CARY, NC – West Chester saw its story-book season come to a close Thursday night against No. 1 North Greenville with a 8-5 defeat at the hands of the Crusaders in a semifinal contest at the 2022 NCAA Division II National Championships at Coleman Field at the USA Baseball National Training Center.
West Chester allowed four runs in the third and three more in the fourth and could not dig itself out of the seven-run hole. North Greenville scored eight runs on eight hits and made two errors. West Chester scored five runs on eight hits and did not make any errors.
"A lot of emotions and thoughts go through your head after a loss that ends your season," West Chester head coach
Mike LaRosa said. "The seven-run deficit was just too much to overcome. I'm very proud of our kids."
Pat Monteith broke a scoreless tie in the top of the third with a two-out grand slam that gave North Greenville the lead. The Crusaders added three more in the fourth, chasing West Chester starter
Gabe Rappa (6-3).
Mike Ferrara put West Chester on the board with his 11th home run of the season off the foul pole down the left-field line. That blast made it 7-1. However, North Greenville answered back with a run in the fifth to take an 8-1 lead. Ferrara struck again in the bottom half of the fifth when his drive to left center gap knocked in a pair of runs and cut the deficit in half, 8-4.
LaRosa went to left-handed ace
Braeden Fausnaught with one out and runners on second and third in the seventh. The hard-throwing lefty struck out the first batter he faced and then got the next batter to foul out, getting the Golden Rams out of the jam. He went the rest of the way and broke the school's single-season record for innings pitched at 104.
"Fausnaught showed up today and talked to our pitching coach and said that he was able to do whatever it was we needed him to do," LaRosa said.
"I just wanted to leave everything I had out there on the field," Fausnaught said. "That was easily my best stuff all year. It was like an out-of-body experience."
West Chester finishes its 130th season of baseball at 36-15. North Greenville (53-10) advances to the national championship series against either Point-Loma (Calif.) or Rollins (Fla.) on Friday night.
NOTES: West Chester falls to 10-6 all-time at the national finals with its loss Thursday … both of West Chester's defeats at the national championships came to North Greenville – the No. 1 team in the country … West Chester was 6-1 in elimination games during the NCAA Tournament … Ferrara's three RBI's in the game moved him into a tie for second on the single-season all-time list at West Chester with
Jared Melone at 69. Only Matt Cotellese (71) had more RBIs in a season …
Braeden Fausnaught made his 19th appearance of the season, but first in relief … Fausnaught broke the single-season record for innings pitched in a single season with 104 … he also finished the year with a school record 130 strikeouts.
