Casey Scoggins Leads Tampa Back to Cary
The University of Tampa Spartans showed off yet another piece of hardware as they punched their tickets to Cary, N.C., for the NCAA Division II Championship Series.
For the third consecutive season, the Spartans captured the NCAA South Region title with a victory over the Florida Tech Panthers. It came late in the 10th inning when Casey Scoggins turned one out into two.
The junior centerfielder out of Port St. Lucie, Fla., made perhaps one of the biggest plays of his career. With only one out and a runner on third, the Panthers were in scoring position. Scoggins looked to his left and then looked to his right anticipating the next play.
"I wanted the ball hit to me. It just happened to be right at me. That put me in a good position to throw the guy out at home," Scoggins said.
Scoggins caught a line drive to centerfield and quickly turned it into a double play, throwing the runner out at home. "I have to give props to our catcher Nick Tindall for staying in there and putting the tag on the guy. That was big."
And big it was. The double play would seal the Spartans 5-4 win and crown UT Regional Champs once more. Though that was not the only accolade Scoggins would bring back to Tampa, as he was selected as the tournament's most outstanding player.
"I'm honored to be MOP, it means a lot. I was just glad I could help my team any way possible. It's a good way to go into the World Series. Hopefully I can keep it up."
Scoggins role on the team goes much farther than throwing a runner out at home. He is the spark plug behind it all. "Casey brings a lot of energy to the table. He's definitely the spark plug for this team. He gets the ball rolling for us offensively and is fun to play along side with. When you get someone with his energy and hunger to win, it motivates the other guys around him to play at that level too," senior teammate Stephen Dezzi said.
The Spartans (39-13) are set to take on Cal Poly-Pomona (43-15) on Sunday evening under the lights at the US National Training Complex. With under a week set to prepare for tournament play, head coach Joe Urso keeps his players wanting more.
"You can never be complacent around here because we always have the bullseye on our back. Teams always get fired up to play us so we have to bring our "A" game every day. Players chose to come here because they know the expectations are high and deal well with the pressure of trying to win another national championship," stated Urso.
Urso is in his 15th season as head coach at UT and has made the tournament all 15 times, but this time he said is different, "This group is different. They have had to overcome more adversity than any other group I have been with. We lost our top two pitchers in Trey Oest and David Heintz and had many hitters miss time this year due to injuries like Stephen Dezzi."
UT plans on remaining focused throughout the week and has embraced the challenge as the weekend draws nears. "Sunday's matchup will be versus a great pitching staff of Cal Poly Pomona, so we will need to execute with situational hitting and take advantage of every opportunity we get. We will have to get another great pitching performance from Chase Sparkman and play great defense to keep the score low and have a chance to win late in the game," concluded Urso.
Written by Candace Martino