Full Press Conference
CARY, N.C.- The West Chester University baseball team (47-11) erased another mid-game deficit with a three-run fifth and added another in the sixth that eventually forced extra innings but fell to two-time Defending National Champion Tampa (50-8) by a 7-4 final in 10 innings to drop the first game of the best-of-three National Championship Series against the Spartans at the USA Baseball National Training Complex outside of Cary, North Carolina on Thursday night. West Chester will look to extend the series to an if-necessary game against Tampa tomorrow night, with first pitch set for 6 p.m. Should West Chester even the series tomorrow, the third and final game of the set will be played on Saturday at 3 p.m.

"That is a tough loss after another hard-fought game," opened head coach Mike LaRosa. "These guys competed their butts off with a great comeback after going down 4-0 and put us in a position to win it late, but it's going to be a competitive series all weekend, and we all feel like we are far from out of it. Coming in, we knew it was going to be a tough game throughout the night. There are some moments that I wish I could have back from a managerial perspective, but we take this loss and fight again tomorrow to even the series."

Held scoreless through four innings for just the 10^th time this season and the first time since the PSAC Championship game against Millersville, West Chester exploded for three runs in the fifth, courtesy of home runs in the fifth by Carter Rust (Liberty Township, Ohio/Lakota West) and Austin Stalker (Wycombe, Pa./Council Rock North) before tying the game in the sixth with an RBI triple by Landen Rozich (Oxford, Pa./Oxford). Rust made an incredible play to finish the top of the ninth and likely prevent what could have been the game-winning run as the senior went full extension in the right center field gap to take away extra bases, which eventually forced extra innings.

In extra innings, Tampa got its first two runners of the inning on via a ball lost in the lights and a walk and made these two free bases hurt as the Spartans scored three runs to take a 7-4 lead into the 10^th and eventually won by that final after a double play ball thwarted the Golden Rams latest comeback bid in the home half of the 10^th.

On the ball lost in the lights to start the 10^th inning, LaRosa said, "I feel terrible for Landen. He is someone who, as we've talked about all year, has played above his level all season. It's a tough time of night to field a high pop like that, and then allowing a walk to the next guy can't happen against a team as talented as Tampa. I know he is kicking himself a little bit over that play, but tonight, I have confidence this group will pick him up tomorrow like this team has done for each other all season."

West Chester had runners in scoring position in each of the first four innings, including a two-out triple in the third inning by Hunter Smith (Martinsburg, Pa./Central) and a one-out double by Andrew Kell (Columbia, Md./Oakland Mills) in the fourth but it was Tampa, who opened the scoring as the Spartans jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth.

Gunnett Carlson drove in the first runs of the Championship Series for Tampa with a two-RBI single up the middle after a lengthy at-bat, which gave the Spartans a 2-0 lead heading into the top of the fifth after working around Kell's double in the home half of the fourth.

In the top of the fifth, Jack Martinez started the inning with a single and scored two batters later on an RBI single by Brayden Woodburn, which gave the Spartans a 3-0 lead. Woodburn came around to score a few batters later on an RBI double down the right field line, under the glove of a diving Austin Stalker (Wycombe, Pa./Council Rock North) off the bat of Jake Books to take a 4-0 lead. Pitching coach John Fleming made a mound visit after this double, and his conversation with redshirt-senior lefty Julian Costa (Mantua, N.J./Clearview) was able to settle the veteran down as he escaped the inning with runners stranded on second and third with a chopper back to the mound and a strikeout to keep the deficit at four heading into the home half of the fifth.

Carter Rust (Liberty Township, Ohio/Lakota West) gave West Chester life in the home half of the fifth with a 425-foot home run off the batter's eye in straightaway center field for the Golden Rams first run of the game, cutting the deficit to 4-1.

Asked about his 425-foot blast, which many consider to be one of the longest home runs in Cary in recent memory, Rust said, "I knew from our scouting reports that he liked to throw a heater (fastball) when he was behind in the count, and I got ahead and then got what I was looking for and put a good swing on it."

 Caleb Strawhecker (West Grove, Pa./Avon Grove) followed this up with a walk, and Austin Stalker (Wycombe, Pa./Council Rock North) hit a two-run blast down the right field line, which cut the lead to 4-3 and prompted some quick action in the Spartan bullpen. Robert Satin, who had allowed just five home runs all season entering play on Thursday, settled back in after the two home runs in the span of three batters and worked out of the inning to keep a 4-3 lead intact heading into the sixth.

