Although the quote from Columbia Head Coach Lee
Gronkiewicz came the night before in reference to the sudden change in
offensive results, the phrase applied perfectly Thursday night as the Columbia
Blowfish (15-26) stole a 3-0 victory from the Wilmington Sharks (19-20) in ten
innings.
The game was scoreless through nine innings, as the pitchers
dominated. Columbia starter Ryan Garton (Florida Atlantic) certainly pitched well
enough to earn the victory. He gave his team seven excellent innings on the
night, scattering just three base runners (two hits and a walk) over the course
of his outing while striking out eight. He was followed by Chad Hodges
(Shorter), Thomas Little (South Carolina), and Andy Podolinski (West Virginia,
1-1), each of whom pitched a scoreless inning to preserve the shutout.
His counterpart, Atlee Pearson (Erskine), struggled early
and often with his command, but the end result was the same as Garton’s. He
walked six Blowfish in 6 2/3 frames, but did a great job battling through his
bought with wildness, as he struck out five and allowed just one hit, a single off
the bat of Brison Celek (South Carolina).
The start of the game was delayed an hour because of rain
throughout the day, and it seemed like both offenses thought the delay was much
longer. The two teams combined for a total of just five hits, and only three
runners reached base before the tenth started. Both times it happened for
Columbia, it was Ryan McCormick (Millersville), who officially did not have an
at-bat on the evening.
Finally, in the tenth, the Blowfish broke through, and in
dramatic fashion. Demontez Jones (Georgia Southern) drew a lead-off walk and
then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by McCormick. Matt Williams (Liberty)
followed with a fly ball to right field for the second out, and that brought up
Nick Orvin (Citadel). It appeared as though he had ended the inning when he
struck out swinging, but the ball snuck by Sharks’ catcher Ben Fish (Campbell),
and Orvin reached first safely as Jones moved up 90 feet on the play.
That brought up Branfy Arias (Tusculum), and he also
appeared to end the inning. He trickled a ball down the first base line that
hugged the chalk but the first baseman Kenny Bryant (Presbyterian) fielded the
ball nicely. He flipped to the pitcher Patrick Mincey (Francis Marion) who was
covering first, but Mincey dropped the ball, and Arias was safe on the play as
Jones scored and Orvin took third. Celek followed with the only RBI of the game
when he drove a single into the outfield and put his team ahead 2-0.
Then, controversy ensued. Arias stood on third as a
result of the Celek single. During David Greene’s (Citadel) at-bat, the Sharks called
for time, but the umpire never granted it, and Arias alertly broke for the
plate. He scored on the play, much to the ire of Manager Tom Fleenor. He came
out to argue the call, but his effort was for naught as the Fish took a 3-0
lead.
From there, the game returned to the way it seemed
destined to be. Wilmington drew a one out walk off Podolinski, but he locked
down and retired the next two batters on fly balls to center field and right
field to end the game, as he picked up his first win of the summer.
NOTES: McCormick
reached base three times on the evening, with 2 walks and was hit by a pitch… The
Blowfish stole three bases on the evening, pushing their season-total to 132
and moving them to within 12 of the all-time single season mark… Wilmington
shortstop Aaron Miller (Gardner-Webb) was ejected in the sixth for arguing
balls and strikes… The game was the first time in a month that the Blowfish
have shutout their opponent and the third time this season. The other two came
on consecutive nights, June 14th and June 15th… Columbia returns to the Cap
tomorrow to take on the Fayetteville SwampDogs at 7:05. Everyone in attendance will
be automatically entered for a chance to win 2 Atlanta Braves tickets to their
August 17th game against the Washington Nationals.
