Vikings Master Columbia-Greene Lansingburgh's Josh Goodbred Leads Hudson Valley To 12-5 Upset Win, First Of Season Against Higher-Ranked Twins
CONTACT: Jeff Foley (518) 629-8085 or (518) 373-1262
FOR RELEASE: Immediate, Friday, May 11, 2001
http://www.hvcc.edu
Utica, May 11 - The situation was more nightmare than little-boy dream for Hudson Valley Community College pitcher Josh Goodbred (Lansingburgh). With roughly one inning of game-time hurling under his belt this season, the freshman right-hander was summoned from the bullpen in the bottom of the seventh inning in this afternoon's NJCAA Division III Region III semifinal playoff game against Columbia-Greene Community College, which Hudson Valley went on to win 12-5.
Why was the situation nightmarish? Hudson Valley was barely clinging to a 5-4 lead; the bases were loaded for Columbia-Greene; nobody was out; and Columbia-Greene's best hitter -First Team All-Region III catcher Joel DelRosario - had the benefit of a two ball-no strike count. Plus, DelRosario had already whacked a double. Additionally, Columbia-Greene owned Hudson Valley during the regular season, capturing a pair of meetings between the two teams.
"The floodgates were wide open; they could have really destroyed our confidence," said Hudson Valley coach Tom Reinisch. "And as far as I'm concerned, Joel's as good a player as there is in this region."
Goodbred wasn't intimidated, however. He calmly threw two breaking balls for strikes to even the count. DelRosario swung at the next breaking ball, grounding into a double play. One run scored, but Goodbred also got the next batter to ground out, and ended the inning without allowing Hudson Valley to fall behind. The frame concluded with the score tied at five runs apiece.
"That was the turning point in the game right there, him getting those two ground balls," Reinisch said. "I expected Josh to be able to come out and throw the breaking pitch in the strike zone. If he does that and we catch the ball pretty well, at our level, man, you can be tough to beat. Oh, he was super."
Goodbred kept Columbia-Greene off the scoreboard for the game's final three innings, allowing two hits and striking out one batter to earn his first win of the season.
On the strength of the victory, Hudson Valley (30-8), the No. 3 seed in the double-elimination tourney, advances to a 3 p.m. Saturday contest against No. 4 seed Broome Community College (21-19), who defeated the No. 1 seed Erie Community College, 6-3, this evening. Hudson Valley beat Broome 6-0 on April 29. No. 2 seed Columbia-Greene (28-11) will play Erie at noon Saturday.
While Goodbred conquered less-than-ideal circumstances, speedy Hudson Valley centerfielder Justin Beach (Columbia) lived out every ballplayer's fantasy. He stepped to the plate in the top of the eighth, right after Columbia-Greene tied the game, with the bases juiced.
"I just wanted to put the ball in play," Beach said. "We'd just had a little bit of a letdown, having a runner picked off, so I wanted to hit the ball hard. He left a fastball out over the plate and the next thing I knew, I was running."
As the ball traveled from Beach's bat to the centerfield wall, 390 feet away, Beach ran all the way to third base, connecting for a game-winning three-run triple. He put Hudson Valley ahead 8-5, and the game was never close again. Hudson Valley sent 12 players to the plate in the explosive seven-run eighth inning.
"I was pretty excited," Reinisch said. "Justin had struggled in his first few at-bats, so that's a huge hit. And, of course, he's the best kid in America, so we couldn't be happier."
Nick Esopi (Stillwater) pitched six innings for the Vikings, picking up five strikeouts. Esopi also contributed a single and a double. First Team All-Region III infielder Silvestre Castro (Norman Thomas) had two singles and three RBI. Bobby Krogh (Troy) had a pair of singles.
"We're just rising to the level we have to be at. We just had to step it up," said Goodbred of the way Hudson Valley dismantled Columbia-Greene immediately after the Twins battled back to knot the score. "They were catching up to us all game. We were setting the pace; they were just trying to catch up. And we lasted longer."
HUDSON VALLEY 12, COLUMBIA-GREENE 5
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
HV 0 0 3 2 0 0 0 7 0 12 13 2
CG 0 0 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 5 8 1
Esopi, Goodbred (7) and McGinniss; Simonds, Sutton (8) and DelRosario.
NJCAA DIVISION III REGION III TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Game 1 - Friday, May 11 at 4 p.m.
Hudson Valley Community College 12, Columbia-Greene Community College 5
Game 2 - Friday, May 11 at 7 p.m.
Broome Community College 6, Erie Community College 3
Game 3 - Saturday, May 12 at noon
Columbia-Greene vs. Erie
Game 4 - Saturday, May 12 at 3 p.m.
Hudson Valley vs. Broome
Game 5 - Saturday, May 12 at 6 p.m.
Winner of game 3 vs. loser of game 4
Game 6 - Sunday, May 13 at noon
Winner of game 4 vs. winner of game 5
Game 7 - Sunday, May 13 at 3 p.m.
(If needed) Winner of game 4 vs. winner of game 5
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.