- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,171,141
- Reaction score
- 59
You must be registered for see images attach
The University of Tampa's Jack Martinez slides home on a groundout by teammate Brayden Woodburn to tie the game against West Chester 4-4 in the fifth inning Friday in Cary, North Carolina. ©BRETT FRIEDLANDER
CARY, N.C. — The University of Tampa baseball team will have to wait another day for a chance at history.
The Spartans on Friday had their sights on becoming the first team to win three straight NCAA Division II titles in Game 2 of their best-of-three championship series against West Chester.
But some untimely defensive mistakes, a rough outing from starting pitcher B.J. Bailey and an inability to build on an early lead combined to send Joe Urso’s team to a 12-4 defeat at the USA Baseball National Training Complex.
The loss was UT’s first since May 3 and only its second in its last 20 games, setting up a winner-take-all Game 3 for the championship Saturday at 3 p.m.
“It was uncharacteristic of us,” said Urso. “There were (10) walks and three hit batters. You can’t give a good team free bases, and they capitalized on them with some big hits to put this game away. We couldn’t slow them down. From the fifth inning to the ninth, they kept scoring.”
You must be registered for see images attach
As poorly as they finished, the Spartans (50-9) actually got off to a promising start. Bailey allowed runs in the first and third innings before stranding the bases loaded. Despite falling behind 2-0, his offense got the runs back and then some in the bottom of the third.
Brayden Woodburn started the rally by singling after the first two hitters in the inning had made outs. Jhoander Irigoyen then reached on an error before Jake Books launched his eighth home run of the season well over the rightfield wall for a 3-2 lead.
At that point, history and the school’s 11th national championship seemed within the Spartans’ reach.
“I knew it was going to be a long game,” said Books, a junior rightfielder. “I definitely felt some momentum shift our way.”
You must be registered for see images attach
It didn’t last long, though.
After a scoreless fourth, West Chester (48-11) grabbed the lead back by scoring two in the fifth. The Spartans tied the score in the bottom of the inning by scratching across a run on a walk, a stolen base, sacrifice bunt and a Woodburn ground out.
But things quickly got out of hand after that.
West Chester’s Harry Middlebrooks got things started in the sixth with a home run that ended the night for Bailey, who allowed five runs on seven hits with five walks in 5 ⅔ innings. Aided by one dropped fly ball in the outfield and another by the catcher on a play at the plate, and a late home run by Austin Stalker, the Rams added on a single run in the seventh, four in the eighth and two more in the ninth to end any hopes of a UT comeback and celebratory dogpile.
But despite sputtering to the finish line, Urso remains optimistic. And why not? Not only did last year’s Spartans win a similarly decisive Game 3 on the way to their championship, but his current team hasn’t lost consecutive games all season.
“You’ve got the opportunity of your lifetime,” Urso said. “One game for everything. It’s what we’ve talked about all year. We just have to regroup, get the pitching in line for how we want to attack and just execute the same things we’ve had to do all year to be successful.”
Continue reading...
