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5/23/2009 - BASEBALL
Dolphins Rain Supreme; Win Fourth A-Sun Baseball Title
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All-Tournament Team
Courtesy ASunPhotos.com
DeLAND, Fla. - Alex Martinez’s ninth-inning, two-run home run over the fence in left-field broke a tie between Jacksonville and Lipscomb and ultimately carried the Dolphins to their fourth Atlantic Sun Baseball Championship as they defeated the Bisons, 7-4, from Stetson’s Melching Field at Conrad Park.
Martinez, the 2009 Tournament MVP, hit the first pitch he saw from Lipscomb’s Matt Bowling out for his 11th home run of the season. He finished the day 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored.
Jacksonville (36-20) twice played catch-up from one run deficits. When play was halted last night, Lipscomb (24-32) held a 1-0 advantage courtesy an Allen Bolden first-inning RBI double. After tying the game in the fourth, the Dolphins built their lead to two as they added single tallies in the fifth and sixth innings. In the fifth, All-Atlantic Sun catcher’s Jeremy Gillan’s sacrifice fly plated Glen Johnson; one inning later Martinez scored on a single from First-Team second baseman, Chuck Opachich.
Lipscomb responded with its first runs since the first inning in the home half of the sixth inning. Justin Sander hit his 12th home, an opposite-field shot to left field, to pull the Bisons to 3-2. A walk to Tennyson Dodd preceded consecutive hit batters to Ryan Wilkins and Logan Hostettler loaded the bases and Tyler Wilson’s ground out tied the score. The Bisons regained the lead via a catcher’s interference call on Alex Swenson.
In the seventh down 4-3, JU outfielder Thomas Myers clubbed his 12th home run over the scoreboard in left to tie the contest at four.
Following the Myers home run, each team put runners in scoring position in their next at-bats. Lipscomb’s Ryan Wilkins tripled with two out in the seventh, but Matt Loosen, Jacksonville’s starter against Belmont on Sunday, retired Hostettler on a line out to short stop. Chris Connelly led off the JU eighth with a single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, but stalled there.
Lipscomb’s eighth followed a similar pattern. Wilson led off with a single and advanced to second on a sacrifice only to be stranded.
Loosen closed the door on the Bisons in the ninth, striking out Saturday’s hero, Branden Cadavid and retiring Sanders on a ground out to short. When the first-base umpire confirmed a swing on the final pitch of the game to Dodd, the Dolphins had secured their fourth Atlantic Sun Baseball Championships and set off a pile up to the right of the mound.
Loosen (4-1) earned the win whie Bowling (1-2) suffered the defeat. Each team brought back their starting pitcher from Saturday night. Josh Smith, who pitched the final 1.1 innings of the Bisons’ victory against ETSU on Saturday afternoon in addition to the 1.2 innings he threw before the delay, lasted another 3.2 innings on Sunday. Carson Andrew pitched four additional innings on Sunday.
The title game between the previous two champions began at 8:40 p.m. on Saturday, only to be halted with two out in the top of the second. The delay marked a second-straight Sunday finish. Rain forced Lipscomb and Gardner-Webb to play on Sunday. That game ended with a 10-9 Bisons victory in the longest conference title game, by innings (15) in NCAA history.
Jacksonville will learn its NCAA destination during Monday’s selection show, to air on ESPN at 12:30 p.m.
Notes: Today’s title game marked the first time since 1981 that the previous two Atlantic Sun Baseball champions met in the following year’s title game. Mercer won the inaugural title in 1979 followed by a win by Georgia Southern in 1980 (Mercer won 9-3)…Jacksonville is the fourth A-Sun school to win at least four baseball Championships (Stetson and UCF own six, Georgia Southern has four)…The title game featured the top two seeds for just the second time in the last 11 years, in 2002, top-seeded UCF defeated FAU.
The Atlantic Sun Conference is an 11-member league committed to Building Winners for Life. The A-Sun stands for achievement with integrity in both the academic and athletic arenas, with a focus on the balance between the two for our student-athletes. Headquartered in Macon, Ga., the A-Sun boasts six of the top eight media markets in the Southeast. The A-Sun includes a blend of the most prestigious and dynamic private and public institutions in the region: Belmont University, Campbell University, East Tennessee State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Jacksonville University, Kennesaw State University, Lipscomb University, Mercer University, University of North Florida, University of South Carolina Upstate and Stetson University.
