Cougars Are World Series Bound! Defeat Johns
Hopkins, 5-4 To Claim Regional Championship
Boyertown, Pa. (5/19/07) - Junior
Maikel De La Rosa (Newark, N.J.) crossed the plate
in the bottom of the tenth off a sacrifice fly from junior
Derek Gianakas (Edison, N.J.) to give Kean
University a 5-4 victory over Johns Hopkins University Saturday
afternoon. The win sends Kean to the NCAA Division III World Series
for the first time in program history.
De La Rosa reached on a fielding error with one out in the
bottom of the 10th inning, took third on a hit-and-run
single by Eric Ammirata (Hamilton, N.J.), and
after an intentional walk to Joe D'Andrea (Hamilton,
N.J.) to load the bases, scampered home on a fly ball to
centerfield.
Righty Colin Feneis (Spotswood,. N.J.) pitched
his way onto the All-Tournament Team throwing all 10 innings for
the Cougars (39-8), giving up four runs on eight hits and one walk
with a tournament high 13 strikeouts. He surrendered a pair
of runs in the second on back-to-back RBI singles and two more in
the eighth on a two-run homer by Hopkins (38-11) junior
Jonas Fester (Dallas, Texas).
Kean will make its first World Series appearance starting next
Friday at Appleton, Wisconsin. The Cougars will face the
winner of the New York regional beginning at 7:45 p.m.
Feneis set the tone for things to coming striking out the first
three batters of the game. After Hopkins starter Joe
Zaccaria (Manhasset, N.Y.) struck out De La Rosa to open
the Kean first, Ammirata reached on a walk, stole second, and
scored on an RBI-single off the bat of senior first baseman
Aaron Richard (Plainfield, N.J.).
Hopkins took its first lead on a second inning triple by
Brett Izzo (Northport, N.Y.) and singles by
Ian Christie (Endicott, N.Y.) and Tony
Margve (Randolph, N.J.). Feneis, who entered the
game with 27 strikeouts in 31 innings pitched, ended the inning
with his fourth strikeout and fanned six more over the next five
innings as he retired 15 of the next 18 Hopkins batters.
The Kean offense tied the score in the home half of the third on
an Ammirata single and added two more in the fourth for a 4-2
lead. Designated hitter Nick Nolan (Linden,
N.J.) walked with one out and eventually scored on a balk
by Zaccaria. Junior Ryan Clark (Livingston,
N.J.) moved to third on the balk and scored on
Kevin O'Neill's (Union, N.J.) single though the
right side.
With Feneis cruising through the middle innings, Kean appeared
in complete control until Fester launched a ball out to left with a
man on to tie the score at 4-4.
Hopkins went quietly in both the ninth and 10th
innings and Kean appeared headed for the same fate in the
10th until De La Rosa's slicing fly ball to left turned
into a baserunner and later the winning run.
NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional All-Tournament Team
C - Gerard Haran (The College of New Jersey)
1B - Aaron Richard (Kean University)
2B - Ian Christie (Johns Hopkins University)
3B - Tim McMenamin (Gwynedd-Mercy College)
SS - Jonas Fester (Johns Hopkins University)
OF - Dan Mattonelli (Kean University)
OF - Eric Ammirata (Kean University)
OF - Mike Donahue (Elizabethtown College)
P - Colin Feneis (Kean University)
P - Brian Duddie (Johns Hopkins University)
P - Matt Daley (Gwynedd-Mercy College)
