BOX SCORE AND PLAY-BY-PLAY
GCSU 3, USI 0
CARY, N.C. – The ninth-ranked University of Southern Indiana baseball team dropped its first game of the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship Series, 3-0, to fourth-ranked Georgia College and State University Thursday afternoon in Cary, North Carolina. USI falls to 50-14 overall, while GCSU rises to 42-16 in 2010.
The Screaming Eagles and the Bobcats play again on Friday for the right to play in the NCAA II Championship game. The first pitch on Friday is still to be determined. If top ranked University of California-San Diego falls to 16th-ranked Franklin Pierce University, the Eagles and the Bobcats play at 9 a.m. (CDT). If UC San Diego defeats Franklin Pierce, USI and GCSU will play their rematch at 10 a.m. (CDT).
The Bobcats opened the game with a run in the first inning and built a 3-0 lead through five innings with an additional tally in the fourth and fifth. The Eagles, which had been averaging 7.9 runs and 10.3 hits per game during the NCAA II Tournament, was held to five hits by GCSU right-hander Martin Dewald.
USI's best opportunity came in the third inning when the Eagles stranded the bases loaded and had runners at second and third with one out. USI also put a pair of runners on in the ninth inning with two outs, but could not generate a rally against Dewald.
On the mound, junior right-hander Jared Canterbury (Petersburg, Illinois) took the loss for USI in his third start of the year. Canterbury (4-1) went 4.1 innings, allowing three hits and three run. He also struck out two.
Junior right-hander Mark Walther (Kankakee, Illinois) and senior right-hander Casey Geiger (Albion, Indiana) finished the game for the Eagles. Geiger, who pitched two scoreless innings, was making his first appearance since the middle of April due to lingering elbow problems from last season's surgery.
The good news for the Eagles is that with the loss, junior right-handers Trevor Leach (Danville, Indiana) and Dan Marcacci (Jupiter, Florida) will be available if the squad advances to Saturday's national championship game. Leach and Marcacci were suspended for four games after it was interpreted that they had intentionally hit batters in the Midwest Regional championship game.
Leach, who is the first USI hurler to reach double-digit wins in two-straight seasons, is 11-1 this year and 22-1 the last two years after winning twice and recording a save in the regional. Marcacci is USI's number three starter is 6-3 in his first season with the Eagles.
