Wooster Game Notes - Salisbury Super Regional

Outlook: The College of Wooster baseball team, now a eight-time regional champion, is back on the road this week, with the Fighting Scots heading to Salisbury, Maryland, to take on defending national champion Salisbury University in the Salisbury Super Regional. The best-of-three game series starts with a single game at noon ET on Friday, May 27. Game two is set for an 11 a.m. ET first pitch on Saturday, May 28, and the if-necessary third game will take place approximately 45 minutes after the conclusion of game two if it is needed. Wooster is one of 16 teams remaining in the national tournament. The winner of the Salisbury Super Regional advances to the NCAA Div. III Championships (Div. III "World Series"), which is set to take place June 3-8 at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Ticket and Other Important Information: Tickets are $7.00 for adults and $4 for students (with college ID), seniors, veterans, and youth. Tickets are cash only. Fans will be given a wristband as restroom facilities are across the street at the stadium. Salisbury has a strict NO PETS policy at the baseball venue.

Media Coverage: Salisbury will provide live stats and a livestream of each contest. The link to the live stream for all three games is https://team1sports.com/suseagulls/. Live stat links are available at WoosterAthletics.com on the baseball schedule page. Be sure to check WoosterAthletics.com for end-of-day recaps and follow along on social media (Twitter: @WoosterSports & @WoosterBasball; Instagram: @WoosterSports; @Wooster_Baseball).

New Era: Head coach Barry Craddock, a 1994 Wooster alumnus, is in year three leading Wooster's program, and this is his first NCAA Tournament as head coach. However, he is no stranger to Wooster's success at the national level, having served as assistant coach from 1996-99 and 2008-19. Wooster has made three trips to the NCAA Div. III "World Series" with Craddock on staff, headlined by advancing to the national championship game in 1997 and 2009. As a player, Craddock was a member of a Mideast Regional championship team as a senior, and he appeared in 52 games and earned seven saves, ranking third in both statistical categories upon graduation.

Div. III's Elite: Wooster made its 32nd Div. III Tournament appearance this year, and the Scots sport a 74-68 all-time record in NCAA postseason games. Wooster trails Marietta College (40), Ithaca College (39), and Eastern Connecticut State University (36) when it comes to all-time tournament appearances. Prior to this year, Wooster last made the national field in 2019, the first year of the four-team regional-super regional-national championships format. The Scots won the Wooster Regional before bowing out against Heidelberg University in the Heidelberg Super Regional. Wooster has made the national championships (Div. III "World Series") six times – 1989, 1994, 1997, 2005, 2009, and 2018. There, Wooster has two national runner-up finishes (1997, 2009). Additionally, Wooster now has eight regional titles - the six times the Scots made the Div. III "World Series," plus 2019 and 2022.

Recapping the Alton Regional: Wooster took the exciting route to win its eighth regional title, as the Scots dropped the regional opener, then won four straight games to take the title. Bethel University (Minnesota) scored seven times in the ninth inning to stun Wooster 12-7 last Friday. Wooster routed Crown College (Minnesota) 21-3 during the first elimination game on Sunday. The Scots hit eight home runs - tied for the third-most in single-game program history - and matched its single-game NCAA postseason record for runs. Senior center fielder Ben Gbur (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard Darby) and senior catcher Michael Thomas (Minneapolis, Minn./Washburn) hit two home runs apiece in the Crown win. Next, Wooster sent fifth-ranked Webster University (Missouri) home, thanks to senior right fielder Ben Hines' (Farmington, Minn./Lakeville South) two-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Wooster won that elimination game 4-3. On Monday, Wooster forced the if-necessary game with an 11-8 win over Bethel, then won 11-6 in the winner-take-all contest. Junior first baseman Dane Camphausen (McLean, Va./Landon School) had six RBI in the winner-take-all game, and in doing so, became the third player in program history to have six RBI in a NCAA postseason game. Junior Owen Barnard (Shaker Hts., Ohio/Shaker Heights) worked 10 2/3 innings after earning the start against Crown and the winner-take-all game versus Bethel. He allowed just one earned run during his two outings.

A Quick Look at Salisbury: Salisbury won the 2021 NCAA Div. III baseball championship by sweeping University of St. Thomas - Minnesota in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Sea Gulls did not drop a game in the 2021 postseason, finished with a 34-4 record in 2021, and capped the title run with a 14-game winning streak. The 2021 winning streak started followed a 23-inning 7-6 loss to Southern Virginia University. Salisbury is 34-9 on the year and beat Denison University twice to win the Granville Regional. Junior Kavi Caster leads the team with a .420 average. He is 68-for-162 on the year with 64 runs, 57 RBI, 17 doubles, and 11 home runs. Senior Jimmy Adkins, who has split time between starter and reliever, sports a 0.88 ERA over 71 1/3 innings.

