Providence College Athletics
Providence College
Jacksonville
Baseball Falls to Jacksonville in First Round of NCAA Regionals
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 28, 1999
TALLAHASSE, Fla. - The Providence College baseball team saw its history come one day closer to the end when the Friars fell to the Jacksonville University Dolphins, 7-5, at Dick Howser Stadium in the opening game of the NCAA Tallahassee Regional.
Senior outfielder Kirk Asche was 3-for-5 with three rbi's and the Dolphins got strong relief pitching from Joel Hegeman and Scott Porter to hold off a late Friar rally.
PC centerfielder Jason Hairston led the Friars' offensive with a double and a single and four rbi's. Mike O'Keefe had a 2-for-3 day but it wasn't enough as the Friars fell 7-5.
Playing in temperatures near 90 degrees, Friars' ace Marc DesRoches gave up two runs in the top of the third on an rbi double by Asche and an rbi single by catcher James Rodgers.
The Friars could manage just one hit off lefthanded starter James Ray through four innings as he kept the PC bats off balance.
"Not being able to apply pressure early, really caused us problems," said Friars' head coach Charlie Hickey. "We were anxious up there and swinging at what he wanted us to. When we started waiting on him, things started to happen for us."
Ray hit Neal McCarthy to open the bottom of the fifth then walked Angelo Ciminiello. Dan Conway moved the runners up with a grounder to the right side and Jamie Athas was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Hairston, one of PC's heroes in the BIG EAST Tournament drilled a Ray pitch in the right center gap and when the dust cleared, he was on second and the bases were cleared giving the Friars a 3-2 lead.
After Mike Scott walked, Dolphins' head coach Terry Alexander brought in Hegeman who got Paul Costello to line out and struck out Keith Reed with the bases loaded to end the threat.
The Friars didn't have the lead long as Jacksonville answered with four runs in the top of the sixth.
"I thought the sixth was a key inning," commented Hickey after the game. "We had gotten some momentum and they answered us with a four spot that gave them a cushion."
With one out, DesRoches walked third baseman Billy Kickham. Shortstop Dale Johnson bunted to Ciminiello at third who made a barehanded grab but his throw pulled O'Keefe off the base.
First baseman Josh Hurrell then double in the gap in right center scoing Kickham. DesRoches then struck out lead off man Troy Veleder before loading the bases with a walk to John Vollstedt. Asche followed with his second double of the game driving in two and giving Jackson ville a 6-2 lead.
The Dolphins added one more in the top of the eighth on a sacrifice fly by designated hitter Chad Oliva.
In the ninth, Ciminiello led off with a walk and moved to second on Dan Conway's single. Athas grounded out moving the runners up and Hairston delivered a run scoring single against Hegeman.
That brought on stopper Scott Porter who gave up a run scoring grounder to Mike Scott and got pinch hitter Coley O'Donnell swinging at three pitches for his 11th save of the year.
DesRoches took the loss to fall to 14-2 while Hegeman pitched four strong innings of middle relief to get the win and go to 4-1.
The Friars now play at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday against the loser of the Florida State - Citadel game. If PC wins, they would have to play at 7:00 p.m. in a loser's bracket game.
"We've been here before," said Hickey, reminding reporters that the Friars faced elimination in the BIG EAST Tournament after losing 11-3 to Rutgers in the second game.
"For some reason, we've handled that kind of adversity all season, we seem to step up our game and that's what we'll need no matter who we face tomorrow," added the third year coach. "We just want to come out and play hard for nine innings, I don't think we did that today."
The Friars are now 47-15 overall while Jacksonville is 41-21 for the year.
