West Chester baseball falls short in winner-take-all game vs. Tampa in Division II championship series
The Golden Rams never felt out of it, but they couldn't climb out of an early hole in Saturday's decisive Game 3 as the Spartans won their third straight national title.
CARY, N.C. — If West Chester was going to go down in its winner-take-all, showdown against Tampa on Saturday in the Division II baseball championship series, coach Mike LaRosa was determined to go down with his best.
So after falling behind by a run in the first and getting into trouble in the top of the second, LaRosa decided to play his ace in the hole by bringing in left-hander Julian Costa — even though he’d thrown 104 pitches in Game 1 two nights earlier.
The plan made sense. But it didn’t work out the way the Golden Rams hoped.
After a strikeout, Costa gave up a two-run double to the Spartans’ Brayden Woodburn that brought in those inherited runners, then allowed three unearned runs in the top of the fourth to put top-seeded West Chester into a hole it couldn’t escape in an 8-4 loss.
“I thought he was sharp. He just left a couple of balls up is really all it was,” LaRosa said of Costa. “But there was definitely some fatigue there.”
Junior righty Drew Simpson, who started and pitched the first 1⅓ innings, took the loss after allowing three runs on three hits with three strikeouts and two walks. Costa allowed four hits and those three unearned runs in 2⅓ innings.
The four pitchers who followed Costa — Nick Cugino, Kyle Rogers, Luke Raho, and Landen Rozich — kept Tampa’s potent lineup in check and helped keep things within reach.
West Chester (48-12) began chipping away in the fifth when Carter Rust drove home Tanner Donati with a two-out single. Two innings later, Donati led off with a homer to right before Christian Michak and Rozich, who went 4-for-4, followed with singles. They only got one more run out of the rally on a sacrifice fly by Rust, but they still held hope.
“We never felt like we were out of it at any point in that game,” senior first baseman Austin Stalker said. “It’s just kind of the mentality we’ve had all year. We all came into the dugout and were like, ‘We’ve done crazier things in the ninth.’ You never know.”
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It looked as if something might happen when Tampa center fielder Jordan Evans tripped and fell on the warning track as he was about to catch a fly ball off the bat of Rozich. It went for a triple to start the inning. Rust then singled for his third RBI of the game to bring West Chester within four, but series Most Outstanding Player and winning pitcher Luke Fikar shut the door.
“Baseball is a crazy game,” Stalker said. “Sometimes it’s rewarding. Sometimes it’s not. Today is one of those days where it kind of rips your heart out.”
The top seeds in the eight-team tournament, which have combined for eight of the last 14 national championships, split the first two games of the best-of-three final. Tampa (51-9) won the opener on Thursday in 10 innings while West Chester got even on Friday. The Spartans’ win Saturday clinched their third straight national title.
Although the disappointment of falling one game short of the third title in program history was still raw, Donati said he and his teammates were proud of what they accomplished this season.
“This group of guys is special. That’s what makes the ending so hard,” he said.
Added LaRosa: “They just played better than us today. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t a successful season, ultimately. I think our players will realize that and will remember all the special moments.”