“This is the reason we all decided to come to Tampa,” Yorvis Torrealba told the
Tampa Bay Timesin an article published the day of the win. “It’s to be part of history, to win a national championship and have our names in the record book.”
The win was icing on the cake for
four Spartans selected in the 2019 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft earlier last week. They include Sammy Peralta in the 18th round by the Chicago White Sox, Torrealba in the 20th round by the Colorado Rockies, Keven Pimentel in the 28th round by the Colorado Rockies and Tyler Beck in 30th round by the Minnesota Twins.
INSIDE THE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHUPFinal: (#2) Tampa 3 (W: Keven Pimentel, 13-2) || (S: Jacinto, 3), (#1) Colorado Mesa 1 (L: Trevin Reynolds, 7-2)
Records: (#2) No. 3 University of Tampa Spartans (45-14), (#1) No. 1 Colorado Mesa University Mavericks (53-12)
Location: USA Baseball National Training Complex || Cary, N.C.
All-time Series: The two previous meetings in this series took place in 2014; The Spartans defeated the Mavericks, 3-1, to force a winner-take-all matchup for a berth in the 2014 National Championship. In the must-win contest, CMU secured their place in the national championship with a 3-2 win over UT. Colorado Mesa dropped the 2014 National Championship to the University of Southern Indiana.
HOW IT HAPPENED TOP 6TH: Spencer Bramwell, the Mavericks catcher, led off the inning and reached base via an error. After a sacrifice bunt moved Bramwell into scoring position, Chase Hamilton poked a two-out base-hit into right field to give CMU the first lead of the ballgame. || CMU led 1-0
BOT 6TH: With two outs, the Spartans sparked their offensive attack as Danny Sirven singled to right on an 0-2 count. In an eight-pitch at-bat, Cole Perry roped his seventh double of the year to score Sirven from first base. Sirven, the senior catcher for UT, ran through the stop-sign from head coach Joe Urso and evened the score for Tampa. || Tied 1-1
BOT 7TH: Danny Blair and Nick DeTringo registered back-to-back singles, for the second time on the afternoon. After Stephen Smith advanced his teammates on a groundout, Torrealba ripped a base-knock through the left-side and brought home both runners in scoring position. || UT led 3-1