Back to the blog UAA Day 5 and more

The last day of the UAA tournament, we still had a shot at a tie for the tournament title and possibly a chance to win it outright!

Brandeis was our opponent on the last day and we would be the home team in the first game of the day. Michael Park took the mound for the Yellowjackets.

No runs in the first, and in the top of the 2nd. In the bottom of the 2nd UR made an attempt to get on the board. Casey Storme was hit by a pitch, Alex Caghan singled, and when Brian Bezek singled to right Casey was thrown out at the plate for the 3rd out on a close play.

Brandeis again failed to score in the 3rd, Michael Park was pitching great! In the bottom of the 3rd, Andy Cannon led off with a double, advanced to 3rd on Blayne Fuke's FC, and Blayne then stole second. Two men on with no outs, Dan Brien singled to score Cannon, but was erased at second on Jay Jay Vanderstynes RBI FC, scoring Fuke. Matt Francis tripled to score Vanderstyne and Casey Storme's single scored Francis. 4-0 UR at the end of 3 innings!

Brandeis answered right back with 3 runs in the top of the 4th.

In the bottom of the 5th, Nate Stein homered to left to give UR a 5-3 lead after 5 innings of play.

UR added another run in the bottom of the 6th, when Andy Cannon singled, advanced to second on a Blayne Fuke groundout, and scored on Dan Brien's RBI single. 6-3 UR leads going into the 7th inning.

Mike Wexler replaced Michael Park on the mound and Brandeis scored 2 runs on 3 hits and a hit by pitch to close the gap to 6-5 UR! UR answers right back in the bottom of the 7th with 2 runs of their own, when Alex Caghan singles, scores on Andy Cannon's double, and Cannon scores on Blayne Fuke's single to make it 8-5 UR leads after 7 innings.

Brandeis scores 2 more runs on 3 hits - one was a lead off homer with no men on, and was helped by an error, before Paul Toland came in to get a strikeout to end the inning and leave 2 men on base. It was now 8-7, as UR came to bat in the bottom of the 8th.

UR added a run when Nate Stein singled, advanced to third when Casey Storme hit a shot that the SS could not handle cleanly, and scored on Alex Caghan's sac fly to left.

Now the score was 9-7 heading into the 9th!

Brandeis was determined to ruin our day, and we almost helped them do it! They scored a run to close within one on a double and 2 errors in the infield. There were men on 1st and 3rd with one out. The tying run just 90 feet away, and there are a lot of ways to score from 3rd base!

The next batter hit a hard line drive that Dan Brien snagged at fdirst base and he stepped on the bag ahead of the scrambling runner to complete the doubleplay and end the game in very dramatic fashion.

A game of inches, positioning, luck - perhaps all of the above, but we all exhaled with a sigh of relief and excitement as the win guaranteed at least a share of the UAA tournament title. Something that had not been done before.

Several players, coaches, and parents returned to the stadium later that evening to watch the Wash U vs. Case Western Reserve game. This last game of the tournament would decide if UR would share the title with Case if they won, or hold it outright if Wash U beat Case. When Wash U beat Case 5-3, UR stood alone as UAA Champs!!

Jay Jay Vanderstyne was named Tournament MVP and Dan Brien, Matt Francis, Blayne Fuke, and Blair Veenema were also named to the All Tournament Team.

Congratulations to all the boys for winning the 2009 UAA Tournament!!

The team returned to Rochester with an 8-2 record, 4-0 in the Liberty League, and UAA Tournament Champions - not a bad week at all!!