Lehigh University Athletics
Lehigh's dream comes true
5/15/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
by Corky Blake
of The Express-Times
BETHLEHEM | As his players celebrated the program's first Patriot League championship, Lehigh University baseball coach Sean Leary stood aside, arms folded and proudly watched the mob scene.
"I was reflecting on all the years I coached and played. This is kind of what I envisioned it would be like when we won finally won it," said Leary after the Mountain Hawks swept the league's best-of-three championship series from Bucknell with a swift 5-0 victory Sunday on the Goodman Campus.
"Time and time again I said this is their program; they're the ones who did it. I just wanted to soak it all in," said Leary, a 1989 Bethlehem Catholic High School graduate who went on to play four years at Lehigh and for the last 11 years has been the Mountain Hawks' head coach.
Lehigh used the same formula Sunday as it did Saturday in pounding the Bison 14-2 in Game 1.
Sophomore right-hander Joe Matteo pitched his first shutout of the season, allowing just five hits and no walks. He struck out seven and six of those were sent down looking.
"It was more of a sequence than a certain pitch," Matteo said. "We got a lot of them with sliders away, fastballs away."
"He was throwing really well," said junior catcher Matt McBride, who also was behind the plate Saturday for Kyle Collina's Game 1 gem. "His slider was working. We went to the changeup more in the middle innings and later innings. And he also was able to command his fastball."
Bucknell cleanup hitter Ryan Gryskevicz, who buried Lafayette with a game-winning grand slam in Saturday's elimination game, was so frustrated after striking out for the third time in the sixth inning that he was ejected by home plate umpire John Ramsey for drawing a line in the dirt.
Matteo's defense helped him out immensely with an inning-ending double play in the eighth with runners on first and third. Shortstop Liam O'Connor went deep in the hole, threw to second baseman Mike Sandonato, who relayed to first base to preserve the shutout.
"Our defense has been a factor all year. I believe we lead the league (48) in double plays, and I have so much confidence in my middle infielders that I know I can throw whatever pitches I need to," Matteo said.
Junior right fielder Nick Bet hit a slicing single to right field to score Joe Ercolano and McBride for a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. The Central Catholic graduate produced the critical two-out hit from a full count.
"If he put it in the zone I wanted to hit it the other way," Bet said. "It was important to come out and get the offense going early."
McBride upped the lead to 3-0 in the third with a 380-foot sacrifice fly. Joe Ercolano put himself in scoring position by singling, stealing second and advancing to third on Matt Geiger's groundout.
Lehigh added two more runs with two outs in the sixth. O'Connor's scorching grounder deflected off third baseman Ed Rubbo's glove for an error, and Sandonato and Geoff Campbell scored on the play.
"We pride ourselves on good defense and good pitching," Leary said. "Our top two pitchers were on top of their games this weekend. And our offense ... we've been good playing small ball, and I think that's more important than waiting for the three-run homer."
Lehigh's fifth straight appearance in the three-team league tournament finally resulted in a championship after it fell in the finals in 2002 and 2005. The Mountain Hawks will have to wait until this Sunday to learn where the NCAA will send them for their first tournament appearance.
"This has been the best four years of my life, to see how this program has grown," said all-league first baseman Andrew Smith, a senior who opted to come east from
We've established a winning tradition and hopefully they can keep it going."
This story originally appeared in the Monday, May 15, 2006 edition of The Express-Times. Used with permission.
