With one out in the eighth inning and representing the go-ahead run on third base, Steve Daniels '09 thought the pop-up from Jeff Dietz '08 in foul territory was too shallow to score on. On-deck, Matt Nuzzo '09 didn't think it was hit far enough either. But coaching at third base, Drabinski had no doubt and he didn't hesitate in sending Daniels home to end 55 years of championship futility at Brown.
The spry centerfielder put his head down and ran, tagging up on the short pop-up behind first base that couldn't have soared more than 150 feet from the plate. But his headfirst slide arrived at the plate half-second before the ball to give Brown a 1-0 lead in game one.
Starting pitcher Dietz did the rest, completing his shutout against the University of Pennsylvania Quakers. Just half an hour later, the Ivy League Championship was all but in Brown's hands after two grand slams in the first two innings of game two gave it an insurmountable lead in a game it would end up winning 20-6.
Before a raucous crowd at Murray Stadium, Brown swept Penn Saturday afternoon in the best-of-three series to win its first Ivy League title, and its first league title since 1952. With the victory, the Bears also became the first team in the nation to earn a trip to the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship tournament - another first for Brown.
"It feels like four years have gone by in the last week," said tri-captain Bryan Tews '07, puffing on a celebratory cigar on the field fifteen minutes after the last out. "We've been waiting for this ever since we got here," he added, referring to the team's six seniors.
The Bears were able to win Saturday's first game because of Daniels' legs and Dietz's arm, but it wasn't easy. They struggled against Penn ace right-hander Todd Roth, who, with his lead-leading six wins, six complete-games and 2.24 ERA, will likely win both the league's annual pitcher and rookie awards.
Both staff aces were splendid, and neither got into trouble until the sixth, when Brown loaded the bases with one out. But Roth ended the threat by striking out Nuzzo and Tews, both swinging on full count pitches.
He's tough because he can throw three pitches for strikes," Tews said of Roth. "He made huge pitches when it mattered."
But Roth faltered in the bottom of the eighth, starting the inning by walking Daniels on four pitches. The centerfielder, who finished the season with a league-high 26 steals in 29 attempts, then stole second and advanced to third after shortstop William Gordon couldn't corral a strong throw from the catcher Jeff Cellucci, letting the ball trickle into right field.
After a strikeout and intentional walk to tri-captain Devin Thomas '07, Dietz stepped up to bat and popped up a 1-1 pitch down the right field foul line, about 50 feet behind first base. As Quakers second baseman Steve Gable raced over to catch the ball by the first-base line, Drabinski decided to take a chance on Gable's throwing arm because the coach wasn't sure his team would get another scoring opportunity against Roth.
"I told Stevie Daniels to get ready to go," Drabinski said.
And go Daniels did, even though his initial reaction was that the ball "was a little shallow." Daniels said he ran, and not looking up to see Gable catch the ball and, with his momentum carrying him away from the plate, spin around and fire a weak throw to home that hopped three or four times before it reached the plate a split-second too late.
"When I first saw (Gable) catch it, I thought, 'This is going to be close," said Nuzzo, who was on deck. "Daniels took a risk, but to be a championship team, you have to take risks."
With a 1-0 lead, Dietz took the mound in the top of the ninth to complete his second shutout of the season. He made everyone in the dugout a little uneasy after a walk, hit batsman and groundout put runners on second and third with two outs but he struck out Alex Nwaka, who entered the game with a team-high .333 batting average, to end the game.
"What can you say about Dietz?" Drabinski said. "What a game."
Both Dietz and Roth pitched complete games, with the former giving up just 3 hits while striking out 10, and the latter allowing six hits and an unearned run while striking out six.
After a tense game that titillated the crowd of 1,515, the second game was more of a coronation for the Bears. Playing as the road team as per Ivy rules, Brown scored nine runs off starter Jim Birmingham in the first two innings. In the top of the first, with the bases loaded and one run already in, Robert Papenhause '09 lofted a ball to right field that just floated out of the lunging grasp of right fielder Jarron Smith and over the wall. The wind-aided shot was nearly identical to the game-tying slam he hit two weeks ago against Harvard.
Thomas got in on the party in the second inning, with a grand slam of his own that made him the league leader in home runs and RBIs, as well as the new Brown single-season home-run record holder. The catcher solidified his status as a top Ivy League Player of the Year contender by going 4-for-6 with 7 RBIs and three runs scored in the game.
The Bears had four-run innings in the sixth and the eighth, and scored in two other innings, to help James Cramphin '07 earn his fifth win of the season. Cramphin cruised until the sixth, when he was responsible for five runs that scored. Peter Moskal '08 and tri-captain Ethan Silverstein '07 pitched the next two and two-thirds innings before giving way to closer Rob Hallberg '08, who ended the Bears' Ivy League play this year with pizzazz by striking out the side, causing the dugout to explode onto the field and form a dog pile by the pitcher's mound.
"It's been a long time," said Thomas, who summed up his feelings with one word: "Awesome."
Dietz was especially thrilled with the championship, saying he "didn't get to play in anything like that in high school."
"I feel great," he said. "I feel great for the guys."
For the Bears, and especially for Drabinksi, the win erased memories of the recent past, in which the team fell so tantalizingly short of the goal. In 2005, the Bears finished a game behind Harvard in the Red Rolfe division, and in 2001 and 2002, they tied for the Rolfe title, only to lose one-game playoffs both years. The 2002 game was especially heartbreaking: In the bottom of the ninth inning, the Bears were a strike away from the Championship Series when a triple and bloop single gave Harvard a stunning 2-1 win that Drabinski still thinks about today.
So while his players celebrated on the field, Drabinksi looked on with "a sense of disbelief."
"I just couldn't believe it was happening, because it took so long," said Drabinski, drenched after his players dunked a water cooler on him for the first time in his 11 years as Brown's head coach. "I couldn't be prouder of a group of guys. They deserve it."
During the week, Drabinksi said he heard a lot of talk about ending the baseball team's championship drought. The Bears hadn't been to the Championship Series since its inception in 1993, and the last time they won a league title was in 1952, when they shared it with Cornell. Back then, they played in the Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League, which consisted of the Ancient Eight as well as Army and Navy. Back then, they played at Aldrich Field on Elmgrove Street, across the street from Brown Stadium. Back then, their head coach was Wilfred "Lefty" Lefebrve, a former Washington Senators pitcher who had a full-time job as a high school teacher.
Now, the Bears, who now have a 24-18 record, will have three weeks to rest before they attempt to end another drought: of Ivy League schools in the College World Series. On May 28, Brown will find out who its NCAA Regionals opponents will be. Ivy League schools have typically fared poorly in the tournament, with six of the last eight automatic qualifiers getting bounced after two straight losses in the first weekend of the tournament.
But Drabinski and his players insist they're ready for the stiffer competition they'll likely face at Regionals, with the coach even going so far as to predict success.
"We're going to win some games," Drabinski said. "That's why we played against (the No. 17 University of) South Carolina earlier this season," he added - to prepare for games like these.
