After another great season of College Baseball, the Crusaders fell just short of repeating as National Champions in 2011. Once the newness of yesterday's tough Championship Series loss wears off, this ball club will realize that they have much to be proud of this year. Though they didn't quite reach their ultimate goal of back-to-back NCCAA Titles, many things were accomplished this spring that can't help but continue moving the program forward. This much is sure, each one of them left us with life-long memories which can never be taken away.
Part of those memories include the way they fought valiantly through the World Series and battled to the very last pitch of the Championship Round. They would eventually lose the three-game Series 2 games to 1.
The Crusaders uncharacteristically made three errors in each of the Championship Series games (9 total for the 3 games-- this was against 4 errors made in the entire rest of the World Series). They were only able to overcome this to win Game 2.
Here's one final look back...
After dropping Game 1 by a score of 4-2, North Greenville bounced back to put on an offensive clinic in the late innings of Game 2 on Saturday morning. A key moment in this gem by Drew Provence showed his ability to pitch through adversity (much of it not of his own making). The bottom of the 5th inning was the evidence of this...with runners on second and third and only one out in a tie baseball game, Prov was able to retire the side with a pop up and a ground out to keep the score dead even. This also kept North Greenville from being behind very late in what- for them- was a potential season ending elimination game. This seemed to lift the Crusaders offensively as they came to life in the next half inning, putting up a 5-spot and securing Game 2 for themselves by a final of 11-4. This awakening of the bats forced the winner-take-all third game in the 2011 National Championship Series.
Game 3 saw NGU take an early 1-0 lead after Giles doubled to lead off the game and was brought home quickly on a single by Derek Fulmer. Oklahoma Wesleyan answered with a run of their own in the bottom half, and it became clear very quickly that we were going to be locked into a to-the-wire struggle decided by pitching and defense. The Eagles added one more in the bottom of the 2nd which resulted from of one of the three NGU mis-steps in the field. The next scoring came in the 5th, when Oklahoma Wesleyan pushed their final two runs across to secure a 4-1 Victory and the school's 1st ever NCCAA National Championship.
In the final game of the year the Crusaders were fittingly led by their seniors offensively. Giles doubled and scored the games only run for NGU; Callicutt was 2 for 3 on the afternoon. Adding to their contributions, Will Gladden had a key double and Fulmer pitched well enough to keep the Crusaders within striking distance after battling through some slight arm troubles throughout the post-season.
The moment of the game which will no doubt be indelibly placed into our memories as evidence of the heart with which Giles and the Seniors played throughout their careers at North Greenville came in the bottom of the 6th inning. With the bases loaded and no-one out, he induced a dribbler back to the mound. Bubba was able to get it quickly to Foulk, who made a perfect throw to first to complete the double play. They then worked together to strike out the next batter looking to end the inning with no damage done. This key moment kept the Crusaders in the baseball game, they just never could break through with the additional runs needed to win it.
The 2011 edition of Crusader Baseball left it all on the field, and that is all you can ask of your school's baseball club. They made sure they were able to play right down to the final out on the last possible day of the season, even forcing the last day to be extended to the final possible game.
This group has absolutely nothing to hang their heads about, especially the seniors, who will now graduate as the only players to ever take North Greenville to consecutive NCCAA World Series Title Games. They leave as the 2011 runner-up, but will forever be remembered as part of the 2010 NCCAA National Champions.
We will now be forced to wait for next Spring...when the game we love so much renews itself.
Looking ahead for the Crusaders...though hey most definitely loose some key contributors from this squad who will be sorely missed (Sr's: Brian Giles, Nate Richards, Tyler Callicutt and two of the Benjamin brothers); I can guarantee you this, when the cool winds roll through the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains again next February, there will still be plenty to be excited about.
See you this fall when Football rolls around...
Jason Patterson
No comments:
Post a Comment