April 20, 2008

Final Stats

Contact: Greg Murphy

LORAIN, Ohio - They say that clutch hitting in baseball is key and can often jump start a team. Cleveland State sure hopes so.

John Brown hit a two-run, walk-off double with one-out in the bottom of the ninth to lift the Vikings to a 10-9 win over Butler in the first game of Sunday's doubleheader at The Pipe Yard.

Riding the emotion and momentum of that come-from-behind win, the Vikings rode the left arm of freshman Anthony Sambula to an 8-1 victory in game two to sweep the Bulldogs.

CSU improved to 15-18 overall and moved above .500 in the Horizon League (7-6). The Bulldogs fell to 8-24 overall and 4-12 in league play.

"Today was all about focus, timely hitting and solid pitching," head coach Kevin Kocks said. "We came out ready to play from the start and got some key hits in key situations. And Sambula gave us an outstanding performance in game two.

"We need to build off this momentum as we move forward. If we come to play with a good mental attitude each day, we can be a pretty good team."

CSU took a 1-0 lead in the first inning of game one as Brad Buell scored on a passed ball when Adam Heideman struck out.

The Bulldogs responded with six unanswered runs, two in the third, one in the fourth and three more in the fifth to take a 6-1 lead. Joe Pauley and Kyle Schultz had RBI in the third, while Jason Jamerson added an RBI single to center in the fourth.

Butler appeared to take control of the game in the fifth as the Bulldogs posted three hits and took advantage of a CSU error to score three runs.

However, the Vikings began to chip away with two runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth to cut their deficit to 6-5. Kyle Bischof provided a two-run double in the fifth, while Tom Carter belted a solo homerun in the sixth.

Butler added a run in the eighth to take a 7-5 lead, but the Vikings responded with three runs in the bottom of the eighth, using an RBI single from Buell and a two-run double by Alex Kerins to take their first lead since the first inning.

The lead was short-lived as Butler came right back with two runs in the ninth as Colin Zeigel laced an RBI double and was followed by pinch hitter Rick Betsch's RBI single that plated Ryan Neat with the go-ahead run.

With the lead in hand, Butler called on Tyler Szymczak who gave up a single to Heideman to start the ninth. Josh Geric followed with a fielder's choice that erased Heideman and Bobby Cash then reached on a Butler error. That set up the stage for Brown who laced the first pitch he saw down the leftfield line to score Geric and Cash and give CSU the win.

Drew Fronczek (1-2) earned the win for CSU..

The nightcap was all about Sambula, a southpaw who was making his third start of the season and improved to 3-1. He fired his first complete game, giving up a single run in the ninth inning. Sambula surrendered just seven hits, while striking out seven and walking zero.

"Anthony was outstanding today," Kocks said. "He had great location and really did a nice job on the mound. I challenged him to grow up after his last outing and he did just that today."

The Vikings spotted Sambula a quick 5-0 lead with two runs in the first and three more in the second.

Bischof, who finished the day with four RBI, tallied a two-run single in the first, while Carter had an RBI single in the third. Kerins added a two-run double in the third inning.

CSU added three more runs in the fifth as Brown laced his first homer of the season, a two-run shot, over the leftcenterfield fence and John Foco contributed an RBI single that scored Geric, who was running on the play, from first base.

That was more than enough run support for Sambula, who pitched the fourth complete game for the Vikings this season.

Buell finished the day 5-for-10 with three runs and an RBI, while Brown, Kerins and Bischof drove in four runs apiece. Cash was 4-for-8 in the twinbill.

CSU will return to action on Tuesday (April 22) afternoon when the Vikings host Canisius for a doubleheader beginning at 3:00 p.m. at The Pipe Yard.