Spartanburg stamps out Potomac State season.

Garden City , NY- Marty Gantt held Potomac State in check allowing just six hits as the lefthander tossed eight shutout innings as Spartanburg Methodist sped past PSC, 12-1, in the NJCAA Eastern District championship game in Garden City, N.Y., and advanced to the Junior College World Series in Grand Junction, Colo.

The Pioneers scored eight runs in the fourth inning, after starting pitcher Jonathan Hash left the game after being hit with a line drive.

"I don't know if that would have changed the outcome," said Potomac State Head Coach Doug Little.  "But I know he was pitching well up to that point."

"Spartanburg has a great program, we wish them luck at the World Series."

SMC (54-7) did not suffer a defeat in the double-elimination event and is 7-0 in postseason, including a sweep through the Region 10 tournament last week in Gastonia, N.C. Ross Hanna was named most valuable player of the Eastern District playoffs after going 5-for-13 with a home run.

The Pioneers, who have tied a school record for victories, advanced to the World Series for the fourth time in nine years under head coach Tim Wallace and sixth time overall. They also made it in 1983, 1986, 2001, 2003 and 2007, when they finished third in the country.

This was the fourth time in the last nine years that SMC and Potomac State met in the Eastern District Finals.  Potomac State punched the World Series ticket in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

"It's been a good run," Wallace said. "In these seven games we've won in the postseason, we've beaten three undefeated pitchers, and the kid we faced in the first game up here had one loss. So it's not like we're feasting on patsies. We're beating some quality guys."

Freshman left-hander Gantt (7-2, 1.01 ERA) was pitching for the first time in the postseason. The right fielder and leadoff hitter also missed his last couple of turns in the rotation to rest his arm at the end of the regular season. He allowed only five hits and struck out six. When he went out to the mound in the bottom of the fourth, he had a 9-0 lead.

Potomac State needed to win twice to advance but didn't get a run until the bottom of the ninth against SMC reliever Marc Rape. The Pioneers finished with 14 hits and did not make an error.

Potomac State finishes the season at 37-14 and as the Eastern District Runners-up for the fifth time in the last 10 years.