CONTACT: Jeff Foley (518) 629-8085 or (518) 373-1262
FOR RELEASE: Immediate, Tuesday, May 8, 2001
http://www.hvcc.edu
Troy's Bobby Krogh Goes Distance, Contributes Five RBI
Latham, May 8 - Jamestown Community College's baseball team would have been wise to keep the bus running this afternoon. In a must-win sub-regional playoff game at Christian Brothers Academy in Latham - the game was played there instead of Hudson Valley Community College due to construction at the college - Hudson Valley decimated Jamestown with a 10-run first inning, sending 13 batters to the plate. The Vikings then sent Jamestown home early, capitalizing on the mercy rule to score a five inning, 16-4 victory.
Hudson Valley (29-8 overall, 19-4 Region III), the No. 3 seed in the NJCAA Division III Region III tournament, advances to the tourney semifinals with the win. The Vikings play again Friday at Murnane Field in Utica, taking on the winner of a game between No. 2 Columbia-Greene Community College (16-3 Region III) and No. 7 Mohawk Valley Community College (11-9 Region III). Jamestown (16-14 overall, 12-8 Region III), the No. 6 seed, is now finished for the season.
The NJCAA Division III Region III tournament is a double-elimination tourney, running Friday through Sunday, with the winner advancing to the national championship.
"Wow, did we hit the ball? We really hit the ball well today," said Tom Reinisch, Hudson Valley's seventh-year head coach. "This is the pressure game of the year. If you don't have a good day, regardless of what happened for the previous five or six weeks, you look back on your season, and it might not be successful."
Hudson Valley took care of that concern early. In addition to pitching a complete game (five innings) to earn his fifth win of the season, freshman lefthander Bobby Krogh (Troy) provided enough offense to single-handedly defeat Jamestown. After holding Jamestown scoreless in the top of the first inning, Krogh (5-1) stepped to the plate in the bottom of the first with two runners on and nobody out. He promptly drilled a triple, giving the Vikings a 2-0 edge. It was Krogh's eighth triple of the season.
Later in the same frame, with two outs and two men on, Krogh blasted his fourth home run of the year, extending Hudson Valley's lead to 10-0.
Krogh, who came into the game batting .389, finished the first inning with two extra-base hits, five runs batted in and two runs scored.
"It's pretty much unbelievable knowing that your teammates gave you 10 runs in the first inning," said Krogh, shaking his head and refusing to take credit for the offensive explosion. "It really takes pressure off you, especially early in the game. It's great."
Nick Esopi (Stillwater) and Silvestre Castro (Norman Thomas) each blasted a home run. Castro also had a double and a single, tallying four RBI and scoring three times. Justin Beach (Columbia) was 2-for-2 with two walks, three runs scored and an RBI. Hamlet Abreu (Norman Thomas) contributed two singles and three runs.
"We just came out swinging the bats," Reinisch said. "I'm really thrilled for these guys."
1 2 3 4 5 runs hits errors
JAMESTOWN 0 2 0 1 1 4 7 4
HUDSON VALLEY 10 0 3 3 X 16 11 2
Muscarella and Ryan; Krogh and McGinniss.
Hudson Valley Community College, located in Troy, offers more than 50 degree and certificate programs in four academic divisions; Business; Engineering and Industrial Technologies; Health Sciences; and Liberal Arts and Sciences. One of 30 community colleges in the State University of New York system, Hudson Valley has an enrollment of more than 9,000 students each year, and is known as a leader in distance learning initiatives and worker retraining.