Asked about his two-run home run moments later, Stalker said, "We've been like that all season. Once one person does something, we all hop on.  Sully (Hitting coach Evin Sullivan) was in our ear all day about getting our A swing off, and I don't think I did that in my first two at-bats, but I followed Carter's lead, stuck to my approach, and got a pitch I could drive."

Costa returned to the mound for his sixth inning of work as he crossed over 90 pitches on the night and worked a scoreless frame to keep the deficit at one, heading into the home half of the sixth.

In the home half, Harry Middlebrooks (Bel Air, Md./Archbishop Curley) singled into left center and scored when Landen Rozich (Oxford, Pa./Oxford) tripled to center to tie the game at 4-4 and chase Satin from the game in favor of Luke Fikar, the Spartans' closer for much of the season, who entered to try and keep the game right where it was heading into the seventh. Fikar got an important second out of the inning with a ground ball to short before escaping the inning on a fly to left, which kept the score tied at 4-4.

Drew Simpson (Hockessin, Del./DMA) made his third appearance in as many games in relief, and worked a scoreless seventh before returning to the mound for the eighth and got his first out of the eighth via a strikeout as part of a scoreless eighth, which, with the help of his defense, he repeated in the ninth to eventually force extra innings.

The box score will say that the top of the ninth inning ended for Tampa with a runner on first by virtue of a two-out walk with a fly ball to Rust in right center field. However, fans watching the game live were treated to what is perhaps the play of the year for the Golden Rams as the senior dove and snagged a fly ball in the right-center gap, which would've almost certainly scored the go-ahead run to send the game to the home half of the ninth tied at 4-4.

In the home half, Strawhecker started the inning with a walk and got to second via a Patrick Gozdan (Warminster, Pa./Archbishop Wood) single with two outs, giving the Golden Rams runners on first and second with two outs. Tanner Donati (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) put a charge into one with two outs, but the Spartans' center fielder was able to track it down in the gap to send the game to the 10^th tied at 4-4.

Tampa started the 10^th with an error and a walk, giving the Spartans the go-ahead run on second with no outs in the 10^th. This led to a pitching change as LaRosa made the walk to the mound to bring Rozich on in relief of Simpson (3-1) as the junior exited with a pair of runners on after three strong innings. The first batter Rozich faced was Dennis McCaffrey, who tried to lay down a bunt to start his at bat, but the first attempt popped foul before he got his third attempt down and successfully moved the runners and was able to reach via a fielder's choice to load the bases with no outs as the throw went to third and tried to get the lead runner. With bases loaded and no outs, Rozich surrendered the go-ahead run on a single by Nik Pereira through the left side, which gave the Spartans back a 5-4 lead and kept the bases loaded with no outs in the 10^th.  Jesse Ponce followed this up with a two-RBI double, which split the Golden Ram outfield and gave the Spartans a 7-4 lead with runners on second and third and no outs in the 10th. Rozich got his first out of the 10^th via a foul pop to first base before getting two more quick outs to keep the deficit right where it was heading into the home half of the 10^th.

West Chester threatened in the 10^th, but Fikar got all three outs via hard-hit ground balls to short, getting the first out of the inning on a fielder's choice, before finishing the game with a double play as the Spartans took a 1-0 lead in the Championship Series with an extra-inning victory on Thursday night.

Costa battled throughout the evening on Thursday and pitched six competitive innings for West Chester, allowing just four runs (two earned) on seven hits, while walking and striking out six after keeping Tampa off the scoreboard and striking out three Spartans through the first three innings.

Simpson (3-1) suffered his first loss of the campaign on Thursday as he allowed one run (the game-winning run in the 10^th) on a hit and three walks, while striking out one in three-plus innings of work. Rozich finished the 10^th in relief and allowed the last two runs on two hits in the losing effort.

Satin got the start for Tampa and worked into the sixth, allowing four runs on seven hits, while walking three and striking out four as he exited for Fikar in the sixth. Fikar (4-0) was outstanding in relief, allowing just one hit and a walk, while striking out three in 4.2 innings of work to earn his fourth win of the season.

Asked about needing a win tomorrow to extend the Championship Series to the if-necessary game on Saturday afternoon, LaRosa said, "This team is never out of it by any stretch. We talked after the game that coming out, competing tomorrow, and getting a win resets everything and gets us right back to where we want to be heading into Saturday. I think we have more knowledge on them now than we did coming in because you always get a better feel for a team when you can be on the same field as them, and I think having a National Championship game under our belt against a team that is very experienced on this stage is big, too. I felt like early on, we got sped up a bit and needed to settle in and slow the game down, which we eventually did. My hope is that with this game under our belt, we can settle in and play our game from the start tomorrow," finished LaRosa.