2005

The 42-19 Norsemen got that run back in the bottom of the inning as Nick Patterson reached on an error and scored on a two– out infield hit by Joseph Godinez. Ecce got back-to-back doubles from Van Wilson and Taylor Petty in the top of the seventh to close to within 7-3. The 29-22 Warriors had chances to further tighten up the game in the tifth and sixth frames. but stranded five runners. 'Things have to fall your way sometimes. and they didn't." Yarborough said. ··we had opportunities. and we just didn't get it done at the right time." Warrior ace Josh Miller ( 11-3) took the loss, allow– :ing six runs (one earned) on seven hits and five walks in six innings. He struck out five . ''You've got to give credit to NEO." Yarborough said. "They were very selective with him. They didn't swing at a lot ofpitches out of the zone. Josh left sev– eral pitches up, but he still pitched well enough if we didn't make the errors. We only gave up two earned runs.

··w~ ju't didn't execute defen'i"dy." ECCC head coach Ja~e Yarborough 'aid. "You·,e got to be playing }Our best defen– ~i,el) ''h~n you're in a tournamc>nt li~~ this. and we tlidn'1. ··w~ f~ll-.hor1. This is prob– ably the wor~t defensive day that\\~·"~ had all year. und unfortunately. it came at thi:-. time. Defensively. \Ve ·,.e he~n '~ry strong thi-. ) ear. It'~ ju:-.t that all of a -.udden it hit u:o. in one da) . w~ ju ... t didn't ex~ ecut~. Warrior 'ophomore center fielder Man.:u~ Da\ is had a good 'howing. as he hit a horne run in each game. Forth~ day. h~ w~m 4-for- 8 \\ ith four RBk "Marcu... '' a good ballplay~r." Yarborough 'aid. "He\ !!ot a lot of abi 1- ity and he played well to– day. He step-.; up when we need him to. and this was one of tho~e days we ne~d~d him to be at his peak. and h~ was there. "He':- an incr~dible athlete. He' II ha\'e a chance to go on and play professional ba.,eball. Wt! ~xpect him to go a long way in his ca– reer.

The 38-24 Centaurs took a 2-1 lead in the top of the fourth on a run-scoring in- field hit by Chris Martin. The Warriors made their biggest showi ng at the plate of the afternoon in the bottom of the fifth as they scored three times to take a 4-2 lead . Will Pearson and Ken Gordon started the inning with si ngles. Pearson scored when Wilson reached on an error ~nd Davis fol– lowed with a two- run single. An RBI single by Chris Redmon cut the lead to 4- 3 in !he sixth. Kevin Hatch (4-2) came on in relief ofCody Savell in the top of the seventh ana gave up a pair of runs without allowing a hit. He walked two, hit one, and was called for a balk. Michael Younghanz added a sacrifice fly. "Kevin's our closer and he just couldn't find the strike zone," Yarborough said. "A bunch of times we've called on him to go out there and do it and he's done it. Today, he just couldn't fine it. And we had some mistakes there. We just didn't have every– thing clicking for us today." In six innings, Savell al– lowed three runs (two earned) on eight hits. He struck out five and walked

NEO 8 ECCC 3

"I think we matched up with NEO on hits. We may have even had more extra base hits, but their defense made all the play~.

The Golden Norsemen scored six unearned runs off ~ ix ECCC errors in tak- ... '