May 26, 2014
2014 World Series Photo Gallery
Box Score
Just when it looked like the Georgia Gwinnett baseball team would stay alive once again facing elimination, Tabor (Kansas) scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to knock the Grizzlies out of the 2014 Avista-NAIA Baseball World Series on Monday, 6-5, on day four in Lewiston, Idaho.
Georgia Gwinnett senior John Fidanza had broken a 4-4 tie with a solo home run in the top of the eighth inning, but a run-scoring Blue Jays double tied the game with one out in the ninth and a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded plated the winning run.
The sixth-seeded Grizzlies end their 2014 championship season with an overall record of 53-13. Ninth-seeded Tabor improved to 51-12 with the win.
Georgia Gwinnett belted 13 hits to Tabor’s six in front of the 1,010 in attendance at Harris Field, led by three hits from senior Kyle Norton and two apiece from senior Phillip Bates, senior Zach Alvord and junior Ty Abbott.
“Our team was amazing all tournament,” said Grizzlies head coach Brad Stromdahl. “There’s nothing you want to take back, we did exactly what we were supposed to do and we just came up on the wrong end of it today.”
The Grizzlies connected early on Blue Jays starter Jean Acevedo with a trio of first-inning singles. The last- off the bat of Alvord with two outs- brought home Bates for a 1-0 GGC lead.
Georgia Gwinnett starter Adam Clark held Tabor off the scoreboard for the first four innings, racking up a season-high six strikeouts.
The Blue Jays finally connected with four runs in the fifth. With the bases loaded, a hit-by-pitch and a walk put Tabor in the lead, 2-1, then an RBI single and a sacrifice fly made it 4-1. Reliever Jonathan Spitler then came in with the bases loaded and turned the momentum with an inning-ending double play to limit the damage.
The Grizzlies responded in their next at-bat.
Alvord doubled off the wall in left with one out, then scored when Christian Van Camp doubled into the right field corner. After a walk, Norton put down a bunt single and Van Camp came around to score when the throw to first base got away. Trailing 4-3, the Grizzlies executed a squeeze play as pinch runner Garitt Church scored on Jereid Woods’ bunt groundout to tie the game, 4-4.
Spitler and reliever Ryan Turner would help keep the game level until the eighth, when Fidanza launched the Grizzlies’ third homer in as many games at Harris Field. Batting from the left side, the switch hitter launched a bomb to right field on a 2-1 pitch from reliever Alex Mann for his second home run of the year to give the Grizzlies a 5-4 advantage.
“John did a great job putting the bat on the ball,” said Stromdahl. “That’s exactly what we needed at that point in time and the energy in the dugout was great.”
Later in the inning with a runner on first and two outs, Bates then sent a shot to left-center that was caught at the wall on the run by Grant Silva, preventing the Grizzlies from adding an insurance score.
The Grizzlies then turned to closer Zeke McGranahan to start the eighth, and the senior faced the minimum in the inning as Fidanza threw out his second baserunner of the day to erase a one-out walk.
Georgia Gwinnett put two more runners on in the ninth against the Blue Jays’ Russell Longworth (10-2) with one out, but a pair of strikeouts ended the inning.
McGranahan (3-3) returned to the mound for the final frame and quickly got the first out with a grounder back to the pitcher’s mound. A one-out walk put a runner on first base in the form of pinch runner Ryan Neufeld. Silva then ripped a ball up the middle off the pitcher’s mound that escaped into right-center. The ricochet was not fielded cleanly by the GGC outfield and Neufeld was able to motor around from first base to tie the game, 5-5. Silva then stole third as reliever Andy Threatt came into the game for GGC, and the Grizzlies chose to intentionally load the bases to set up a double-play opportunity. The next batter, Kevin Seeger, hit a ball to right field, which Jake Fields caught and tried to throw home but Silva came in on the sac fly to win the ballgame for Tabor.
All four of the Grizzlies’ postseason defeats between the conference and national tournament came by a single run.
The loss Monday snapped an eight-game winning streak in elimination contests for GGC.
The Grizzlies leave Lewiston having scored as many runs- 12- as they gave up over three games in the closely-contested tournament.
Georgia Gwinnett’s wildly successful 2014 campaign will come to a close with the program’s first-ever trip to the Avista-NAIA Baseball World Series, a 53-win season and an Association of Independent Institutions tournament championship.
“It’s going to be a few days before this season sinks in,” concluded Stromdahl. “We accomplished so much in this year and you never want it to come to an end. These guys fought all year, right up until the very end, and that’s how this group will be remembered.”
