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By Sean Harvey ’10
Picture this: Top of the ninth inning, game tied at three runs each and the alumni baseball team comes through with a clutch sacrifice fly to pull ahead 4-3. The game might as well have ended at that moment because the one-run lead was never in jeopardy in the bottom of the ninth with the alumni team sending, Craig Sheets ’08, Lynn University career saves leader, to the mound.
The game started off on a good note with alumni catcher Billy Sabinson ’98, hitting an opposite field solo homerun in the second inning. From that moment forward, the alumni had the game in hand. Coach Rudy Garbalosa’s current Fighting Knights team scored all three of their runs in the fourth inning on a combination of hits, walks and alumni miscues.
Even with the 3-1 deficit, the game never got away from the alumni as they came right back to score two more runs to tie the game up. One run was manufactured the old fashioned way with a few base hits and a sacrifice bunt, and the other run was off of Juan Colon’s ’03, annual homerun. Colon, the former Fighting Knight outfielder is now three for three with two homeruns and a double in his last two alumni games. Alumni player/coach Jay Brandt ’99, said after the game, “You can always count on Juan to hit a homerun in the alumni game!”
The score was tied at three heading into the ninth when the alumni batters produced a base hit, walk, sacrifice bunt and sacrifice fly to score a run and take the lead. Sending Sheets to the mound was in the game plan all along for Brandt. “Bringing Sheets in to close out the game with a one run lead was merely a formality,” Brandt said with a smile. Without a shadow of a doubt, Sheets closed it out and the alumni held on for their 4-3 victory.
Roughly 40 alumni showed up to take part in the annual game, a testament to Coach Garbalosa’s hard work and a great event put together by Jay Brandt and Matt Roos, director of alumni affairs. Another great time had by all and we are already looking forward to next year.