AIKEN, S.C. – The North Georgia
College & State University Saints, making their first-ever PBC
Tournament appearance, won the championship by beating Francis
Marion 10-8 on Sunday at Roberto Hernandez Stadium. The Saints put
up six runs in the bottom of the second inning and held off a
furious Patriot rally in the sixth to claim the tournament title
and earn the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA
Tournament.
But it was Francis Marion who began the game in championship form,
scoring twice in the top of the first inning. After Justin Greene
was hit by a pitch and stood on first, Jared Barkdoll laced a
single out to center field. NGCSU’s Josh Tate fielded the
ball and attempted to throw Greene out at third, but instead threw
it high and into the North Georgia dugout, allowing Greene to score
and Barkdoll to reach third. Barkdoll later scored on a groundout
by Preston Shuey.
NGCSU answered in the bottom of the first with three runs. FMU
starter David Walters issued back-to-back walks and then an RBI
single to Tate that scored Rob Flanigan. Chad Sagen then doubled to
right center to score two more runs and give the Saints their first
lead. That was the end of the day for Walters, who was replaced by
Cory Deering (L, 3-5) after 2/3 of an inning.
Francis Marion added another run in the second on a Greg Phelps
double that scored Ryan Hypke, after Hypke reached on a two-out
single.
Tied at three, the Saints appeared to put the game away in the
second with a six-run outburst. Tournament MVP Logan Sharrett began
the rally with an RBI single to center, followed by a similar hit
from Andre Airich. After Sharrett scored on a groundout, Chad Sage
came to the plate with two on and launched a three-run home run to
right field.
FMU added another run in the third as Keon Graves singled through
the right side of the infield to score Shuey. That run was the last
for North Georgia starter Jesse Coxwell, who lasted only two
innings before being lifted for Alex Simmons (W, 4-0). Simmons
pitched the next three innings to get the win, allowing two earned
runs on two hits while striking out two.
Ed Paul came in for FMU to relieve Deering in the third and
cruised through the next four innings, holding the Saints in check
with five strikouts. Francis Marion made the most of that in the
sixth as they came back with four runs to make it a one-run
game.
The FMU rally started with a single by Chris Honeycutt and a walk
to Graves. Simmons was then lifted for pitcher Zack Black (S, 3)
who induced a pop-up before Hypke singled to load the bases. Greg
Phelps then brought home three runs with his second double of the
day, then later scored himself on an RBI single from Justin
Greene.
After getting roughed up in the sixth, Black rebounded to set down
the Patriots in order in the seventh. Black went four innings to
get the save, allowing four hits and striking out three.
NGCSU added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth on a Tate
sacrifice fly, but they would not need to cash it in as Black
cruised through the eighth and the ninth, setting the Patriots down
in order in the top of the ninth, including a pop-up to short to
end the game and send the Saints into a celebratory mob on the
pitchers mound.
Sage finished the game 2-for-5 with the two doubles and five RBIs
to be named to the All-Tournament team. Tate had three RBIs and two
runs scored for the Saints while Craig Brisson was 3-for-5 with two
runs scored.
Hypke finished 3-for-4 for the Patriots with two runs scored while
Phelps was 2-for-5 with four RBIs and a runs scored. He was also
named to the All-Tournament team. Barkdoll was the only other
Patriot to get multiple hits.
North Georgia now awaits their assignment in the NCAA Tournament,
which should be released later on Sunday. Francis Marion will have
to wait and see if their performance in the PBC Tournament, which
included wins over top-seeded Columbus State and second-seeded USC
Aiken, is good enough to earn an at-large bid to the NCAAs.
Boxscore
Game Quotes
Francis Marion
Head Coach Art Inabinet
Opening Statement: “I think we got beat by a better baseball
team today, I think they beat us in every part of the game,
pitching, hitting, errors, and all that stuff. We didn’t play
well enough today to beat a team of North Georgia’s
caliber.”
On the heart of your team and making a comeback: “We’ve
done a good job of fighting all year. There is not any quit in
them. We are not a real good come from behind team and when we got
down 9-3 I knew we were in trouble. We had the one big inning, but
we had a weak groundball and a strikeout to end it, and that was
the game.”
On North Georgia and how well they are playing: “They are
well-coached, they pitch the ball well, they do not really have a
weakness, I expect them to go far in the regional, and I would not
be surprised if they won it.”
North Georgia
Head Coach Tom Cantrell
Opening Statement: “Just another great day in Aiken, South
Carolina. I can’t say enough about what my players did, we
had the conversation about the weather and all those factors that
were in play. I met with (the players) about midnight last night
and I told them not to worry about the weather, that we were going
to get a chance to settle it on the field. These guys have been on
a mission since April started, winning 23 out of 26 games against
good competition. Give Francis Marion credit, they hung in there
after it would have been easy for them to quit when it was
9-3.”
After winning 23 of 26 and now headed to the regional, what are
your expectations: “Our expectations are to keep this thing
rolling. We are like most schools that when the season starts out
we have a plan. Whether it is a dream or not, it should be
everybody’s goal to win the national championship. The
realization is that we want to do next week what we did this week.
A lot of people in the coaching profession say it is impossible to
win two tournaments. I have heard it several times that if you win
the conference tournament you usually do not do well in the
regional. I just think that is a myth. Everybody is going to tee it
up again. There are going to be some good teams there, there are
good teams here. We think we are one of the good teams, we have
played like it over the last month, and we hope we can continue to
do it. We will see what happens, that is all we can do.”
Chad Sage
On coming up big after being hitless in the first two games,
including a three-run home run: “I didn’t get a hit the
first two games. I was pressing too much, trying to do too much
with the ball. These last two games I have tried to get my foot
down, choke up on the bat, and put the ball in play somewhere and
let it happen.”
How much of a relief was it to come up big and hit a three-run home
run: “It was a big relief, I just wanted to drive it and make
sure we could get a run out of it. The ball kept going and went
over the fence. It felt good to get a lot of momentum going and I
think that carried us a long way.”
Zack Black
On calming down and pitching well after giving up a big hit to cut
the lead to one: “We still had the lead after that hit and
our hitters have been hitting the whole tournament. So I knew if I
could keep us the lead and control the damage our offense would get
some more runs for us.”
2008 PBC Tournament
All-Tournament Team
Jonnie Geiger, Columbus State
Brandon Masters, Columbus State
Peden Rucker, USC Aiken
Justin Greene, Francis Marion
Greg Phelps, Francis Marion
Ed Paul, Francis Marion
Chris Curtis, North Georgia
Chad Sage, North Georgia
Tournament MVP
– Logan Sharrett, North Georgia
Baseball
About the PBC