The Machine: Senior shortstop Tyler Chumita (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard Darby) is third nationally with 80 RBI, a total 11 behind national leader Ryan McCarty from Penn State Abington. Chumita broke Wooster's 36-year-old single-season record with a RBI double in the fifth inning of the Alton Regional opener. The record was previously 77, held by three-time American Baseball Coaches Association All-American and W Association Hall of Famer Rick Sforzo. Sforzo played in 50 games in 1986, and Chumita needed just 45 to surpass the Wooster legend's total this year. Chumita, the North Coast Athletic Conference player of the year, has 21 multi-RBI games this year.

75/75 Club Inducts Another Member: Gbur's eighth-inning double in Wooster's 11-8 win over Bethel on Monday marked his 75th base knock of the year, and he is just the fourth Scot to have 75 hits and 75 runs on a season. Wooster legend Trevor Urban was the first to hit the milestone with 82 hits and a single-season program record 79 runs during the Scots' run to the national title game in 1997. Twelve years later, Wooster great Sean Karpen hit the marks with a school-record 97 hits and 77 runs in what also was a year the Scots played in the national championship game. Michael Wielansky, the 2018 ABCA Div. III Position Player of the Year had 79 hits and a Div. III-leading 76 runs during Wooster's run to the Div. III "World Series." Gbur touched home for the 79th time this spring on a three-run home run in the 11-6 winner-take-all victory over Bethel at the Alton Regional to tie Urban's mark for the most runs in single-season program history.

The Thief: Hines ranks third in the NCAC with 30 stolen bases on the season. He became the first Scot since Karpen in 2008 to hit the quarter-century mark for a season, and since became the first 30-base stealer in a season since 2004 All-American Matt Miller. Terry Gladis holds the single-season program record with 44 stolen bases. He did that in 1994 on Wooster's way to the Div. III "World Series."

Utility Ace: Sophomore Eli Westrick (Ashland, Ore./Ashland) showed a lot of promise towards the end of the 2021 season and has blossomed into one of the Scots' top all-around players. Westrick took on a featured utility role this year as one of the team's front-end starters in addition to his duties at second base. He is second on the team with a .360 (50-for-139) average and has worked his way into the everyday lineup, even while pitching, after starting the year not batting in games on the bump. Westrick's 3.68 ERA is second on the team among those with at least 20 innings pitched. He sports a 5-1 record with two saves in 51 1/3 innings.

Whatever It Takes: Junior Dean Brown (Kensington, Md./St. Andrew's Episcopal School) spent the bulk of the season as the everyday starter at third base, but has seen more time at designated hitter or second base of late. He sports a .298 average (51-for-171) heading into the regional tournament. Brown stepped up in the NCAC Tournament, getting the game ball against Wittenberg University in what was just his second pitching outing of the year. Brown held the Tigers to three runs on seven hits in five innings, then returned against Denison three days later for a scoreless inning of relief. Gbur, who has seen an expanded role as a pitcher this year, made three appearances on the mound during the NCAC Tournament, recording the save each time. Gbur worked 5 2/3 innings of shutout baseball during that stretch with seven strikeouts. Both Brown and Gbur pitched in the Alton Regional. Brown started game one of the championship round with Bethel and worked two innings. Earlier in the regional, Brown fired a scoreless inning of relief against Crown. Gbur worked the final two outs fo the winner-take-all game and earned the save.

Not Since 1944: No Wooster pitcher had struck out at least 15 batters in a game since 1944, that is until sophomore right-hander Corey Knauf (Vienna, Va./Bishop O'Connell) fanned 15 Williams College hitters during a 16-4 win on March 25. Knauf, pitching in Chain O' Lakes Stadium, former spring training ballpark of the Cleveland Guardians, logged the third-most strikeouts in program history and the most since Stan Partenheimer's 19-strikeout game in 1944. Knauf struck out the side in the first and second innings, and had seven strikeouts through two frames due to an Eph batter reaching via a passed ball. The strikeout haul climbed to 10 in the third inning, then Knauf struck out two in the fifth, two in the sixth, and Nate Orluk watched a pitch zoom by for a called strike three than ended the game in the seventh.

Another Masterpiece: Knauf nearly did something no Wooster pitcher has ever done on April 6 – log a 15-strikeout game and a no-hitter. Knauf carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning of Wooster's 10-0 run-rule win over Hiram College. Hiram center fielder Curtis Caithaml laced a leadoff single up the middle in the seventh for the Terriers' lone hit of the game. Knauf, who logged his first career shutout, struck out five and faced just four batters over the minimum.

Mr. Electric: Junior left-hander Christian Johnston (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley) was named to D3baseball.com's Team of the Week for games played April 25-May 1 after retiring all 12 batters he faced in a span of three outings. Johnston, who earned a win and two saves on the week, fired two innings of six-up, six-down ball in Wooster's 13-5 win over the University of Mount Union on April 26. Two days later, he set down the Purple Raiders in order in the bottom of the 10th inning in the Scots' 10-8 win. He entered game two of the Denison twin bill with the tying run on deck and slammed the door shut on the Big Red by setting down all three batters he faced in the Scots' 10-6 win. Johnston's 21 appearances rank third on the team.

