Greeneville, Tenn. (May 29, 2019) – Facing Route 55 rival Cumberland County for the NJCAA Division III National Championship, RCGC fell behind early and battled valiantly until the final out, but came up short Wednesday night in an 11-7 loss to the Dukes at Pioneer Park.
"We represented our college well," head coach Rob Vallisaid. "We battled, played the right way, did things the right way, we won a region championship, got to the national championship game and just came up a little bit short."
Following a miraculous comeback Tuesday night in which the Runners fell behind 9-1 to Brookhaven before storming back to win 11-10, RCGC was once again behind early, giving up six runs in the first inning, starter Mike Biasiellounable to navigate his way out of the first frame. While Valli's team was able to cut the lead to four in the third, fifth, seventh and ninth, they would get no closer, as Cumberland County always seemed to have an answer, the Dukes scoring double-digit runs for the second straight game against the Runners after sending them to the loser's bracket in a 15-13 contest Monday, RCGC making 10 combined errors in the two games.
"We played no defense," Valli said. "By our count, we made 20 errors in the last three games and were able to win one of them, which is amazing, and be right there in the other two. If we play any form of defense it's a different tournament because defense is a big part of the game, it wins championships, and we didn't play defense."
While their defense betrayed them, the Runners once again had a strong night from the final few pitchers that came out of the bullpen, as Anthony Capasso, Eddie Duran, Matt Stiland Joe Marino combined to give up just two earned runs over the final four innings. Considering the Runners hot hitting this season, that strong outing late from the pitchers may have been enough on other nights, as it was Tuesday,but RCGC left 11 on base in the national championship loss. Multi-hit games came for Lorenzo Morello, Alex Gattinelli, Jack Billings and Albert Munoz, but it wasn't enough to chase Cumberland starter Mike Miles from the game, as he went all nine innings for the second time this season against the Runners.
The defeat marked the final game for sophomores Anthony Angelino, Ryan Baglivo, Jake Catalano, Nick Evangelista, Jose Ledesma, Darwin Matos, Ryan Murphy, Nate Williams, Nick Yoder, Biasiello, Capasso, Gattinelli, and Munoz as RCGC ends their season 42-11, amassing a record of 16-5 versus NJCAA Division I and II teams, making their 23rd NJCAA College World Series in 27 years, and making the final day of the tournament for the fifth time in 10 years under Coach Valli.