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Kevin Kojs had four hits and two RBIs as the Gorloks
staved off elimination. |
By Nate Woelfel,
D3sports.com
GRAND CHUTE, Wis. -- It’s a scene that plays out across
backyards in America. A young boy is standing at the plate in an
imaginary game with the bases loaded and two outs, down to their
final strike with the season on the line.
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Webster’s Taylor Stoulp got to live that moment in front of almost 1400 people on Saturday. With the bases loaded and his team’s national title hopes on the line, Stoulp delivered with a game-winning double down the right field line.
The clutch hit gave the Gorloks an 8-7 win over Kean in the first elimination game of the 2012 NCAA Division III World Series.
"To come back and pick up from the tough inning in the seventh, to fight and battle was an outstanding job by Taylor and the others, " said Webster head coach Bill Kurich. "they will remember this the rest of their life."
Kean got on the board first when Nick Zucchero scored on a groundout. An infield single plated another run to give the Cougars a 2-0 lead.
Mitchell Bonds brought the Gorloks within one when he blasted a solo home run to left in the fourth.
A single, a hit batter and a walk loaded the bases for Webster
in the sixth. Kevin Kojs capitalized and put the Gorloks ahead for
the first time with a two-out, two-RBI single.
A one-out single from Joe O’Connor had Kean in business in
the seventh, but the Cougars failed to get the run across.
Webster added on a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning to extend its edge to three.
A wild turn of events gave the Cougars the lead in the eighth. After Steve Sanguliano reached on a dropped third strike with two outs to keep the inning alive, back-to-back run scoring singles from Eddie Jennings and Dylan Laguna brought Kean within one.
On a double-steal, Jennings stole home while Laguna took off for second. A throwing error allowed Laguna to come all the way around to score and give the Cougars the lead.
"I never thought I would be scoring from first base," said Laguna. "It was one of the craziest experiences in my college career."
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Fun facts from 2011 was the year of the sacrifice hit. Kean tied a record for most sacrifice hits allowed, with eight in two games. In the same year, Chapman's Troy Newman set an individual record with five sacrifice hits in a series. Chapman had a record 14 as a team. |
Webster knotted things up in their half of the frame thanks to an RBI single from Stoulp.
Once again, Kean had an answer. Shane Alvarez dumped a
check-swing single into left that scored Nick Ramagli and put the
Cougars ahead 7-6 in the top of the ninth.
But the Gorloks refused to go away. With the bases loaded, two
outs, and two strikes Stoulp stepped to the dish and delivered with
a two-run single down the right field line to win the game.
Kojs and Stoulp lead all batters with four hits on the day. Alex Kazmierski was three-for-four and Tom Henke was 2-for-3. Stoulp drove in three while Kojs and Bonds each had two RBIs. For Kean, every starter had a hit with Tyler Smarslok, Alvarez, Laguna, and Zucchero had two.
Steve Dooley earned the win for Webster with 3.2 innings of relief. Sanguiliano took the loss after moving from shortstop to the mound in the eighth inning. Both starting pitchers pitched well: Webster's Issac Behme was relieved in the sixth in favor of Dooley and Kean's Ryan Zamorsky was pinch-hit for in the seventh.