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| Emory needed a big pitching
performance on Monday and it got one from Paul
Merolla. Photo by Steve Frommell, d3photography.com |
By Erik Buchinger
for D3sports.com
GRAND CHUTE, Wis. -- Emory came away with 16 hits and defeated Southern Maine 15-3 in game twelve of the NCAA Division III World Series from Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, Wis.
Seven-foot pitcher Paul Merolla threw a complete game for Emory, who moves on to play St. Thomas at 3:35 p.m. CT.
Merolla gave up nine hits and a walk, but only allowed three
runs and did not record a strikeout.
“I’ve got a great defense behind me,” Merolla
said. “I know they’re going to get a ton of runs on the
other end. If the bases are loaded and I can limit them to one or
two runs, my team is going to get that back as long as I can
prevent the five-spots against us.”
“You have to give credit to him for pitching a great game,” Southern Maine center fielder Forrest Chadwick said. “We hit the ball well throughout the whole game and they played great D.”
Southern Maine center fielder Forrest Chadwick said Merolla and Emory’s defense were able to limit the damage.
Wes Peacock led off the top of the first for Emory with a single to right, stole second and advanced to third on a single by Brandon Hannon to put runners at the corners.
Brett Lake reached on an infield single to starting pitcher Shyler Scates and Peacock scored to give Emory a 1-0 lead.
After a sacrifice bunt to move runners to second and third, Jared Kahn doubled off the glove of Troy Thibodeau at third base to score two runs.
Alex Tobey came on to replace Scates. Kahn stole third and scored on a sacrifice fly to right field hit by Jared Welch that extended the lead to 4-0.
Postgame news conference |
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| Because of time constraints, Emory did not have a postgame news conference for Game 12. |
“They got the hits in the first inning and when you’re down 4-0 that’s not easy to come back from,” Southern Maine coach Ed Flaherty said.
Shyler was only able to get one man out in the first inning and allowed four runs on four hits.
“Shyler was a little off and didn’t get too much done,” Flaherty said. “He’s capable and he’ll be back. He’s only a sophomore and that’s a pretty high environment to pitch in.”
Starting pitchers have left after one inning of work or fewer in three of the four games Emory has played in the World Series.
“I warned the kids that they’re fast-paced,” Flaherty said. “We’ve just had bad starts in all four games. They’re the type of team that puts the ball in play and use the hit and run. Not our style of play, but they do it very well. That’s why I wanted to go with Shyler as a safe bet. My other choice was Zach Bean, a freshman and I just didn’t want to put him in that situation.”
Starters have given up 14 runs on 16 hits through one inning of work in the World Series against Emory.
“They put the ball in play with two strikes as well as any team I’ve seen,” Flaherty said. “They move runners and hit the ball where it’s pitched. Emory drills that right side hole as well as anybody I have ever seen with their right handed hitters.”
Pat McDonough and John Carey singled to start the bottom of the third inning and Sam Dexter walked to load the bases. Chadwick was hit by a pitch to put Southern Maine on the board.
Matt Verrier lined into a double play to second with the bases loaded.
“It seemed like every time we whacked one, they had a guy in place,” Chadwick said. “They were positioned the right way like we saw when Verrier was up and scorched one up the middle and they ended up turning two. We didn’t catch any breaks at the plate.”
Chris Bernard singled to center to score Carey to cut the deficit to 4-2.
Peacock crushed a solo shot over the left field wall with one out in the fifth for Emory.
After an error and two singles to begin the top of the sixth, Philip Maldari reached on a fielder’s choice to third, scoring Daniel Iturrey to make it a 6-2 lead for Emory.
Emory scored five more runs in the seventh. Following back-to-back singles, Iturrey walked to load the bases. Kahn walked to score a run. Welch reached on a fielder’s choice to score Hannon.
Maldari hit a 2-RBI double down the right field line. After Jordan Selbach was hit by a pitch, Karras singled to right field, plating Maldari to extend the lead to 11-2.
Emory scored again in the eighth. Kahn tripled to score Lake and Kahn scored two batters later on an RBI-single from Maldari.
Southern Maine came back with a run in the bottom of the inning on a Bernard single to right to make it a 13-3 game. But Emory kept the offense going in the ninth with a bases loaded single for Iturrey to score a run followed by a sacrifice fly to left to score Hannon.
With the loss, Southern Maine has been eliminated from the World Series.