Trojans Drop Title Game To FIU 14-10

Sunday, May 30

Murfreesboro, Tenn.

10:00 am

Troy University

FIU

5/30/2010 8:30:00 PM | Baseball

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – In the end, the hottest hitting team in all of college baseball was just too much for an overworked and undermanned Troy pitching staff in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship game.

FIU used a six-run seventh inning to blow open what had been a tight game and then held on for a 14-10 victory over the Trojans on Sunday at Reese Smith Field.

The Golden Panthers improved to 36-23 on the season and will await their destination for the NCAA Tournament, which starts next week. Troy closes the season with a 36-25 mark, finishing the year by winning 18 of their last 24 games.

The Sun Belt Tournament title for FIU was their second, with the first coming in 1999. For the week, the Panthers set tournament records for hits (89) and runs (61) as well as team batting average (.385). Troy also set a new tournament mark with 14 home runs.

“They hit it well today and through the entire tournament,” Trojans coach Bobby Pierce said of FIU. “It is a very fine offensive team that is very tough, one through nine, much like our club. They were on fire, with several guys swinging very hot bats.”

The most publicized hitter on the FIU squad is sophomore Garrett Wittles, who extended his hitting streak to 54 games with a single off Troy starter Tyler Ray in the fifth inning, but it third baseman Jeremy Patton, who had a homer and RBI double in the win over Troy, who took home Most Outstanding Player honors for the week.

Patton hit .522 with four homers and 10 RBI in the leading FIU to the tournament title. He was joined on the all-tournament squad by teammates Wittles and Pablo Bermudez as well as Troy's trio of Chase Whitley, Ryan Ditthardt and Adam Bryant. Ditthardt tied FAU's Ryan Church for a new tournament record with 13 RBI.

After spotting FIU an early 2-0 lead on a first inning homer by T.J. Shantz, the Trojans plated four runs in the second inning to chase the Panthers' starter, Aaron Arboleya. Steven Felix, Whitley and Ditthardt had consecutive RBI singles to take advantage of a fielding error by Wittles at shortstop.

FIU got a run back Patton's homer in the third and then took a 5-4 lead on a two-run double by Mike Martinez in the fifth.

Troy answered right back, with Whitley scoring from third in the bottom of the inning on a double-play grounder, and then reclaimed the lead on a homer by Bryant in the sixth. The solo blast was his fourth of the tournament and 23rd of the year, tying Jorge Soto's 1998 season for the second most in a season in school history. Soto followed up in 1999 by hitting 26 bombs.

With Ray tiring, Troy turned to junior Drew Hull (4-6) to open the seventh inning. After striking out Bermudez, he surrendered a single to Shantz followed by an RBI double by Wittles to tie the game at 6-6. Patton followed up with a double to give FIU the lead and chase Hull.

“We made some good pitches along the way that they were able to fight off to get to the next pitch and got several balls off the bat,” Pierce said. “They put 20 hits on the board today and all you can do is congratulate them for doing what they needed to do to win the championship.”

Chase Whitley came on to pitch for Troy and, less than 18 hours after throwing almost 70 pitching against Arkansas State to get the Trojans to the title game, he struggled with his control. Whitley walked three straight Panthers, forcing in another run, before pinch-hitter Raiko Alfonso delivered a two-run single for an 11-6 FIU lead.

That looked to be enough for the Panthers with Corey Polizzano (4-4) cruising on the mound. But, like every pitcher on both teams, he began to tire. After having had late-inning troubles throughout the tournament, FIU continued to press the issue offensively, scoring three insurance runs in the ninth.

Those runs almost came into play as Troy went to work in the bottom of the inning, scoring four times. Whitley blasted a two-run homer off Daniel DeSimone to start the rally, and then loaded the bases off Eric Berkowitz with a single, walk and hit batter.

Scott Rembisz came on and stuck out Blake Martz before surrendering an RBI single to Shohei Fujita. Jake Sullivan followed with a ground ball to plate a fourth run and bring up Bryant with a chance to cut the deficit to one. Rembisz got ahead early and got Bryant to hit a ground ball to third, ending the game and the rally.

“They have a fine club and are a very deserving champion,” Pierce said of FIU. “I think our club laid it all on the line – there is not an ounce of anything left that is not on the field. I am very proud of their performance and their season. They really came back and fought hard over the last month and in this tournament.

“I have never been more proud of a group, or more proud of a senior group that was really what catapulted us through this last month and put us in position to come to this tournament with the confidence to win it.”

Ditthardt led the Trojans with four hits in the game, running his hitting streak to 15 games to end the year. Whitley added three hits and drove in three.

Shantz had four hits and drove in three for FIU while Junior Arrojo had three hits. Bermudez, Wittles, Patton, Martinez and Yoandy Barroso had two hits each for FIU, whose 20 hits were the most surrendered by the Trojans this year.

“There were a lot of great ball games in this tournament, a lot of come-from-behind, gut-wrenching games,” Pierce said. “You never know why a team comes together when they do. You do know when they aren't playing up to their ability or potential, and that is the problem we had early on. We regrouped and got it going coming into this tournament, but just ran into an FIU team that is really good with the bat and really hot in this tournament.”

The Panthers will find out where they will be going for the NCAA Tournament at 11:30 a.m. on Monday when the Regional Tournament pairings are announced. The announcement of the pairings will be aired by ESPN.

The 16 regional tournament host sites were announced on Sunday. The tournaments will be hosted by the following schools: Arizona State, Arkansas, Auburn, Cal State Fullerton, Coastal Carolina, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, TCU, UCLA and Virginia.