JUPITER, Fla. -- Jake Cave did what
he usually does Sunday night. Meanwhile, Kyle Martin did something he's
never done before.
The combination was lethal.
Cave mowed down Marucci Elite for
four innings and Martin went 3-for-3 with a pair of triples as Canes Baseball
cruised into the semifinals of the WWBA World Championship with a 7-2 victory
at the Roger Dean Complex.
The Canes will face Chet Lemon's
Juice in the semifinals Monday at 9 a.m. The Dirtbags will play FTB
Mizuno/Cardinals Scout Team in the other semifinal, with the championship game
scheduled for 11:30 a.m.
Cave struck out nine
batters with a fastball that reached 93 mph, complemented by a devastating
changeup. The Marucci batters had trouble touching either pitch until Cave
tired in the fifth inning and gave the ball to Michael Gilroy
after three straight batters had reached base.
"I might have gotten a little nonchalant
because we had a lead," said Cave, who took a 4-0 advantage into the
fifth inning. "That first inning I was bearing down. I was like, 'I want
to get these guys.' That's my fault. I shouldn't have lost my edge, but I
did. It all worked out."
Cave, a senior from Hampton,
Va. who has committed to LSU, fanned three batters in the first inning
with a fastball that sat in the 91 to 93 mph range. He allowed a walk in
the first inning, but had the Marucci batters swinging at air.
Cave struck out the side in the
second inning, giving him six strikeouts in seven batters, but his
fastball dipped a little to the 89-to-91 range. By the fourth and
fifth innings, he slipped a tad further to the 88-to-90 range, with
more 88s than 90s. He gave up a single, double and walk to the first three
batters in the fifth inning and finished the game in center field.
"My body is getting a little
tired," he said. "I mean outfield, running, hitting, pitching.
But I felt good. My fastball felt pretty live today. And the changeup was
working. I walked too many guys (three), but we came out with the W."
Both of Marucci's runs in the fifth
inning were charged to Cave. Gilroy pitched the rest of the game, allowing two
hits and no runs in three innings.
Martin, batting cleanup for the
Canes, collected RBI triples in the first inning and again in the fourth. He
added an RBI single in the fifth inning, making him 3-for-3 with three
RBIs.
The two triples were special.
"That's the first time I've
ever had that," he said. "It's the first time I've ever had two
triples, two doubles, two homers in the same game. It felt great."
Cave also slugged an RBI triple to
give the Canes a 1-0 lead in the first inning, and he scored to make it 2-0 on
the first RBI triple by Martin. Nicholas Thompson walked and scored on Martin's
second triple in the fourth inning, making it 3-0, and Martin scored on a
single by Curt Britt to make it 4-0.
Britt and Luke Dunlap both went
2-for-3.
Now the Canes are looking forward to
the final day of the tournament.
"We're coming on strong,"
said Martin, a senior from Simpsonville, S.C. who has committed to the
University of South Carolina. "We haven't even reached our peak yet.
Hopefully we'll come out tomorrow and get it all done."