CARY, N.C.-Kyle Lazer (Havertown, Pa./Msgr. Bonner & Prendie) turned in a dominant complete-game victory, the first complete-game win for West Chester in the National Finals since 2012 to lead the West Chester University baseball team (48-11) to a 12-4 victory over Tampa (50-9) in a must-win game on Friday night in the National Championship Series at the USA Baseball National Training Complex. West Chester and Tampa will do battle once again tomorrow in a winner-take-all game three in Cary, with first pitch set for 3 p.m.

"Kyle Lazer – what else can you say," opened head coach Mike LaRosa. "The effort he gave us tonight is absolutely the story of the game. This guy sitting next to me just competes, and we gave him the ball in the biggest spot in his career, and he absolutely made the most of it," continued LaRosa. "When we saw the way he was throwing tonight, we knew the pitch count wasn't going to matter, and he was going to empty the tank and give us absolutely everything he had to get us to game three on Saturday. As a group, I'm really happy with how we battled and executed our game plan on both sides of the ball all night."

West Chester scored 11 of its 12 runs with two outs in innings, with the lone exception being the one-out home run by Harry Middlebrooks (Bel Air, Md./Archbishop Curley), which gave West the lead for good in the sixth inning. Asked about this, LaRosa said, "Two-out and two-strike hitting has been our bread and butter all year. I think we've left a lot of guys on all night, and we still left a number on tonight, for that matter, but we did a good job of having competitive at-bats all game long and not chasing, which is what Bailey (BJ Bailey-Tampa's game two starter) wants you to do with his breaking stuff. All year long, I've felt like our ability to hit with two outs is a back breaker for opposing teams, and it did the job again tonight," continued LaRosa.

"We start fresh tomorrow," acknowledged LaRosa when asked about the momentum a win like this gives going into game three. "I knew this team was still confident coming in today after a loss last night, and that was after a tough loss. Game three in College Baseball is like game seven at the highest level, the playbook kind of goes out the window, and you just compete," continued LaRosa.

Lazer turned in the first complete game in the National Finals for West Chester since Hall of Famer Joe Gunkel in 2012, when he did so twice against both Chico State and Delta State to help propel West Chester to its first Division II National Championship. Lazer struck out 11 in the complete-game victory, allowing just four runs (one earned) on six hits and five walks as the veteran right-hander delivered a dominant performance in the final outing of his collegiate career.

"This outing means a lot," opened Lazer when asked about his complete game performance. "You'll never meet a group as close as us, so I felt like I wasn't going out there tonight just for me, but for this entire team, our fans, families, alumni, etc. I knew we couldn't be done yet. This group has worked too hard all season for our season to end like that, so the least I could do was go out and give everything I have. Beyond doing it for this group, I also felt like I was doing it for that 2022 team. I know those guys are watching, and a lot of them reached out to me before tonight's start, so I wanted to give the best I could for that group too after I didn't get to pitch down here that season."

A sixth-run home run by Middlebrooks made the difference on Friday night as he broke open a 4-4 tie, as eight of the nine players in the Golden Ram lineup recorded a hit in the win on Friday. Christian Michak (Kingston, Pa./Wyoming Valley West) was 3-for-4 in the win with two RBI and a run, while Patrick Gozdan (Warminster, Pa./Archbishop Wood) was 2-for-4 with three RBI and a pair of runs scored along with two walks.

Asked about his red-hot run in Cary, which sees him batting .368 (7-for-19) in five games in North Carolina, including his first home run of the season earlier tonight, Harry Middlebrooks said, "To be quite honest, I don't know that I really saw this coming. I had a tough start to the year, but when Simpson (Drew Simpson) went down, I knew I'd have a chance to step up, and it was a chance I had been waiting on all season. As I said the other night, being on this team makes it so easy to take advantage of a chance like that because it's such a talented group and we are all always pulling for each other," continued Middlebrooks.

West Chester loaded the bases to start the first inning, thanks in part to back-to-back singles by Carter Rust (Liberty Township, Ohio/Lakota West) and Caleb Strawhecker (West Grove, Pa./Avon Grove) to open the game. This helped West Chester get out to its first lead of the National Championship series later in the inning when Gozdan worked a bases-loaded walk to prevent BJ Bailey from escaping the jam unscathed after he had successfully gotten two quick outs moments earlier.

West Chester added to its lead in the third when Tanner Donati (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) ripped a single through the right side of the Tampa infield to score Hunter Smith (Martinsburg, Pa./Central), who had worked a two-out walk earlier in the inning.

Lazer got two quick outs in the home half of the third before a Bradyn Woodburn single and a Golden Ram error extended the inning and gave the Spartans a pair of runners on with two outs. Jake Books, who had driven in a pair in the early going last night in the series opener, made this error hurt as he launched a three-run home run to right, which erased the early 2-0 lead and put Tampa back out in front 3-2 heading into the fourth.

