UC Clermont’s Zach Shannon won the 2015 USCAA Small College World Series Home Run Derby on May 12. He hit 18 home runs over three rounds.

UC Clermont’s Zach Shannon won the 2015 USCAA Small College World Series Home Run Derby on May 12. He hit 18 home runs over three rounds.
By Chris Chaney
Sun staff

A bumpy season for the UC Clermont baseball and softball teams came to an unceremonious finish at the United States Collegiate Athletic Association Small College World Series last week.

Both teams were relegated the consolation bracket in the early going of the tournament and could never get any momentum built up before being eliminated from the event.

The women’s softball team, competing at Firestone Stadium in Akron on May 11, made a sloppy return to the Small College World Series stage after a 10-year absence, committing five errors in their first-round game against No. 7 seed St. Joseph’s College-Brooklyn.

The last team in the tournament field, the Lady Cougars gave up six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to seal their fate, falling 9-1 and dropping down the win-or-go-home loser’s bracket.

With their season on the line later that same afternoon, the Lady Cougars, perhaps fittingly, waited out a lengthy rain delay and battled No. 3 seed Penn State Brandywine.

As she had all season, pitcher Madison Taber took control of the game for Clermont, pitching seven innings, striking out six and giving up just two earned runs. She also helped her own cause knocking in a run to break a 3-3 tie in the sixth inning.

Despite allowing the Lady Lions back within one run in the seventh inning, Taber struck out three consecutive batters to move the Lady Cougars on to Tuesday.

An early 3-1 lead over eighth-seeded Berea was not enough for Clermont to sustain as the Lady Mountaineers touched up Taber to the tune of 12 hits and seven runs, six of which were earned in five innings.

The Lady Cougars wrapped up their trip to the World Series with a revenge win over SJC-Brooklyn in the 7th-place game, 9-7 thanks to a walk-off home run by junior catcher Alex Taylor.

Down 7-3 heading to the home half of the fourth inning, the Lady Cougars got within one run by the seventh. Brianna Stacy led off the final frame with a single. She stole second and was knocked in by a Kasey York RBI double.

With Ellen Boreing on third and York on second in a tie game, Taylor launched her second home run of the year to put a cherry on top of the Lady Cougars’ season.

They finished the year 14-5.

Playing later in the week, the men’s baseball team traveled to War Memorial Stadium in Hampton, Va. to try to recreate the magic that led the Cougars to the 2013 USCAA Small College World Series title.

The team got off to a good start on May 13 by dominating first-round opponent Penn State Schuylkill, 13-0, on the strength of sophomore Nick Burrus’ three-hit, four-RBI performance as well as pitcher Brandon Boyd’s one-hitter, in which he pitched five scoreless innings.

Later that evening against Penn State Greater Allegheny, Clermont kept finding themselves in a hole from the first inning onward. Trailing 3-0 after one, the Cougars clawed back to square things at 3-3 through three innings only to give up five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.

A few runs tightened things up, but the team that Clermont defeated to win their championship in 2013 would not let history repeat itself two years later.

The Nittany Lions, holding an 11-6 lead in the final frame, gave up two runs to Clermont, but stemmed the Cougar rally there.

Despite Clermont’s inability to bring home the big trophy, a number of Cougars were recognized for a season’s worth of work. Senior Ryan Mummert was awarded his third All-American honor at a banquet held the night before play commenced.

Boyd and Zach Shannon were also recognized as Second Team All-Americans.

Shannon, a freshman, also won the Small College World Series Home Run Derby earlier in the day by belting 18 home runs over three rounds.

Box scores and All-American lists can be found at theuscaa.com.