Zac Poland's complete game three-hitter helped Rice top CVU 2-1 to earn a trip to the D-I final
Zac Poland finished throwing his warm-up tosses and was ready to start for Rice as they took on CVU in a Division I baseball semifinal.
His first pitch: A fastball down the middle of the plate. CVU leadoff hitter Tucker Kohlasch hit the pitch to deep center field gave CVU a 1-0 lead. The home run quickly had Poland playing from behind immediately.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | F | |
| (8) CVU | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| (4) Rice | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 2 |
“I just had to put it behind me and remember there are seven innings,” said Poland. “I put it right out of my head. My team quickly tied it up to make it feel like a 0-0 ball game again.”
Poland did just that and allowed only two more hits—two singles in the third inning— and no more runs to help #4 seed Rice top #8 seed CVU 2-1. The senior pitched a complete game and struck out three batters, sending the Green Knights to the Division I championship game for the first time since 1999.
Poland also led his team in hits going 2 for 3 with two singles. Rice answered CVU’s early shot with a run of their own in the bottom of the first inning. Senior Nicky Elderton’s double drove in Cory Graham and tied the game 1-1.
The Green Knights took the lead in the third inning when sophomore and #9 hitter Charlie Boardman’s sacrifice fly hit drove in Will Conroy.
Curt Echo started for the Redhawks and lasted three innings before Drew Nick relieved him and finished the game. Redhawk pitchers gave up a total of six Rice hits and each pitched allowed one run.
Rice will face #7 seed Mt. Anthony on Satuday in the Division I championship game in Montpelier. The Patriots beat Mt. Mansfield 7-0 in their semi-final game.
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- Zac Poland’s complete game three-hitter helped Rice top CVU 2-1 to earn a trip to the D-I final
Great game, Rice. Good luck in the Championship game.
Unfortunately officials determined the outcome of the game – strike zone was inconsistent and some of the calls on the base path were questionable.
Some?? Many of them were questionable, mostly at first base which didnt help CVU at all…However, the strike zone was inconsistent both ways so I don’t think that made a difference in the outcome for either team.
The main gripe I’d have if I was CVU was the pick off at first of Badger in the third when CVU got two of the three hits. Badger was safe and it wasn’t even close, if that out isn’t made CVU gets atleast 1 run that inning, if not 2….oh well, it’s the human element of baseball, the game is predicated on many subjective calls.
Rice is a deserving team for the finals, take down the south!
MAU is gonna smoke rice on saturday.
the game is definitely in Montpelier?
just like footbloall, CVU loses and blames it on everyone else. Its getting old already, you lost a great game deal with it
“the game is definitely in Montpelier?”
Yes. Date and Time to be made official Wed morning around 10am.
john, I think you’re misunderstanding what the comments are saying. Rice beat CVU fair and square. However, the umping was very questionable both ways. They’re not saying that the officials basically chose CVU to win, just that it could have been better in order to make the game more like it should have been.
With a strike zone half the size of a major league zone, and some questionable calls for and against both teams, the game changed. Batters didn’t have to protect the plate as much because many good pitches were called balls.
You can’t get out-hit and walk more people and expect to win. Poland did a great job after the first pitch, and Rice deserves to be where they are.
I’m from the North and I’ll admit, the South was far underrated this year. Rutland and Mt. Anthony were by far the best hitting teams I faced all year and probably defensively too. Mt. Anthony has good hitters 1-9. I’m saying Mt. A will take it this year.
go mt. anthony!
John, I know you think that the CVU community is just making up excuses because they lost the game, but Jeff Badger was clearly safe at first. It’s sad to see such an easy call be blown that badly, if that call went the other way I think that the outcome could have been different or at least the game would have been extended a little bit longer. Sad to think that the CVU season ended because of a botched call on a pick off. CVU would have clearly scored at least one run in that inning and that would have been huge considering the score to the game. I’m not saying that CVU would have won, I’m just saying the game might have been a little more like the Colchester vs. CVU game, and it would have boiled down to the teams depth in extra innings.