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| Brandon Berger's big blast buoyed Ramapo. Photo by Steve Frommell, d3photography.com |
Postgame news conferences
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By Austin Walther
for D3baseball.com
GRAND CHUTE, Wis. -- Ramapo third baseman Brandon Berger had three hits and drove in five runs in his first three at-bats, leading the Roadrunners to a 14-2 victory over Webster in an elimination game at the 2015 Division III World Series to start play on Saturday.
With two outs in the second inning, Ryan Rinsky hit a sacrifice fly to score Chris Werr. Berger, the No. 9 hitter in the order, followed with a three-run homer to left to put Ramapo ahead 4-0.
Ramapo coach Rich Martin said he wasn’t sure before the game where he’d put Berger.
“Brandon used to bat in the middle of the lineup and then he struggled,” Martin said. “He battled to get back, so when you can get five RBIs out of your No. 9 hitter, that’s awesome.”
Berger struggled in the World Series opener against Frostburg, going 1-for-4 with a strike out. He said he knew he had to make an adjustment against Webster.
“I changed my approach at the plate today,” Berger said. “I thought (Webster starter Isaac Behme) was going to throw an offspeed pitch, but I sat fastball and it turned out to be outside and I pull everything.”
Scott Shields then led off Ramapo’s third with a single and scored when Scott Peschiani hit an inside the park home run, all the way to the wall about 400 feet from home plate in right-center.
Webster (34-15) chipped back with a home run of its own by Dylan Rajkovich in the top of fifth and Kyle Uhrich drove in Blake Thomas in the sixth to put the score 6-2.
“I knew that was a spot for us,” Webster head coach Bill Kurich said. “You only get so many chances against a good pitcher like that.”
Ramapo starting pitcher Tom Portesy was then able to pitch a scoreless seventh and finished the game giving up only two runs in seven innings while striking out five.
Portsey got more help from his offense when Ramapo (33-15) scored eight in the sixth inning. Connor Walsh opened up hitting with a one-out single and scored on a double from Berger. He came around to score after a base hit by leadoff man Charlie Gandolfi.
The Roadrunners tallied a total of five hits, three batters hit by a pitch, one walk and an error to increase its lead 14-2 which stood for the rest of the game.
“It’s easy to throw when your teammates put up 14 for you,” Portsey said. “I threw a lot of strikes and they picked me up in the field.”
Behme he goes out as the all-time leader in wins in program history with 30.
“I’m not a huge stat guy,” Behme said. “But I’m glad I was able to play here for four years and have great teams behind me.”
Despite losing two games in the World Series, Behme said the season has been a success. He has made a lot of lifelong friends including his head coach.
“He keeps us together,” Behme said. “He’s been our leader for four years and I’ve been fortunate to be around him.”
As for Ramapo, every position player had the opportunity to make an appearance. The hitters stayed focused throughout the game despite the multiple pitching changes made by Webster. Martin said that’s something the team has struggled with in the past.
“Hitting is contiguous,” Martin said. “We started to hit, we started to feel it and everyone just joined in.”
Martin said nobody wanted to go home and they wanted to be able to play at least one more game.
“It was an amazing game,” Martin said. “We are very blessed to come into this situation and score all those runs and Tommy had the outing he did.”
Ramapo will play in another elimination game between the winner of Frostburg State and Cortland at 10 a.m. on Sunday.