West Chester falls in Game 1 of Division II CWS finals

CARY, N.C.- The West Chester University baseball team 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 by a 7-4 final in 10 innings to drop the first game of the best-of-three National Championship Series at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C. on Thursday.

West Chester(47-11) will look to extend the series Friday. Should they even the series, the third and final game will be played on Saturday at 3 p.m.

"That is a tough loss after another hard-fought game," said 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 10th 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 by Carter Rust and Austin Stalker before tying the game in the sixth with an RBI triple by Landen Rozich (Oxford).

In extra innings, Tampa (50-8) got its first two runners of the inning on via a ball lost in the lights and a walk en route to scoring three times to take a 7-4 lead and eventually won after a double play ball thwarted the Golden Rams' latest comeback bid in the home half of the 10th.

On the ball lost in the lights to start the 10th 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 by Hunter Smith and a one-out double by Andrew Kell 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 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 Stalker off the bat of Jake Books to take a 4-0 lead.

Rust 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.

"I knew from our scouting reports that he (starter Robert Satin) 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, said Rust"

Caleb Strawhecker (Avon Grove) followed with a walk, and Stalker hit a two-run blast down the right field line, which cut the lead to 4-3.

"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," Stalker said.

Harry Middlebrooks singled into left center and scored when Rozich tripled to center to tie the game at 4-4.

Tampa started the 10th with an error and a walk, giving the Spartans the go-ahead run on second with no outs. 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 10th. 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 10th 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 10th.

West Chester threatened in the 10th, but reliever Luke 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.

"This team is never out of it by any stretch. We talked after the game that coming out, competing tomorrow (Friday), and getting a win resets everything and gets us right back to where we want to be heading into Saturday," said LaRosa. "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 (Friday).

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This story was originally published June 6, 2026 at 6:49 AM.