"Run Baby Run": If there was a contest for most interesting walkup in Div. III, first-year Nick Pett (Perrysburg, Ohio/St. John's Jesuit) would be in the running, as "Run Baby Run" by Caspar Babypants is his song. Pett ran his way to D3baseball.com Team of the Week honors for games played April 18-24. Pett's week opened with a walk-off pinch-hit single in a 5-4 win over Oberlin College on April 20, then he earned the save in the Scots' 5-3 nightcap win, recording the final two outs in his collegiate pitching debut. Pett went on to earn a spot in the starting lineup for the rest of the week at second base, where he went 7-for-12 with seven runs, two doubles, a triple, and his first collegiate home run over the three-game weekend slate.

NCAC All-Conference Team Announced: Chumita captured the NCAC Player of the Year award, marking the 18th time in conference history that award has resided with a Wooster player. He is the program's first NCAC Player of the Year since three-time All-American Jamie Lackner in 2017. Gbur joined Chumita as a repeat first-team All-NCAC selection, senior designated hitter Alex Gasper (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) and Westrick debuted on the All-NCAC team as second-team picks, while Hines is now a two-time all-conference performer after earning honorable mention status.

Thomas Part of Region's Elite: Just 13 NCAA Div. III baseball players from programs in Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio were named to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District® Team this spring, and Thomas was one of them. The two-year starter is an economics major, who went 5-for-17 during the Alton Regional. Three of Thomas' five NCAA base knocks were three-run home runs. He had 10 RBI and scored six times over the five regional games. Other key highlights for Thomas include a go-ahead three-run home run in an 8-6 win over regional rival Case Western Reserve University on April 13 and a go-ahead hit during game two of a key NCAC sweep over Wabash College on April 16. Thomas examined the relationship between firms that engage in corporate social responsibility by implementing environmental, social, and governance scores and their corporate emissions for his Independent Study project. He also spent two summers as an intern with Seattle CityClub and gathered and analyzed data for a future shelter location with Simpson Housing Services in Minnesota. 

The Go-To Times Two: Juniors Ryan Sullivan (Amesbury, Mass./Berwick Academy (Maine)) and Ethan Samangy (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) are two of the regulars who appear out of the Scots' bullpen. Sullivan's 24 appearances are tops on the team, and he sports a 2-0 record with a 3.90 ERA in 27 2/3 innings of work. Samangy is 3-0 with two saves over 32 2/3 innings of work. He has appeared in 23 games and has a 4.41 ERA. Samangy appeared in six straight games from May 4 to May 13, allowing just one run over 8 2/3 innings during that stretch. He also worked in all five games of the Alton Regional, headlined by needing just 22 pitches in three innings of perfect baseball against fifth-ranked Webster in a regional elimination game.

The Ace: Senior Mitchell Reardon (Liberty Twp., Ohio/Lakota East) has held down the No. 1 pitching spot for the Scots this year. He is 6-6 with a save and a 4.91 ERA over 73 1/3 innings. Reardon's best outing was six innings of one-hit shutout baseball against Sewanee: The University of the South on March 12. The left-hander struck out 10 in that start. He was instrumental in helping the Scots to the regional title with 5 2/3 innings of relief work in game one of the championship round. Reardon was nearly unhittable for a four-inning stretch of that outing allowing just two hits during that time and no Royal advanced into scoring position. Reardon's ability to hold Bethel was rewarded with a win when the offense broke out with a six-run seventh inning.

Short Rest No Problem for Barnard: Barnard earned the game ball to start Wooster's elimination game against Crown on May 22, and the right-hander rose to the occasion with five solid innings, during which he allowed just one run on four hits. Craddock went back to the right-hander for the winner-take-all game, and he carried the torch again for the pitching staff, holding Bethel to two unearned runs on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings. Barnard is now 3-0 on the year with a 2.54 ERA in 28 1/3 innings.

Awards: Wooster baseball players have earned the following awards for the 2022 season:

• All-NCAC: Tyler Chumita (Player of the Year, first-team), Ben Gbur (first-team), Alex Gasper (second-team), Eli Westrick (second-team), Ben Hines (honorable mention)

• CoSIDA Academic All-District®: Michael Thomas

• D3baseball.com Team of the Week: Nick Pett (games played April 18-24), Christian Johnston (games played April 25-May 1), Tyler Chumita (games played May 2-8) 

• NCAC Athlete of the Week: Mitchell Reardon (pitcher, March 14), Corey Knauf (pitcher, March 28), Dean Brown (player, April 18), Tyler Chumita (player, May 9)

• NCAC All-Tournament Team: Dean Brown, Tyler Chumita, Ben Gbur, Dominic Stilliana

• The NCAA no longer names an all-tournament team at the conclusion of regionals.