Dominguez slices through Tigers

By Jordan Sargent

Published June 6, 2007

Gotham City has The Joker, The Galactic Republic has Darth Vader and Philadelphia has Terrell Owens, Kobe Bryant and Santa Claus. Now Columbia has its sworn archenemy: Chris Dominguez, Louisville Cardinal third baseman and eventual NCAA Baseball Columbia Regional Most Outstanding Player.

The 6-foot-5-inch freshman from Miami became the undisputed story of the series late on Saturday after twice taunting the Tigers dugout.

Following a towering eighth-inning homerun that would eventually prove to be the game-winner, Dominguez turned around and exchanged words with Tigers sophomore catcher Trevor Coleman as he left the batter's box.

When he approached home plate after rounding the bases, Dominguez did a full 180-degree turn and yelled at the Tigers' dugout.

Neither team's coach nor players had any comment on the exact nature of what was said.

Although that post-homerun act would dominate the post-game and post-series dialogue, Dominguez delivered a much more serious blow to the Tigers' psyche and championship hopes early in the decisive June 6 series finale.

With the bases loaded in the first inning, Dominguez walloped a grand slam to center field off starting pitcher Aaron Crow to extend the Cardinal lead to 5-0.

"It was special," Louisville coach Dan McDonnell said of the grand slam after the series-clinching victory. "I felt bad for him (on Sunday) because he hit the homerun and the focus was on how he acted and how everyone reacted, but I don't know if there is anything bigger than hitting a grand slam in the first."

When the bell finally tolled on the bottom half of the first inning, the Tigers were facing an eight-run deficit, six of which were scored off staff ace Crow.

"It took a lot out of us," said Aaron Senne, Missouri freshman left fielder and All-Tournament Team member. "We tried fighting back, but we couldn't get more runs up on the board and we couldn't stop them."

After the Tigers plated five runs of their own in the top of the second, the Cardinal scored one more in the bottom half of that inning to widen their lead to 9-5.

A scoreless third inning followed, but in the bottom half of the fourth, with a small contingent of Louisville fans dancing and singing a few rows behind their dugout, Dominguez finally buried the Tigers with a slicing three-run homerun to right field that put the Cardinal ahead 12-6.

At the end of the day, Dominguez's eight RBIs would alone better the total output of the Tigers.

"What happened (Sunday) helped him today," Missouri coach Tim Jamieson said of Dominguez. "He channeled that energy in the right direction."

After last year's miracle run to within one game of the NCAA Baseball Championship in Omaha, Neb., this Tiger's team had growing expectations, especially after being selected as one of 16 teams to play host to an opening-round regional series.

After breezing through their opening round game against the Kent St. Flashes on Friday night, the Tigers rode two homeruns from junior Jacob Priday to a 7-5 victory against the Cardinal on Saturday night.

That victory put the Tigers in the championship series of the regional and brought them to within one victory of advancing to the Super Regional stage.

A Cardinal victory against the Miami Hurricanes on Saturday night advanced them to Sunday's championship game.

In that game, they plated eight runs, including a two-run homer from Dominguez, and with 15 runs scored in the two games before that, it was clear that the Cardinal were a serious threat in this regional.

That torrid hitting rolled into Sunday night's game and was only shut down for good by the seventh inning on Monday after the Cardinal had already put up 16 runs.

"They were a hot baseball team, just like we were last year," Jamieson said Monday. "College sports more than professional sports is based on momentum, and I was concerned with the momentum that they gained last night."

After the Cardinal finally put the stamp on their series-clinching game on Monday, the Tigers seemed more shell-shocked than dejected. And even though their season was cut short long before they had expected or hoped, both the coaches and players tried to remain positive.

"It hurts right now, because we are going to miss playing with a lot of the guys we played with this year," Senne said. "It's a tough time, but we did accomplish a lot this year. It's going to be another building process, but we definitely have the tools to do this again next year."

Jamieson said his team had a lot to look forward to.

"But once you get to a point where you think you are going to win, losing becomes that much more difficult," he said.