Whitworth stays alive with victory

APPLETON, Wis. – Watching Whitworth University’s Nick Scourey on the mound one would never know he was a freshman.

Tabbed by coach Dan Ramsay to continue the rain-delayed elimination game on the third day of the Division III baseball championship at Fox Cities Stadium, Scourey threw four innings of scoreless ball to get the save in a 7-2 victory over Christopher Newport University.

“We have talked all year about winning ugly,” Ramsay said. “Sometimes you got to win ugly, and when you have six errors, and you have an inning when you put three runners on, but still find a way to win, that’s a sign of a good team.”

Scourey, a 5-foot-9 left-hander, threw three innings of no-hit ball before allowing two hits in the top of the ninth inning.

“It’s pretty unbelievable,” Scourey said. “I didn’t think even growing up that I would be able to pitch in a college world series.”

The Pirates also cleaned up their defense after the rain delay. For the game, Whitworth committed six errors, although five were committed before the game was halted on Saturday.

“The errors were definitely uncharacteristic of our team. We have had flashes here and there when we do make some errors, but playing in the world series, we might have a had little bit of nerves going in,” Ramsay said. “You have to credit our guys for bouncing back.”

In the bottom of the eighth inning, with the Pirates holding a 5-2 lead, Christopher Newport started to get to Scourey. He still hadn’t given up a hit, but three walks in the inning loaded the bases. After getting a ground ball to get a force out at the plate, Chris McDougal of the Captains hit a fly to right field. Right fielder Ryan Beecroft, who had just been brought into the game in the seventh, made the catch and then hit catcher Josh Davis with a perfect strike to gun down Steven Lindemuth at the plate.

Whitworth got big days at the plate from Tyler Pfeffer and JR Jarrell. Pfeffer, a Division III first-team All-American, was 3 for 5 with two doubles and an RBI. His second double of the game was actually predicted by a Whitworth assistant coach.

“Cody Reeves in the huddle before the game called it,” Ramsay confessed. “He said, ‘Pfeffer is gonna get up there and lead off with a double and we are gonna be good to go.’ That gave us a lot of confidence right there.”

Jarrell had three hits, including a double, and drove in three runs.

The Pirates improve to 31-15-1 and will play today in another elimination game against SUNY-Cortland (40-8-1) needing two wins to reach the championship round.