Cedar Rapids, Iowa (5/31/2019) – A walk-off extra-inning victory highlighted a busy opening day of action at NCAA Division III baseball’s College World Series Friday at Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Chapman University (Calif.), the University of Massachusetts-Boston, Johns Hopkins University (Md.) and Birmingham-Southern College (Ala.) all notched first-day victories.
In the opener, tournament veteran Chapman, making its 11th finals appearance, saw a 3-0 lead slip away in the sixth inning before putting away Washington & Jefferson College (Pa.) 6-3. The Presidents (37-12) tied it with a 2-run double deep to left field by James Artale. But Chapman (39-11) quickly answered with Max Cheli’s RBI single in the bottom of the sixth en route to the win. Panthers starter Jonathan Hernandez stayed perfect at 9-0, giving up three runs on seven hits in eight innings. Closer Nick Garcia picked up his 10th save with a scoreless ninth inning.
Massachusetts-Boston struck late to overcome Webster University (Mo.) 4-3 for its 21st win in its last 23 outings. The Beacons (36-12) trailed 3-1 but got single tallies in the sixth and seventh innings, with a tying hit from Charlie Huegi, then got an unearned run without a hit in the eighth for the game-winner. Bobby Tramondozzi (4-2) got the win by finishing with 1.1 innings of hitless relief. Matt Staker had two hits and a walk for Webster (37-12), which had defeated Mass.-Boston in Florida in March.
Down to its last strike twice in the second inning, Johns Hopkins erupted for three 10th-inning runs to snatch a 7-6 walk-off victory from Babson University (Mass.). Tim Kutcher roped a 2-run double to left-center to win it for the Blue Jays (36-11). Nicholas Brown had positioned Babson (38-9) for the victory with a 2-run home run in the top of the 10th. Johns Hopkins starter John Hejka muscled through 9.2 innings but reliever Preston Betz (5-2) got the win by securing the final 10th-inning out.
Birmingham-Southern (40-13) jumped on top early and was in command throughout a 6-1 decision over Heidelberg College (Ohio). The Panthers were up 3-0 after two innings as Brian Williams drove in a run with the first of his three hits. Birmingham-Southern added three runs in the sixth. Cole Steadman also had three hits with three RBIs. John Michael Shirley (7-2) limited Heidelberg to two hits over six innings. Zach Doran singled and scored for the Student Princes (35-14).
