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CARY, N.C. – Riding the back of ace Alex Mateo, the No. 5 Nova Southeastern University baseball team (43-16, 18-6 SSC) took down the No. 1 Millersville University Marauders (52-6, 25-3 PSAC) on Friday afternoon by a score of 2-1, putting themselves one win away from being crowned the NCAA Division II National Champions. Mateo earned his ninth win of the year, tossing eight innings of one run baseball.
"There's been great baseball played all week and this is a continuation of that," said head coach Greg Brown. "It started one the mound. Mateo did a great job and we got the big swing from Gomez, which I think changed the momentum in the game and then we caught a break on the Visbal bunt that scored Kevin from first."
The story of the game was the pitching performances from Alex Mateo and Millersville's Brandon Miller. Mateo tossed seven scoreless innings, allowing a run in only the third inning when Millersville was able to score on a two out RBI triple off of the right field wall.
"I really just tried to focus on myself today," said ace Alex Mateo. "I went out there and tried to give my team a good outing and get the ball to Devin [Raftery] because he's the best closer in college baseball right now."
Riding the back of Mateo's dominant performance, the Sharks offense tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the fourth inning on a Brandon Gomez solo home run to left centerfield, his 21st of the year.
The Sharks pushed across what proved to be the winning run in the sixth inning, when Kevin Suarez reached on a leadoff walk, followed by a bunt from Andres Visbal that was thrown down the right field line by the Millersville's Miller, allowing Suarez to score all the way from first base. "I saw Brownie waving his arms to send me home," said Suarez. "I saw the ball down the line and knew I was going to score."
Brown called on his go-to closer to finish the game in the bottom of the ninth inning and Devin Raftery did just that, facing just four hitters to end the game.
The Sharks are now one win away from winning the programs first ever national championship. Millersville will need to win two games tomorrow to keep the Sharks from hoisting the national championship trophy.
First pitch is set for 3:00 PM with an if-necessary game to follow an hour after the conclusion of the first game.
Be sure to tune in on Saturday by following the links on the schedule page and follow along with the team on Twitter at @NSU_Baseball.
