Box Score
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. - Matt Cotellese struck out with two out and the tying run on third base as Shippensburg held on for a 5-4 victory over West Chester in the championship game of the 2008 NCAA North Atlantic Regional baseball tournament at Point Stadium.
With Kyle Bechter standing on third and two men out, Shippensburg pitcher Tyler Redick struck out Cotellese, sending the Raiders into a frenzy as they advance to the College World Series next weekend in Sauget, Ill. Shippensburg will take on the winner of the West Regional in their opener.
"I told my guys that they gotta reel it in," Shippensburg head coach Matt Jones said. "Going into tomorrow, we have an ace up our sleeve in that we have another game, if we lose game one."
West Chester scored two runs in the bottom of the first on a pair of RBI singles by Drew Pare and Frank Nunan to answer Shippensburg's run in the top of the inning.
The Raiders tied it in the second, and then scored two more times in the fifth to open up a 4-2 advantage.
However, West Chester answered right back with three straight singles that scored two runs in the bottom half of the inning and left the Rams with the bases loaded and nobody out.
Jones went to his ace left-hander Matt Wright at that point in the game, and the southpaw showed why he is about to be drafted in June by some major league club. Wright struck out the next two batters and got a ground out to third to get his teammates out of the jam.
Shippensburg went ahead in the sixth when Sean Killian was hit by a pitch, sacrificed over to second and eventually scored on a wild pitch, after moving to third on a single by Justin Garber.
From there it was smooth sailing until the bottom of the ninth when West Chester had one more rally in them.
"Tyler Redick came in and was just amazing," Jones added. "Could you have dialed that one up any better - Redick vs. Cotellese - the MVP of the tournament goes to the winner of this matchup right here. If Cotto gets the hit, then he's the hero and he's the MVP. If Redick gets him out, then he's the hero and he's the MVP."
West Chester ends its season 45-16, setting a plethora of school records in the process. Cotellese finished the year with 12 home runs, tying the school record. He had already set single-season marks for hits and total bases by a Golden Ram.
