No National Repeat for Chipola

May 29, 2008

The 2008 Chipola Indians managed the first back to back state championship in Florida in 10 years. Their efforts to repeat as National Champions however ended on Tuesday with a 10-7 loss to Hagerstown CC. After opening the tournament on Saturday with a big win over Connors State, the Indians fell to Alvin CC on Monday. With those two losses Chipola was eliminated from tournament play and finishes the season with a record of 45-14.
Chipola jumped out to an early 2-0 lead against Hagerstown with a 2 RBI single from Adam Duvall that scored Chris Berroa and Eniar Atencio. Hagerstown came right back though in the bottom of the first inning to plate three runs and take a 3-2 lead. Chipola reclaimed the lead in the third inning as they plated three runs. Again Duvall had the hot bat as he stroked a 3 run home run to make it a 5-3 game. That lead held until the bottom of the fourth as Hagerstown exploded for seven runs on three home runs. Trailing 10-5 the Indians managed to narrow the gap with two runs in the top of the eighth inning. Ryan Chaffee stroked a 2 RBI single that scored Atencio and Duvall. But that was as close as Chipola could get and saw their season come to a close.
Monday’s loss to Alvin CC was also a 3 run loss as the Indians fell 11-8. Once again the Indians took the early lead as Berroa scored in the first inning on a wild pitch. Once again their opponent countered as Alvin came back in the bottom of the inning and scored three runs. They added another run in the second and third innings to lead 5-1. Chipola battled back in the fourth inning with a 3 run home run by Duvall. But Alvin roared right back in the bottom of the fourth with 3 runs to lead 8-4. Chipola plated a run in the fifth when Carlos Moncrief tripled to score Atencio. The Indians kept battling and tied the game up in the sixth inning. Jordan Lucas doubled to score Marc Bourgeois, Lucas later stole home and Atencio doubled to score Tyler Baumgarner. But Chipola could not hold on as Alvin came back with a run in the seventh and two in the eighth to capture the second round victory.
Saturday’s opening day win saw the Indian’s bring their war clubs as they hammered out a 22-2 win over Connors State. Baumgarner and Brett Maxwell both hit grand slams in the sixth inning as the Indians plated 15 runs in that inning alone. They had plated six runs in the first inning and lead 7-1 before their 15 run rampage. Moises Montero hit two home runs and Chaffee added a home run to round out the home run derby affair for the Indians.