West Chester’s late miscue proves costly in 7-4 extra-inning loss to Tampa in Division II championship

CARY, N.C. — The West Chester baseball team made all the plays championship teams are supposed to make in Game 1 of the Division II championship series.

Until it mattered most.

A routine popup to shortstop got lost in the lights in the top of the 10th inning on Thursday, a miscue that opened the door for a three-run Tampa rally and sent the Golden Rams to a 7-4 defeat at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C. West Chester now trails 1-0 in the championship series and need a win on Friday (6 p.m., ncaa.com) to keep its season alive.

West Chester shortstop Landen Rozich lost sight of the ball off Tampa catcher Jhoander Irigoyan’s bat, allowing it to fall safely behind him.

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But things only got worse for Rozich.

After Drew Simpson issued a walk to put runners at first and second, Rozich was summoned to pitch. The first batter he faced, Walker Vanecek, laid down a perfect punt that loaded bases, setting the stage for pinch hitter — Nik Pereira — to drive home the go-ahead run with a single through the left side.

Tampa’s Jesse Ponce followed with a two-run double that finally broke the Rams’ spirit.

“I feel terrible for Landen,” Golden Rams coach Mike LaRosa said. “He’s played above his level all year long and it’s hard in that twilight, with the sunset and the lights are on. A high pop, you tend to lose it sometimes on the infield and then we walked the next batter. So two free bases to start the inning. You can’t do that against a good team.”

Before that stumble, West Chester had the two-time defending national champion Spartans on their heels after battling back from an early four-run deficit.

Leadoff hitter Carter Rust started West Chester’s rally by hitting one of the longest home runs ever hit at the D-II, a towering drive off the batter’s eye in center field in the fifth inning. With the crowd still buzzing from Rust’s homer and Caleb Strawhecker drawing a walk, Austin Stalker coaxed a slicing drive just inside the foul pole in right for another homer that got the Rams (47-11) within a run.

An inning later, they tied the score at 4-4 on a single by their hottest hitter in Cary, Harry Middlebrooks, and an RBI triple by ninth hitter Rozich on a ball that missed leaving the park by a matter of inches.

“We’ve kind of been hot all year,” Stalker said. “Once one person gets going we all hop on. Once Carter hit his, it was like ‘Here we go.’”

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Even though the score remained tied, the Golden Rams’ momentum continued to build through the late innings as Simpson quieted Tampa’s potent offense out of the bullpen and Rust saved at least two runs with a spectacular diving catch to end the top of the ninth.

The Rams nearly won in the bottom of the ninth. But despite putting the decisive run in scoring position, they were unable to get him home. They need to win each of the next two games to claim their third national title since 2012.

“This team is never out of it,” LaRosa said. “We talked briefly after the game, that if we come out tomorrow night and win a game, it resets everything. We’re confident going in that we’ll continue to compete. We learned a lot about that team tonight. I think going into the game tomorrow we’ll have a better game plan and be better prepared.”