BOX SCORE
Boyertown, Pa. (May 19, 2007) – Junior righty Colin Feneis (Spotswood, N.J.) threw a 10-inning complete game with a tournament-best 13 strikeouts and junior outfielder Derek Gianakas (Edison, N.J.) hit a game-winning sacrifice fly to send top-seeded Kean University to the NCAA Division III College World Series with a 5-4, 10th inning win over #3 Johns Hopkins Saturday afternoon in game 12 of the Mid-Atlantic Baseball Regional at Bear Stadium.
Junior second baseman Maikel De La Rosa (Newark, N.J.) reached on a fielding error with one out in the bottom of the 10th inning, took third on a hit-and-run single by Eric Ammirata (Hamilton, N.J.), and after an intentional walk to Joe D’Andrea (Hamilton, N.J.) to load the bases, scampered home on a fly ball to centerfield.
Feneis pitched his way onto the All-Tournament Team throwing all 10 innings for the Cougars (39-8), giving up four runs on eight hits and one walk with the 13 strikeouts. He surrendered a pair of runs in the second on back-to-back RBI singles and two more in the eighth on a two-run homer by Hopkins (38-11) junior Jonas Fester (Dallas, Texas) who had a superb regional for the runner-up Blue Jays.
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Jonas Fester watches his eight-inning home run clear the wall in left.
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Kean will make its first World Series appearance starting next Friday at Appleton, Wisconsin. The Cougars were regular season winners of the New Jersey Athletic Conference and runner-up in the post season conference tournament.
Feneis set the tone for things to coming striking out the first three batters of the game. After Hopkins starter Joe Zaccaria (Manhasset, N.Y.) struck out De La Rosa to open the Kean first, Ammirata reached on a walk, stole second, and scored on an RBI-single off the bat of senior first baseman Aaron Richard (Plainfield, N.J.).
Hopkins took its first lead on a second inning triple by Brett Izzo (Northport, N.Y.) and singles by Ian Christie (Endicott, N.Y.) and Tony Margve (Randolph, N.J.). Feneis, who entered the game with 27 strikeouts in 31 innings pitched, ended the inning with his fourth strikeout and fanned six more over the next five innings as he retired 15 of the next 18 Hopkins batters.
The Kean offense tied the score in the home half of the third on an Ammirata single and added two more in the fourth for a 4-2 lead. Designated hitter Nick Nolan (Linden, N.J.) walked with one out and eventually scored on a balk by Zaccaria. Junior Ryan Clark (Livingston, N.J.) moved to third on the balk and scored on Kevin O’Neill’s (Union, N.J.) single though the right side.
With Feneis cruising through the middle innings, Kean appeared in complete control until Fester, who earlier in the week tied the NCAA single season record for doubles and finished the tournament with 10 hits in 20 at-bats, smoked a ball out to left with a man on to tie the score at 4-4.
Hopkins went quietly in both the ninth and 10th innings and Kean appeared headed for the same fate in the 10th until De La Rosa’s slicing fly ball to left turned into a baserunner and Gianakas hit a fly ball to center for the winner.
#1 Kean 5, #3 Johns Hopkins 4 (10 innings)
NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional All-Tournament Team
C – Gerard Haran (The College of New Jersey)
1B – Aaron Richard (Kean University)
2B – Ian Christie (Johns Hopkins University)
3B – Tim McMenamin (Gwynedd-Mercy College)
SS – Jonas Fester (Johns Hopkins University)
OF – Dan Mattonelli (Kean University)
OF – Eric Ammirata (Kean University)
OF – Mike Donahue (Elizabethtown College)
P – Colin Feneis (Kean University)
P – Brian Duddie (Johns Hopkins University)
P – Matt Daley (Gwynedd-Mercy College)