Columbia's amazing victory

BALTIMORE, June 2, 2013- Columbia University is an Ivy League school, and like all other Ivy League schools, it is an old school.  It was founded as King's College in 1764 after King George II of England issued a charter authorizing its founding.  It is one of nine so-called Colonial Colleges, indicative of the fact that it predates the American Revolution.  After the Revolution the school was renamed Columbia College and later, Columbia University.  
       After getting its start on Madison Avenue it was moved soon thereafter a bit further north, where it now is nestled into the upper west side of Manhattan's Central Park, in a neighborhood called Morningside Heights. Many a moon ago, it had some really great athletes.  There is the famous photograph of legendary Lou Gehrig, resplendent in his Columbia Baseball Uniform.  Be that as it may, the Lions have made but three visits to the NCAA baseball tournament, the one that ends in Omaha each season in the College World Series. These days, some 64 schools play in the CWS. Until last night, the Lions had never won even one game. Not one.  
       Last night, the powerful New Mexico Lobos looked for all the world as if they were going to extend Columbia's futility. The Lions were already in the so-called "Loser's Bracket."  In the double-elimination regional, the Loser's Bracket includes teams with one loss.  Every game in the Loser's Bracket is do or die. You lose, you go home. Columbia had lost on Friday to powerful Cal State-Fullerton by a 4-1 score. Moving into the 8th inning, the Lions had but five hits.  They had no runs. New Mexico had five. In fact, the five runs that New Mexico had looked like money in the bank because, heck, the Lions had only run run in 16 innings of regional play.
       One suspected, watching the game, that Lobo head coach Ray Birmingham was coaching for the tomorrows he hoped were coming.  After seven strong innings of shut-out pitching, he yanked starting pitcher Sam Wolff, and replaced him with a string of pitchers who had pitched less than 20 innings all season.  That tells you that he was saving his pitching staff for the games against Cal State-Fullerton and Arizona State, the other two teams in the regional, both of them perennial national powerhouses.  
       So now its the 8th inning and guess what, Columbia was just getting started.  With one out, and one run on, Alex Black got into a fast ball and launched it high and deep over the left field wall.  One had a feeling that the homer was more than just two runs; it was catalytic, it made Columbia's players realize they can compete against the big boys.  They should have already known it; back in March they played a three-game series at Defending National Champion Arizona, and while the Sun Devils took the series, the Lions played them tough all three games and won the Saturday game, 8-4. 
    What followed Black's blast was baseball at its nail-biting best.  You knew the Lions season was on the line; if they couldn't do it now, they couldn't do it.  Columbia loaded the bases, and got two Texas League hits to tie the game.  Joey DiNino was gut tough on the hill, throwing 6.2 shut-out innings and striking out eight.  He improved to 7-0.  In the fateful 13th, Nick Ferraresi, the catcher, led off with a single and the Aaron Silbar's bunt got him to second.  Then, Nick Crucet grounded a single to right that barely got by the second-baseman.  The right-fielder charged and threw a strike to the plate.  Ferraresi slid hard into the New Mexico catcher, who had the plate blocked.  The umpire said Ferraresi was safe and replays confirmed it, but boy was it close.  At that point, Lion coach Brett Boretti pulled DiNino and inserted Black, his closer, who had been playing first.  New Mexico got the tie run to third with two outs and they had their best hitter, D.J. Peterson, up.  Petersen is a finalist for national player of the year; but Black struck him out, then bounded off the mound, fists pumping, shouting for joy for all who would listen.  DeNino, left to watch the 13th from the dugout, instantly grew a smile wider than the mouth of the Lincoln Tunnel.  OK, it did look like the Lions had won the CWS.  And just for a minute, Columbia fans and students did, too.