West Chester beats Tampa, 12-4, in Division II baseball championship to force winner-take-all game on Saturday

CARY, N.C. — The grit and resilience, which has been West Chester baseball team’s trademark all season, was on full display Friday in Game 2 of the Division II championship series.

Because of it, the Golden Rams have earned a chance to play for a national title.

Rebounding from a Game 1 loss to two-time defending champion Tampa the previous night and facing an early deficit in a must-win situation, coach Mike LaRosa’s top-seeded team stormed back to take a 12-4 victory at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C.

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Senior right-hander Kyle Lazer pitched a complete game in his final career start, Harry Middlebrooks continued his tear with a home run, and right fielder Christian Michak, back in the lineup after missing the two previous games, had three hits on a night in which West Chester scored all but one of its runs with two outs to set up a winner-take-all deciding Game 3 on Saturday (3 p.m., ncaa.com).

“We’re not done yet,” said Lazer, who struck out 11 and allowed one earned run in his 136-pitch masterpiece. “We worked too hard during the early spring, playing games in 28-30 degrees. The least I could do is go out and give everything I have.”

Lazer wasn’t the only Ram who wasn’t ready for the season to end on Friday. The offense behind him, described by LaRosa as “dynamic” pieced together a relentless attack that chipped away at Tampa starter B.J. Bailey in the early innings, then kept piling on runs late to keep the Spartans (50-9) from mounting a comeback.

Eight of the nine hitters in the Golden Rams’ batting order contributed at least one hit and seven of the nine drove in at least one run.

And yet the night got off to an ominous start when West Chester (48-11) left the bases loaded in each of the first two innings. It appeared the missed opportunities might come back to haunt them when Jake Books launched a three-run homer in the bottom of the third to give Tampa a 3-2 lead.

But as it has all season, and especially in this tournament, West Chester quickly answered. A two-run single by ninth hitter Landen Rozich in the fifth gave the Golden Rams a 4-3 lead. Then, after the Spartans tied the score 4-4 in the bottom of the inning, Middlebooks delivered his first home run of the season to get his team off and running again.

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A junior third baseman who lost his starting job after hitting just .212, Middlebrooks got a second chance in this tournament because of a knee injury to his replacement Drew Simpson. In his five games in Cary, Middlebrooks is hitting a red-hot .368 (7-for-19).

He’s been so effective that LaRosa moved him from the eighth spot in the lineup to No. 3. And Tampa had so much respect for him that it intentionally walked him with a base open in the top of the ninth to get to cleanup man Austin Stalker, who promptly delivered his 12th homer of the year to cap the scoring.

“With Simp going down I figured I would have to step up,” Middlebrooks said. “I was waiting for that second shot after not doing too well early on. But being on this team is easy, having guys pulling for you.”

By pounding out 12 hits and scoring 10 runs over the final five innings, the Rams made things easy for Lazer, who was determined to finish the game and save his team’s bullpen for Saturday’s deciding game.

Not that there was any doubt in his coach’s mind that he’d come up big with the season on the line.

“Kyle Lazer, that’s the story tonight,” LaRosa said. “This guy just competes. Our coaches and I were going through pitching scenarios last night and I said it doesn’t matter because he’s going nine innings. Sure enough, here we are. Pitch count didn’t matter tonight. It’s the last start of his career and we knew he was absolutely going to empty the tank.”