MONTGOMERY, Ala. - South Alabama's season comes to an end as the Jaguars fall to Old Dominion, 3-2.
Lefty pitcher
Zach Willingham led the team through 5.0 innings in his first career start. His longest career outing also drew out his most strikeouts, with seven on the day. Willingham hit a groove, striking out two of the three batters he faced in the third, then striking out the side in the fourth inning.
The Jags struck first with an RBI single by
Micah Morgan, then scored later in the fifth as
Will Turner bunted
Tyler Borges home.
ODU responded with a two-run homer to tie the game, then took the lead in the sixth from an RBI single. The Jags had their opportunities, with two runners on, and two outs in both the seventh and ninth innings, which both ended on infield ground balls that found an out.
Winning Pitcher: Jacob Gomez (2-2)
Losing Pitcher: Danny Diaz (0-2)
QUOTES
Head Coach Mark Calvi
Overall thoughts: Well, great college baseball game, two pretty solid clubs. We just came up a run short. Congratulations to Finny (Chris Finwood) and his team. They survive in advance, and our season's over, but super proud of our guys, all year long, the way they fought. Had some guys in and out and just like everyone else, you have your share of adversity but this was one of the most enjoyable teams I've been around in 31 years, you know, just the way they looked out for each other and they really enjoyed each other. They practiced hard every single day. They put the uniform on to win and some guys don't do that. Some guys put the uniform on to play division one baseball and some teams don't do that. Some teams put it on win, our guys put it on to win. We just came up a little bit short and just super proud of our effort and very, very thankful for our seniors and the guys that transferred in. They've only had one year left and very thankful for them and all our players and, you know, we had the youngest roster in the league and a bunch of freshmen got some valuable experience in a top-four RPI League, in one of the better leagues in the country. We were the youngest team on a daily basis. So, you know I think that it bodes well for the future and some guys that saw some of those seniors in tears, I think it could be a wake up call for some of those guys, you know, it'll be them one day. You know that we had great leadership on our team. Our seniors were absolutely fantastic, but enough about that, I thought we gave up four hits, one was a two-run home run on a 3-0 count. (Maverick) Stallings jumped a 3-0 count and we certainly pitched well enough to win. They just touched home plate one more time than we did and, you know, like I said, I hope the fans got their money's worth. It was a great college baseball game and day of walks and 13 to 12 ballgames and, in college baseball at this time of year, at somewhat of a hitter's park you know three to two is pretty damn good accomplishment. So, the only thing I'm disappointed in is the outcome, but our guys fought like crazy and we had the go ahead run at first base today and just didn't get that big hit but our guys battled to the end.
On
Zach Willingham's performance: Willingham was really good. You know, Zack, that guy, he got hit in the face last year at Georgia Southern. Got hit by a line drive and it's amazing-shattered an orbital bone in his face, and he came back at, at the end of the year. It's absolutely amazing what that kid-the courage that that kid has shown. He pitched some for us at the end of last year, but I also think there were some lingering effects that, you know, during brown balls and PFPs, and actually going out there and pitching this year, there's some lingering effects, and he wasn't quite himself early. And then about a month ago, man, that switch flipped for him, and you could just see it in the bullpens, and he was starting to be a little bit more aggressive and more crisp, and you throw them out there and here comes some 91's, 92's, 93's, and he's really, really good for us. With the short week we were 100% certain that
Zach Willingham was going to do what he did today. We were certain
Zach Willingham was going to put us in position to win this ballgame, and he did exactly that. He's one of the greatest kids in the world, one of the best kids I've ever had in 31 years, and I couldn't be more proud of his effort tonight.
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