The second day of the 2021 Division III College World Series started at 10 a.m. on Saturday, and it didn’t end until after 2 a.m. local time when No. 6 Salisbury outlasted No. 12 Wheaton (Mass.), 11-9, at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
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The win was Salisbury’s 11th in a row and it puts the Sea Gulls (31-4) into Sunday’s final scheduled game, awaiting the winner of Wheaton (21-6) and Cortland (32-8). That elimination game is scheduled for Sunday at 4:30 p.m.
Salisbury struck first, with Justin Meekins and Kavi Caster setting the table in the top of the first with back-to-back singles. After a sac bunt by Scott Cameron, Stephen Rice lifted a sac fly into left, scoring Meekins to give SU an early 1-0 lead. But that momentum was short-lived, as the Lyons put up three two-out runs in the bottom half of the inning. With men on the corners and two out, Mark D'Augelli skipped an RBI single past second to tie the game. Stephen Quigley singled home the go-ahead run, then Andrew Spirito doubled home another to put Wheaton on top 3-1.
The Sea Gulls pulled within a run after junior Cameron Hyder scored following a leadoff double in the second, and went back in front for good with a three-run fourth inning. Hyder brought home junior Stephen Rice with a sacrifice fly to tie the game and Meekins’ two-run single to left with the bases loaded gave Salisbury at 5-3 lead.
Wheaton got one back in the bottom of the fourth, the teams traded runs in the sixth, Salisbury added one in the seventh and then put up four in the eighth. With men on the corners and one out, Luke Weddell laid down a perfect squeeze bunt to bring in a run, then Cullen McAuliffe singled up the middle to bring home another. Meekins came up next and scratched out his fourth hit of the night, an RBI single to left center. Caster followed with an RBI groundout to make it a four-run inning and an 11-5 Sea Gull lead.
And it turned out the Sea Gulls would need those insurance runs. With the bases loaded and one out, George Mulcahey brought home the first run on a groundout. Jacob Studley banged a double off the wall in left to score two, and Studley scored on a Zach DeMattio base knock, making it a two-run game again at 11-9 Salisbury.
Brandon Epstein came in and retired the next three in a row, getting a spectacular diving catch from Scott Cameron in left for the second out, to nail down the save and put the Sea Gulls in the driver's seat in the second bracket.
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| Scott Cameron makes the 2 a.m. diving catch in left field and has the receipts. Photos by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com | More photos from this game |
Meekins went 4-for-5 with three RBI and Weddell was 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored to lead the Sea Gulls, who finished with 17 hits on the night. Jacob Ference had three hits, including a homer, and scored three times, while Caster homered and drove in two runs in the win.
Stephen Quigley went 3-for-5 with two doubles and an RBI to pace the Lyons’ 15-hit attack. Classmate Andrew Spirito doubled, homered and drove in two runs, while fellow junior Jacob Studley was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI as six players recorded multiple hits in the game.
Senior Gavin Reily suffered the loss to drop to 6-3 on the season. He allowed five runs, just two of them earned, on eight hits in 3.2 innings.
Clayton Dwyer started and struck out seven but did not make it out of the fifth inning after giving up four runs on seven hits. Corey Burton allowed a run in two innings of relief and improved to 4-0 with the win, while Epstein recorded the final three outs for his first save.
The win marks the first time since 2001 that Salisbury has won at two games in the College World Series. After going 2-2 in their first appearance in 2001, the Sea Gulls had gone 1-8 in their next four CWS trips. If the Sea Gulls win on Sunday night, they will clinch a berth in the best-of-three Division III Championship Series.