May 31, 2019

Wrapping up Friday in Cedar Rapids

Pitching ruled the day on Day 1 at the Division III World Series, as everyone was able to bring out their ace starter.
Photo by Steve Frommell, d3photography.com
 

Chapman and Mass-Boston set up a winners-bracket meeting on Saturday, while Johns Hopkins and Birmingham-Southern did as well as the first-ever day of play at the Division III World Series in Cedar Rapids took place. Mass-Boston rallied with runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth, while Johns Hopkins scored three in the bottom of the 10th to win.

Even in the Chapman-Washington & Jefferson game, which was a 6-3 final, the Presidents had the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the ninth. Jonathan Hernandez got the win for the Panthers, improving to 9-0, and Chapman got to use each of its key relievers for an inning as Cody Turner and Nick Garcia worked the eighth and ninth, respectively. Henry Zeisler went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and Mack Cheli went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI in the win.

Mass-Boston took the lead after a crazy sequence in which Webster twice failed to capitalize on outs which the Beacons were trying to give them. Adrian Santiago hit Kyle Boudrias with a pitch to lead off the inning, then threw a ball into the back of Austin Cecere when Cecere had laid one down to sacrifice Boudrias over, putting runners on first and second. Then, with two on and nobody out, Eddie Riley laid down a bunt toward third, which hard-charging third baseman Ben Swords threw past the defender on the wheel play, out into the left-field corner. Pinch-runner Ryan Leung, who would have been out on a good throw, instead came in to score the go-ahead run.

Johns Hopkins had the most dramatic comeback of the day, however. Trailing 4-1 in the seventh, the Blue Jays rallied to tie the game and send it into extra innings. Then, after Babson scored twice in the top of the 10th, Johns Hopkins rallied with three runs in the bottom, winning on a walk-off by Tim Kutcher. 

 

Pat and Jim wrap it up below: