March 15, 2006
Final Stats
Matt Gidaly went 3-for-4 and capped off a six-run fifth inning with a homerun as Siena shocked #5 Tennessee 9-8 in Knoxville Wednesday. It is the highest ranked opponent Siena has beaten in any sport since turning Division I in 1976. Tennessee had won its first 11 home games of the season.
"This is a great win for our program, and hopefully a spark for this year's team," head coach Tony Rossi said following the win. "I'm really pleased with the way the kids bounced back after yesterday's tough loss and with how aggressive we were at the plate throughout the series."
The Saints lost 10-9 to Tennessee Tuesday after entering the bottom of the seventh inning with an 8-3 lead. Today's victory would have to go down as one of the great upsets in school history and perhaps the biggest in all of college baseball this season.
"(Tennessee) is a legitimate #5 team, with no weaknesses," Rossi said. "They swing the bat extremely well throughout their lineup and we saw half a dozen pitchers who threw in the 90's and some who hit the high 90's. I was proud with the way our players stepped up to the challenge and never backed down."
Siena (2-10) got great contributions from its freshman class. Catcher Phil Cahill (Wall, N.J.) delivered the biggest hit of the game, launching a two-out grandslam in the sixth that preceded Gidaly's (Charlotte, N.C.) homerun. Classmate JJ Potrikus (N. Syracuse) pitched five solid innings of relief to pick up his first collegiate victory. Potrikus allowed just six hits and three runs while striking out two Tennessee (14-3) batters.
Julio Burbon, Chris Kemp, Brian Van Kirk and Jarred Frazier each had two hits for the Vols. Michael Ambury (Wantagh, N.Y.) had two hits and scored twice for the Saints.
Tennessee had a 5-1 lead after three innings, scoring once in their first two at bats and three times in the third off Saints' starter Trevor Reid. The Saints aided the three run third with an error and a wild pitch, and Frazier took advantage with a two-out double that plated the final run of the inning.
The sixth inning started innocently enough for Siena, as two of the first three batters were retired and Jake Willis reached on a fielding error. Chris Klepps, Gabe Perez and Ambury all worked walks, forcing in the first run of the inning and setting the stage for Cahill and Gidaly's back-to-back homeruns. A 5-1 deficit became a 7-5 lead, and although the Vols cut the margin in half in the bottom of the sixth, the Saints responded with two runs in the sixth and never trailed again. Klepps worked a bases loaded walk to make the score 8-6 and Perez bounced into a double play with the bases loaded to account for Siena's ninth run.
UT chipped away with a run in the seventh and eight and had two men on with one out in the ninth, but Potrikus got consecutive flyouts from the top of the order to nail down the win.
Siena will have a day of rest before beginning a three-game series at Central Florida Friday.
