Izaac Garsez batting for the Yotes against Madonna at NAIA Tournament
RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Jeremy Gooding took a shutout into the eighth inning, as No. 10 ranked Madonna University defeated The College of Idaho, 8-5, in a Group 2 Opening Round game of the NAIA Baseball National Championships at Totman Stadium.
The redshirt freshman allowed just one walk and struck out eight in picking up his team-leading tenth win, as the Crusaders (47-9) advanced in the winners' bracket to meet the winner of tonight's Cal Baptist-Vanguard game.
"His (Gooding) stuff wasn't any better that what we've faced all year," said head coach Shawn Humberger. "But, he really located, and when he did make mistakes up in the zone with his breaking ball, we would take it, and then he'd make a pitch out of the zone and we were chasing it."
The Michigan school got on the board in the second, taking advantage of a passed ball by the No. 15 ranked Coyotes (37-15) to move a runner to third, scoring on a Brad Lineberry sacrfice fly to make it 1-0. They would add three runs in the fifth, getting a Billy Hardin RBI single and a two-run Jeff Bultinck single to make it 4-0.
The Crusaders broke the game open in the sixth, getting a Dan Harder bad-hop single followed by a Lineberry base hit to put two runners on. Mike Gassner dropped a sacrifice bunt, with Diego Robles' throw to first pulling Gavin Gamboa off the bag, loading the bases. Drew Fry followed with a pinch hit RBI single, Ted Toune added a two-run single and Zach Flavin a sacrifice fly to close the scoring.
The Yotes would break up the shutout in the eighth, as Jye Lanphere hit a one-out double, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a Gamboa sacrifice fly. In the ninth, The C of I made it interesting getting a double from Jordan Lanman and a single from Izaac Garsez to put runners on the corners. Robles singled home a run and with two outs, Lanphere roped a three-run double off the centerfield wall to pull the Yotes within 8-5 - but couldn't get closer.
"The disappointing part for us was the fact that it took four times through the order before we started adjusting at the plate and taking advantage of balls elevated in the zone," said Humberger. "Good teams cannot wait that long."
Harder went 3-for-4 in the win for Madonna, as the Crusaders pounded out 11 hits - ten of which were singles.
Lanphere and Lanman each had two of the Yotes eight hits. Starter Ben Rosen lasted five-plus innings, allowing eight runs (five earned) on ten hits, fanning five. Freshmen Jesse Vermillion and Brian Hildebrand combined to toss three innings of one-hit ball in relief to give C of I a chance.
The Yotes drop into the losers' bracket and play a 10 a.m. (MT) elimination game against Huntington University of Indiana. A win would move the Coyotes into a second elimination game of the day, against the loser of tonight's Cal Baptist-Vanguard game, at 3 p.m. All Coyote games can be heard live on 1450 KIOV-AM in the Treasure Valley.