FIU baseball wins SBC Championship, Wittels extends streak to 54

FIU advances to NCAA tournament

FIU baseball (36-23) set Sun Belt Tournament records in hits, runs scored and batting average in a 14-10 victory over Troy to claim its first Sun Belt Conference Tournament crown since 1999.

Tyler James Shantz celebrates his two-run home run in the first with Garrett Wittels. Photo courtesy of Sun Belt Conference

After Pablo Bermudez led off the game with a single to left, Tyler James Shantz deposited a fastball over the left field fence for a two-run bomb, his second of the tournament, to the delight of his fan club in left field, the ‘Shmitty Committee’.

After Troy put up a four-spot in the second, FIU answered with a Jeremy Patton solo shot to center to cut the Trojans lead to one run. The home run was Patton’s eighth of the season and fourth of the tournament.

With a single up the middle, FIU infielder Garrett Wittels extended his hitting streak to 54 games on the year. He sent a 1-1 pitch up the middle to give FIU runners on the corners with one out in the inning. After Patton lined out to the shortstop, Mike Martinez came through in the clutch with a two-out double to score Pablo Bermudez and Wittels to give FIU a 5-4 lead with two outs in the top of the fifth.

Wittels is now four shy of tying Robin Ventura’s NCAA Division I record of 58 games set in 1987. Three players in Division I and Major League Baseball have accomplished such a feat, with the third being Yankee great and Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio who hit in 56-straight games in 1941.

After Troy tied it up in the fifth, Adam Bryant gave the Trojans the lead with a solo shot to right, his fourth home run of the tournament.

FIU tied it up once again in the top of the seventh when Wittels doubled in Shantz, who singled in his earlier at bat before Patton roped a double to drive in Wittels from second to give the Panthers a 7-6 advantage. Troy’s Chase Whitley came in the game and walked three-straight batters, walking in a run in the process,  before Raiko Alfonso delivered as a pinch hitter and gave FIU a 10-6 lead with a two-RBI single. FIU would pick up an insurance run and make it an 11-6 ballgame when Yoandy Barroso scored before Alfonso was tagged out for the final out of the inning.

With an RBI-single in the top of the ninth, Junior Arrojo helped break the SBC record for most hits by a team in a tournament with 88. An at-bat later, Sean Reilley scored FIU’s 60^th run of the tournament which also sets a new SBC record for a tournament.

The hits kept on coming when Shantz singled in Arrojo from third for FIU’s 20^th hit of the game to make it a 14-6 FIU advantage.

Troy started to claw back with a two-run home run by Whitley in the bottom of the ninth to cut the FIU lead to 14-8, but the X runs the Trojans put up in the final inning of the game were too little too late.

Corey Polizzano picked up the win in relief, evening out his record to 4-4 on the year. Scott Rembisz, who pitched six innings for a win in last night’s game, came in to shut the door on the Trojans in the ninth to win the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Championship.

As a team, FIU hit .385, good enough for another Sun Belt Tournament record, eclipsing the old record of .380 set by Jacksonville in 1984 who is now a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference.

The 2010 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship 64-team field, with first-round regional pairings and site assignments, will be revealed in a live, half-hour telecast on ESPN at 12:30 p.m. (ET), Monday, May 31.