Cecil Seahawks soar past top-seed Hawks

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Cecil College's William Flores and Jordan Hutchinson celebrate the Seahawks 5-3 win over Heartland CC to stay alive in the NJCAA Div II World Series at David Allen Memorial Ballpark. (Staff Photo by BILLY HEFTON)

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June 1, 2011

By Lee Coleman, Staff Writer Enid News and Eagle The Enid News and Eagle Wed Jun 01, 2011, 12:39 AM CDT

Fighting for their World Series lives, the Cecil College (Md.) Seahawks got off the deck in an elimination game and upset top- ranked Heartland Community College (Ill.) 5-3 Tuesday in the NJCAA Division II World Series at David Allen Memorial Ballpark.

The Seahawks rebounded after losing 6-5 to Kellogg Community College (Mich.) in the opening round of play on Sunday. The loss ends Heartland’s season.

“It was a great win,” Seahawks skipper Charles O’Brien said. “It has been a long time in our history trying to get that baby.

‘We’re excited about it and ready to get another one.”

Cecil will play Kellogg Community College (Mich.) in an elimination game today at 3:30 p.m.

Paul Eyster pitched into the ninth inning for Cecil and got the win after tiring after two batters in the final frame. Dan Tieberi came on and got the save.

“I don’t throw very hard so I went out and threw strikes and went right after them,” Eyster said. “It worked to my advantage today. The scouting report said they were free swingers and liked the fastball so my main job was keeping them off balance.”

Both teams plated a run for a 1-1 tie after the first inning.

Heartland’s Zac Zellers tripled in the third inning and scored on a sacrifice fly by Dylan Johnson for a 2-1 Hawks lead.

After retiring the last two hitters in the first, Heartland hurler Aaron Hauge got on a roll and retired 14 straight batters until he ran into trouble in the top of the sixth.

Cecil got a leadoff double from T.J. Sinnott who came home on a Tom McGuckin RBI single. McGuckin scored on a groundout and Josh Hampton walked, went to second on a wild pitch and came home courtesy of a RBI sacrifice fly by Will Flores for a 4-2 edge.

Mike Keep added an insurance run for Cecil in the eighth inning on another ground out, this time by Marty Sessa, for a 5-2 margin heading into the final stanza.

Heartland mounted a major threat in the top of the ninth inning. Zellers scored his third run to close the Cecil lead to 5-3 on an Aaron Vogt RBI. With two out, Heartland loaded the bases with Ryan Richardson coming to the plate.

Richardson got ahead of Tieberi in the count but on a 1-0 pitch, Richardson got under the ball and fouled out to the catcher, ending the ball game and sending Cecil to play today against Kellogg CC at 3:30 p.m..

“We have battled all year,” O’Brien said. “These guys are warriors and they keep at it. We just kept going until we got it.

“As long as we are still playing, we’re happy.”

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NJCAA Division II World Series

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Cecil Seahawks soar past top-seed Hawks

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