Club Sports: Baseball team advances to NCBA World Series, loses in semifinals

After the Pitt club baseball team lost its opening game in the double-elimination North Atlantic… After the Pitt club baseball team lost its opening game in the double-elimination North Atlantic Regional Tournament on May 11, senior infielder Alex Weinert spoke to his teammates.

“We were really disappointed in ourselves,” Weinert said of the 2-0 loss to Massachusetts that put Pitt on the brink of elimination. “So coming into the next game, I brought the team together and said we had worked too hard practicing late nights to let the season end like that. I think that got us motivated.”

The Panthers responded to Weinert’s words by crushing Drexel the next day, 16-1, to stay alive in the tournament. And Pitt wasn’t done winning.

Thanks to a dramatic victory over rival Penn State and a pair of revenge wins against Massachusetts, the Panthers won the North Atlantic Regional to earn the program’s first-ever trip to the National Club Baseball Association Division I World Series, where Pitt would reach the semifinals before its national championship dreams were finally ended.

Pitt head coach Rob Perkey said he noticed a difference in his team’s confidence and execution in the games following the loss to Massachusetts.

“Losing that first game put us in a tough situation, but our team battled back and played the way we’re supposed to in the next four games,” he said.

With the limited finances that come with being a club sports program that was just founded in 2005, the Panthers drove south to Georgia for the World Series. But senior infielder Brandon Uram said the lengthy car ride was simply a part of what made the week memorable for him.

“The car ride down with some of my best friends in college, playing baseball almost every day and hanging out with the team on off days after wins — it was a great experience, overall,” he said. “Other than winning it all, you really can’t ask for much more out of a week.”

Enjoying the experience and riding the momentum from the success at the regional tournament, the Panthers, who were seeded seventh out of the eight teams at the double-elimination World Series in Columbus, Ga., upset Texas Tech, 10-7, and perennial club baseball powerhouse Colorado State, 8-6, to advance to the semifinals.

Uram said that despite knowing many expected the Panthers to lose those first two games and get knocked out early, the team always believed it had the ability to go deep in the World Series.

“After the way we had played at regionals, we thought that we had a legitimate shot at winning the national championship,” he said.

Two wins from that championship, Pitt once again faced the experienced Colorado State team in the semifinals on May 29, after the Rams advanced through the loser’s bracket.

Weinert said the Panthers were excited about the prospect of knocking out one of the tournament favorites.

“They’ve won six of the last eight national championships,” he said of the Rams. “Going into the tournament, we wanted to face Colorado State to see what it’s like and to see how that club is run, and they had a great team.”

Because Pitt was still undefeated in the tournament and Colorado State had suffered a loss, the Rams needed to defeat the Panthers twice to advance to the finals. And the Rams did exactly that.

Colorado State narrowly edged Pitt in both games, by scores of 4-3 and 6-5, to advance to the national championship game and end the Panthers’ hopes at bringing home the trophy.

However, the Rams didn’t win the national championship, as Utah State defeated them in the final 14-3.

Coach Perkey said that even though his players were devastated following the defeat, they can still be proud of what they accomplished.

“With winning six games in a row and being two wins from the national championship, everybody was extremely confident, but we weren’t able to finish it off,” he said. “Right now we’re disappointed, but when you take a step back and take a different look at things, you realize that we did something special this year by making it to the World Series and winning two games.”

Uram described the ending of the season as “bittersweet.”

“After we made that last out and knew Colorado State was going to the championship and not us, I sat on the field for a while looking up at the scoreboard and thought about what could’ve been,” he said. “But if you would’ve told me a few weeks ago that’d we’d be down at the World Series, I would’ve taken it right then.”

He also said he expects the Panthers to be back at the NCBA World Series next season.

“I don’t see any reason why this team next year can’t win it all,” Uram said. “Coach Perkey is an organized guy and puts in a lot of time. And with our committed roster and awesome alumni that donate to the club, it’s just a really solid organization from top to bottom.”