Both Lazer and Bailey delivered scoreless and 1,2,3 fourth innings to keep the score locked at 3-2 heading into the fifth.

Bailey was an out away from a scoreless top of the fifth before Gozdan singled up the middle and sparked a two-run rally, which was capped off by a two-RBI single into center off the bat of Landen Rozich (Oxford, Pa./Oxford), which gave the Golden Rams a 4-3 lead with runners on first and second in the fifth. A pair of stolen bases allowed both Rozich and Michak to get to second and third before Bailey escaped the inning with a strikeout to keep the deficit where it was heading into the home half of the fifth.

Jack Martinez started the home half of the fifth with a walk, stole second, and moved to third on a sac bunt, which gave the Spartans the tying run just 90 feet away moments after watching their one-run lead evaporate in the top of the fifth. This excellent baserunning allowed the Spartans to tie the game when Woodburn grounded out to third, which resulted in the second out of the inning, but also tied the game at 4-4 to send the game to the sixth, locked at 4-4.

Middlebrooks continued what has been a National Finals for the ages for the junior third baseman as he launched a 408-foot home run down the left field line with one out in the sixth to give West Chester back a 5-4 lead. Bailey got the second out of the inning, but head coach Joe Urso had seen enough as he made the walk to the mound and took the ball from the veteran lefty, turning to his bullpen with two outs in the sixth inning. Tobin Moran was the name called by Urso as he made his first appearance in Cary of the 2026 National Finals and yielded a walk to Smith before striking out Gozdan to keep the Golden Ram lead at one (5-4) heading into the home half of the sixth.

Bailey (13-1) finished his day and likely his final start as a Spartan with a final line of five runs on seven hits and five walks, while striking out seven in 5.2 innings of work as he suffered his first loss of the season.

After a scoreless bottom of the sixth by Lazer, Michak got a one-out double down the left field line in the seventh and swiped third, moving 90 feet away from potentially being a vital insurance run for the Golden Rams as the Purple and Gold looked to erase the memories of an extra-inning loss, which seemed so close to a victory throughout the night on Thursday. With two outs in the inning, Rust hit a sinking liner into right field, and it dropped in for an RBI single, which stretched the lead to 6-4.

Jack Martinez led off the home half of the seventh with a single into left-center, but Lazer worked around the early runner well, finishing the inning with a line drive to short to keep a two-run lead heading into the eighth.

In the eighth, Strawhecker started the inning with a seven-pitch walk and moved to second on a sac bunt before Tampa chose to intentionally walk Austin Stalker (Wycombe, Pa./Council Rock North), giving West Chester runners on first and second with just one out and a two-run lead entering the late innings.

A perfectly executed bunt by Smith nearly resulted in a bunt single but worked just as well as a perfect sacrifice bunt down the third-base line, moving Strawhecker and Stalker to second and third with two outs in the eighth. This proved crucial when Gozdan lined a two-RBI single into left field, dropping just in front of the Spartan left fielder, which allowed both runners to score and saw West Chester stretch its lead to 8-4 with two outs in the eighth. West Chester added two more runs to its lead with a single up the middle off the bat of Michak, after a dropped fly ball in right extended the inning as the Golden Rams took a 10-4 lead into the home half of the eighth.

Lazer returned to the mound for his eighth inning of work and allowed a leadoff walk but answered with back-to-back strikeouts for his eighth and ninth strikeouts of the night before finishing the inning with a chopper back to the mound as he completed his eighth inning with a 10-4 lead intact.

West Chester added a pair of runs in the ninth on a two-run blast off the bat of Stalker, which stretched the lead to 12-4 before Lazer returned to the mound for his ninth inning of work.

Lazer recorded a pair of strikeouts in the ninth, including his 11^th of the night, to finish off the game two victory as the senior turned in the best outing of his career when his team needed it the most.

Asked about the added benefit of resting his fellow pitchers with his complete-game win on Friday night, Lazer acknowledged, "Yeah, everyone got an extra day of rest, which for this group is huge. I know everyone will be available tomorrow, and I know a guy like Costa (Julian Costa), who was probably available tonight if we had needed him, is going to absolutely empty the tank and do everything he can to help us win tomorrow. Tomorrow is game three, and game threes in settings like this tend to be weird, so let's do everything we can to make it weird," finished Lazer.

In relief of Bailey, Morgan worked 2.1 innings, allowing five runs (three earned) on four hits and four walks, while striking out three, before Josiah Velazquez finished the game on the mound, allowing two runs on one hit and a walk.

Scoring first continues to be the recipe for success for West Chester, as the Golden Rams improved to 27-1 when scoring first and 29-2 when scoring first, while also improving to 39-1 when scoring six or more runs.

Up Next

West Chester and Tampa will meet one more time tomorrow afternoon in Cary for the Division II Baseball National Championship, with first pitch set for 3 p.m.