Cary, N.C. – Lynn University’s baseball team won a pitcher’s duel with 2-1 victory over Emporia State to claim the 2009 NCAA Division II National Championship. This is the first national crown for the baseball program and 19th title in school history. Dan Wright earned his NCAA best 15th victory on the mound and Tournament MOP Tommy Kahnle closed out the game for his fifth save, all of which have come in the postseason. The Fighting Knights finish the season 46-16 overall.
“What a great experience,” said head coach Rudy Garbalosa. “What a credit to these guys. They did such a great job, the 14 seniors and the rest of the team, they really pulled together. I was just happy to be a part of this. Our guys kept believing in each other, they pick each other up when things are down and that's the reason we were in this position today, because they're relentless in picking each other up and pulling for each other. What a great experience, and I'm happy to be a part of this special group of guys.”
Wright battled a little wildness to start the game, surrendering a lead-off hit to Conner Crumbliss before loading the bases with back-to-back walks. Kellen Lane gave the Hornets (49-14) a 1-0 lead with hard liner off Wright’s throwing arm but the Blue & White starter recovered to throw Lane out at first. He then struck out Mike Sharp to strand runners on second and third.
The bottom of the lineup produced once again for LU, squaring the game at one in the top of the second. Paddy Matera ripped the first offering he saw from Ben Graham just inside the third base line for a stand-up double and moved up a base when Kyle Holloway singled through the right side. Chad Crowe then drove in the game-tying run with a sacrifice fly to left field.
Slumping for much of the national tournament, Chris Chavez came up with the eventual game-winning hit in the third. Daniel Flores reached base with one-out when he slapped a single through the right side. He then beat the throw from home into second, stealing his 20th base in 21 attempts. Chavez stepped to the plate with two-outs and turned on an inside fastball down the first base line with Flores chugging around third for the winning score.
Graham settled down from there, going eight innings and striking out a career-high 10 batters. Wright lowered his earned-run average to a program low 2.29 and struck out four batters, giving him 119 for the year. In his first season with the Knights, the West Palm Beach, Fla., product set the single season triple crown record (wins, ERA and Ks) while also becoming the first pitcher at Lynn to garner First Team All-America accolades.
“With those two pitchers going, it was going to be a low-scoring game,” added Garbalosa. “Danny Wright pitched extremely well, and I believe Graham, their pitcher, did an extremely good job pitching. He pitched out of some big innings and he really had us baffled with that slider. But Danny did a great job -- he was a little rough out there in the first inning, he settled down and put us in the position, and then Tommy came in and was able to close the door for us. “
Lynn threatened with runners in the seventh and eighth innings but Emporia State got out of trouble with timely fly balls. The Hornets had a great chance to knot the game up in the seventh. A base hit by Lane and two-out walk by Anthony Dreiling gave Emporia a hint of life but Wright got Jacob White to fly out in left center.
Kahnle entered in the eighth and overpowered the Gold and Black, peppering the Hornets with fastball after fastball. Big hitter Kenny Burkhead was the first to check out the heat and the senior first baseman flied out to the warning track in right. Emporia State got one more ball out of the infield before White popped out to Matera for the final out of the game.
“Actually, I lost it [the ball] for a second when I looked at the sun,” Matera said. “It was either going to hit me in the face, or I was going to catch it. So I got out there, and it was kind of like Sandlot, just put my glove up and made the catch.”
Once the ball was safely in the glove of the LU second baseman, the Knights poured out onto the field and piled on one another just behind the mound in celebration of their first national championship.
Lynn went 8-0 in the NCAA South Region and National Tournament, defeating eight consecutive nationally ranked opponents and closing out the year 23-6 against teams ranked in the top-25. The Fighting Knights were ranked No. 1 in the second week of the season for the first time in program history and now finish the season as the top-ranked squad, also a program first.
Four Knights earned National All-Tournament honors, highlighted by Kahnle being selected as the Most Outstanding Player. Seniors Chad Crowe, Daniel Flores and Gabe MacDougall earned recognition along with pitcher Dan Wright.
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