29 at Gary Wright Field in Danville, Ky.

The two teams squared off in a five-inning game so not to put any pitchers in a position to get hurt, but the game still almost went extra innings had Team Black not plated the winning run in the bottom of the fifth.

Team Gold got to starting pitcher Brian Bascom (Cincinnati, Ohio) early. Freshman Mike Conley (Flatgap, Ky.) led off the game with a double and was sacrificed to third by sophomore Jacob Plummer (Catlettsburg, Ky.). Junior Steven Proctor (Springfield, Ga.) then singled home Conley for the first run.

Sophomore Cameron Fishman (Northridge, Calif.) then doubled to score Proctor and would then score himself when senior Steven Kull (Frankfort, Ky.) singled him in for the third run.

Team Gold continued to lead until the bottom of the third inning. After a wild pitch on strike three allowed sophomore Matt Waldman (Lexington, Ky.) to reach first base, freshman Jonathan Lopez (West Liberty, Ky.) singled to put runners on first and second. Freshman Aaron Ammann (Winnetka, Calif.) walked to load the bases and freshman Danny Freudiger (Mason, Ohio) scored Waldman on a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 3-1.

After a pop out for the second out of the inning, sophomore Jordan Ellis (Crestwood, Ky.) was hit by a pitch to reload the bases. Freshman Alex Elswick (Lexington, Ky.) then followed with a single just over the shortstop's head to score Lopez and Ammann and tie the game at three apiece.

With the score tied, junior Cory Crowdis (Louisville, Ky.) led off the inning with his second hit of the game. A passed ball moved him to second and Team Gold then intentionally walked Ellis to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Elswick then attempted to sacrifice bunt the runners over, but an errant throw to first base got by the fielder covering the bag and Crowdis scored all the way from second on the play to win the game.

After allowing three first-inning runs, Bascom settled in retiring the final 14 batters he faced to record the win. The sophomore hurler allowed three earned run on four hits - all in the first inning - while striking out eight with no walks in a complete-game effort.

Kull was saddled with the loss after allowing an unearned run in his second inning of work.

Crowdis was named the Series' Most Valuable Player after leading both teams in average (.429), hits (6-14), and runs scored (6). He also had two doubles, walked twice, was hit once and stole three bases in three attempts. In addition the junior also won game three on the mound for Team Black, tossing four innings and allowing only one earned run to give his team a 2-1 lead in the series.

With the final game of the Cols' World Series, the Centre baseball team also concluded its fall non-traditional season. The Colonels will now take the winter to prepare for the 2010 season. Centre will open the year by hosting Earlham College Saturday, Feb. 27 in a double header at Gary Wright Field in Danville, Ky.