SUNY Cortland Athletics

2011 NCAA DIVISION III BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

Auburn (NY) Regional – Friday, May 20, 2011

Game 11: #3 Keystone College (PA) 13, #1 SUNY Cortland 0

Recap by Mark Coley

AUBURN, NY – Senior lefthander Jeff Frost (Freehold, NJ/Freehold Boro) threw a complete-game two hitter, striking out 10 batters without giving up a walk in facing 29 batters, as third-seeded Keystone College(PA) advanced to the championship round of the 2011 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship Auburn Regional with a convincing 13-0 victory over co-host and top-seeded SUNY Cortland at Falcon Park.

The Giants (35-10), the Colonial States Athletic Conference champion making their fourth straight NCAA tournament appearance, will face either Cortland, The College at Brockport, or Eastern Connecticut State University in the 5:00 p.m. championship game on Saturday, May 21, needing only one win to gain their first ever NCAA Division III World Series berth, which will take place May 27-31 in Appleton, WI.

Brockport and Eastern Connecticut State will play in the final game of the evening, with the winner facing Cortland in tomorrow’s opening game at 1:00 p.m. The winner of that contest needs to defeat Keystone twice, extending the regional to a winner-take-all game on Sunday, May 22 (same time) to claim the regional title and World Series berth.

The Red Dragons (35-9), the defending regional champion and last year’s Division III World Series runner up, suffered only their second shutout loss in 115 NCAA tournament games, the last coming during the 2000 NCAA Division III World Series in a 5-0 defeat to Chapman University (CA) in an elimination game.

Frost (8-4) flirted with a no-hitter through six and a third innings, facing the minimum 19 batters with six strikeouts during the stretch, before the Red Dragons broke up the no-hit attempt as sophomore centerfielder Matt Wild (Auburn, NY) singled to shortstop with one out. Sophomore right fielder Zack Graczyk (Carmel, NY) produced the team’s second hit an out later on a single to move Wild to second base, but the inning ended on a fly out to right field.

Offensively, the Giants belted out 16 hits with 11 runs batted in, scoring three times in the opening three innings, adding three more in the middle innings, and tallying seven in the closing innings, with five coming in the eighth. Four players registered three hits, with junior second baseman Esteban Meletiche (Philadelphia, PA/Frankford) going 3-for-4 with a pair of stolen bases and five runs scored.

Senior catcher Brian Henry (Columbus, NJ/Northern Burlington) went 3-for-5 with three runs batted in and two runs scored, senior designated hitter Andy Vega (Glen Head, NY/Benjamin N. Cardozo) batted 3-for-6 with three RBI and a run scored, and senior shortstop Lance Ratchford (Oneonta, NY) finished 3-for-5 with an RBI. Senior leftfielder Roberto Santana (Orlando, FL/Lake Howell) was the sixth player on the team with multiple hits, going 2-for-3 with three RBI and two runs scored.

Cortland senior Mike Assmann (Auburn, NY) picked up the loss (5-2), throwing seven and one-third innings in giving up 15 hits and 11 runs while striking out five batters.