Columbia Reaches Regional Final
By David Furones
Special to CollegeBaseballInsider.com
CORAL GABELS, Fla. –
Columbia will face a daunting task in playing three games over
27 hours against a fresh Regional host in order to stay alive
Sunday night, but it’s an uphill battle the Lions are pleased
and thankful to be up against.
For
the time being, the Lions are alive and kicking after winning
a 4-3 nail-biter over fourth-seeded FIU in an elimination game
in the Coral Gables Regional on Sunday afternoon at Alex
Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field.
Columbia, the No. 3 seed in the Regional and champion of the
Ivy League, won its third Regional game in its history and
became the first Ivy League school to win two games in a
Regional since Harvard in 1998.
Columbia (33-16), which has now won five consecutive
elimination games and improved to 8-2 in elimination games
since the 2013 Fullerton Regional, will face Miami starter
Enrique Sosa, who is 6-0 at home on the season, Sunday night
looking to force a winner-take-all Game 7 on Monday night.
"They thought that they could get to this point – to a
Regional championship – and here we are playing for a Regional
championship,” Columbia coach Brett Boretti said.
The
task of playing a doubleheader Sunday to stay alive – it
doesn’t faze the Lions.
“We
play four games a weekend in conference, so we're used to
that,” said Robb Paller, who had three RBI for Columbia in the
victory. "We were anticipating playing two games today, but we
weren't thinking about the second game."
FIU
(30-31) is eliminated in a season where it won its first
Regional game since 2001 and won a Conference-USA title with a
rousing surge in the conference tournament.
"To
win that conference tournament is a great accomplishment for
our guys," FIU coach Turtle Thomas said. "In all three games
here, we battled as hard as you can battle."
The
Lions took the decisive lead in the bottom of the fifth when
Paller drove in his third run of the game with a single.
"The
starter [Cody Crouse] has a little bit of run on his fastball,
so I was trying to use the middle of the field, stay on the
ball as best as I can,” Paller said. “He ended up hanging a
changeup that I drove to right field – not trying to do too
much."
Columbia added a key insurance run that would later prove
pivotal when John Kinne scored on a David Vandercook chopper
to first that was mishandled by Edwin Rios.
The
Panthers cut the deficit to one when Austin Rodriguez plated
Brian Portelli with a sacrifice fly in the eighth.
FIU
then went down in order in the ninth. Closer Adam Cline got
Rios to ground out to second to end it.
“The
key to hitting is to hit it where they’re not, and we didn’t
do that,” said Portelli.
Cline retired all five batters he faced for the save after
tossing 57 pitches Friday.
"It
was a little bit tough," Cline said. "One pitch at a time.
That's what I was thinking in the bullpen. That's what I was
thinking when I went out."
The
Lions pieced it together with three pitchers after using their
four primary starters in their first two games.
Sophomore right-hander Ty Wiest started and threw 4.2 innings,
giving up two runs (one earned) on three hits and three walks.
Harrisen Egly (4-1) bridged the gap between Wiest and Cline
with 2.2 innings and the one run in the eighth against him and
earned the win.
For
the Panthers, Crouse (5-6) made his exit after 4.1 innings and
was roughed up for four runs (three earned) on seven hits and
two walks.
FIU
took an early 2-0 lead with a run in each of the first two
innings. Josh Anderson hit a sacrifice fly to center in the
first, and Zack Soria knocked an RBI single in the second.
Paller tied it at 2 in the third inning
when he doubled home a pair of runs as Columbia linked four
consecutive hits together.
Game Notes
· With
Gus Craig injured, Paller moved to right for Columbia and
Joey Falcone started in left. Falcone was tested early and
often but made every play.
· FIU
had a school-record postseason scoreless streak of 18
innings snapped when Paller doubled home two runs in the
third.
