March 18, 2009
Box Score
Stockton, Calif. - Two back-to-back left field home runs from Ben Gorang (Turlock, Calif.) helped give Pacific enough cushion to win a close 8-7 game over Dartmouth on Wednesday, March 18. The Tigers avoided a potential losing streak, while keeping the Big Green without a victory in 2009.
With the win, Pacific improved to 7-9 overall while Dartmouth fell to 0-3 in 2009. Junior RHP Larry Holscher (McArthur, Calif.) earned his first win of the year, while Dartmouth's Kyle Hendricks took his second loss of the season.
Junior LHP Jamie Niley (Elk Grove, Calif.) took to the mound for the Tigers and faced one batter over the minimum in the first inning to lead the way for Pacific to head into its half of the inning.
Senior Joey Centanni (San Diego, Calif.) started off the bottom of the first and grounded out to the first baseman, Mike Pagliarulo. With one out, sophomore Brian Martin (Livermore, Calif.) came to bat and went down for the second out of the inning. Sophomore Nick Longmire (San Diego, Calif.) next stepped up and extended the inning with a four-pitch walk. Senior Mike McKeever (San Diego, Calif.) continued the trend after he was hit by Hendricks, moving Longmire (.339 average, 1-for-3, 1 triple) into scoring position at second base. In a two-out rally situation, sophomore J.B. Brown (Alvin, Texas) came up huge and continued his seven-game hitting streak with a single to score Longmire and put Pacific up 1-0. Senior Kurt Wideman (Fallbrook, Calif.) then ended the inning when he grounded out to shortstop.
Both teams went quietly in the second inning, but Dartmouth came up with an answer in the top of the third, scoring the tying 1-1 run. Pacific would not accept the tie, plating three more in the bottom of the third. Centanni started things off with a quick single up the middle. Then Martin (.340 average, 1-for-4, 1 RBI) connected for a double to right field, which the right fielder Nick Santomauro bobbled and then kicked to allow Martin to move over to third base, while Centanni scored, 2-1. Longmire flied out to shallow center field and Martin wisely held up at third base. It was only a matter of seconds, before McKeever (.327 average, 2-for-3, 1 double, 1 RBI) singled into left field, scoring Martin and putting Pacific up 3-1. Brown became the second out when he grounded out to first base and moved McKeever into scoring position. Wideman (.358 average, 1-for-4, 1 double, 1 RBI) then came up and knocked his 31st double of his career to score McKeever and take a 4-1 lead. Junior Mike Walker (Marysville, Calif.) then came up and grounded out to end the inning.
Dartmouth attempted yet another catch-up effort, scoring two more runs in the fourth to bring the game a 4-3. But Pacific responded yet again, plating two more. With one out, Gorang (.296 average, 2-for-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI) launched the first home run of his career at Pacific over the left field fence to pad Pacific's lead at 5-3. Centanni flied out to center field for the second out of the inning. Martin came up next, and with two outs drew a walk over to first. He eventually came around to score when Longmire shot off an RBI triple and help Pacific with a 6-3 lead. McKeever closed things out when he grounded out to short.
Against Tiger relievers Dartmouth kept knocking on the door, scoring one more run in the fifth to trail 6-4. They plated one more in the top of the seventh to move to 6-5 with Holscher on the mound. Pacific punctuated its win with two final runs in the bottom of the eighth and never looked back with an 8-5 lead, highlighted by Gorang's second-consecutive home run to score both himself and pinch hitter senior Joe Oliveira (San Diego, Calif.) (1-for-1, 1 triple, 1 run), who reached third with a triple. The Big Green's final attempt came in a do-or-die situation in the top of the ninth, but fell short with two more runs to finally fall 8-7 to the Tigers. Sophomore Thomas Berolzheimer (Stockton, Calif.) pitched in the final inning to record his fourth save with the Tigers in 2009, a new career high for the sophomore.
Pacific returns to action this weekend, when it travels to Gonzaga for a three-game series. The Tigers' first game begins Friday, March 20 at 6:30 p.m. in Spokane, Wash.
