Sycamores eliminate Blue Hose, 9-2
Presbyterian’s historic baseball season ended of of Nashville’s Broadway with a 9-2 loss to Indiana State Saturday in the NCAA Regional hosted by Vanderbilt.
On Friday, No. 4 Vanderbilt defeated PC 10-0 to open play in the regional. Vanderbilt and Commodores head coach Tim Corbin, who led the Blue Hose three decades ago, went on to best Georgia Tech 14-11 Sunday to advance to the Super Regional round of the NCAA College World Series.
For the Blue Hose, their stay in Nashville was short-lived with consecutive losses to the Commodores and Sycamores, but PC head coach Elton Pollock said the losses did not deter from the accomplishments of his Big South champion Blue Hose.
“I told (the players) to embrace where we are — somewhere they’ve never been before — play the game, keep their heads up and enjoy it. Ultimately, we can look back at the accomplishment of a Big South championship that was huge for our club and our school.”
Missouri Valley Conference champion Indiana State (31-20) used the same script as Vanderbilt against the Blue Hose, jumping out to a 6-0 lead over the first two innings and silencing PC’s bats.
Starter Zach Frey pitched a complete-game five-hitter for the Sycamores, striking out 10 and walking one.
PC’s Eric Toth took advantage of one of Frey’s few mistakes, hitting a two-run homer down the left-field line in the fourth inning to account for PC’s only runs. Toth went 2-for-4 against the Sycamores and 3-for-6 in the regional.
Meanwhile, the top of the Indiana State order accounted for nine of the Sycamores’ 11 hits. Cleanup batter Miguel Rivera went 2-for-4 and drove in five runs for Indiana State.
On Sunday, Pollock released a statement on social media, thanking PC fans and supporters.
“On behalf of the Blue Hose baseball program, allow me to express my most sincere thanks to our families, friends, fans and all of Blue Hose Nation for your encouragement, prayers and support during our historical, first-ever Big South Conference Baseball Championship and our first-ever NCAA Regional appearance,” Pollock wrote. “I am so proud of our players, coaches and staff… especially how they represented PC on the national stage.
“This will forever be a season to remember!”
