SALEM, Va. – Back-to-back!
Shenandoah University has claimed its second consecutive ODAC baseball championship with a 5-4 win Saturday afternoon over top-seeded Randolph-Macon.
IN DEPTH
SU (31-12) claims the league's automatic bid into the NCAA playoffs with the victory over R-MC (28-10-1).
The bids will be announced officially Monday afternoon by the NCAA and Shenandoah will be making its sixth consecutive, and 10th overall appearance in the NCAA playoffs.
The format is changed this season and the Hornets will be playing in a four-team regional this weekend. The winner of that regional advances to a Super Regional in two weeks.
Shenandoah was forced into an extra game after Macon earned a 5-1 win Saturday morning in the first game of the day.
Following a three-hour break in between games, the Hornets came out and jumped all over R-MC for one run in the first and four in the second to seize total control of the contest.
Frankie Ritter, who was one of seven Shenandoah players to be named to the All-Tournament team, scored the first run by leading off the game with a single through the left side and advancing to third on Tristan Baker's single.
Baker joined Ritter on the All-Tournament and was named as the tournament's Most Outstanding Player for the second consecutive year.
Luke Nussman, also an All-Tournament pick, plated Ritter with a sacrifice fly to left.
Shenandoah scored its four runs in the second on five hits with Ritter, Nussman and Henry Delavergne all driving in runs.
Delavergne had an RBI double, Ritter an RBI single and Nussman brought home Baker on a groundout to first.
Freshman starter Calvin Pastel (2-0), making his fifth start of the season, pitched the first five innings to earn the win. He gave up three runs on seven hits and struck out three.
Luke Radaszewski and Michael Robst pitched the sixth and seventh, respectively, before turning it over to junior closer Gerard DePhillips for the final six outs.
DePhillips earned a spot on the All-Tournament team by posting his third save of the tournament, and second in as many days, by working around a leadoff single in the eighth to retire six consecutive R-MC hitters.
The save is DePhillips' 13th of the year.
QUOTABLE
"I can't say enough about these guys," head coach Kevin Anderson said. "They battled all season long, improved each week and were ready to play the past three weekends (when we needed to win).
"What a great effort."
NOTES
- Tristan Baker extended his hitting streak to 21 games
- The ODAC championship is the baseball's third, and second consecutive
- SU won its first ODAC title in 2015
- The department has now won five ODAC titles:
- Baseball: 2015, 2018, 2019
- Field Hockey: 2016
- Women's Basketball: 2019
- Grant Thompson, Matt Moon and Robert Klinchock joined Baker, DePhillips, Nussman and Ritter on the All-Tournament team
- The NCAA selection announcement is Monday at noon
###
