College of Wooster baseball gets at-large NCAA Tournament selection
The College of Wooster baseball team’s 2022 season will continue, with the Fighting Scots announced as one of the 18 Pool C (at-large) selections by the NCAA when the 60-team championship field was released on Monday afternoon. Wooster is off to Lloyd Hopkins Field in Alton, Illinois, to take part in the Webster University (Missouri) four-team, double-elimination regional.
Wooster (30-14) plays Bethel University (Minnesota) (33-9) on Friday, May 20 at 3:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. CT. Host Webster (37-6) takes on Crown College (Minnesota) (30-13) in Friday’s first game at 12 p.m. ET/11 a.m. CT.
There are 16 regionals taking place across the country (14 four-team regionals and two best-of-five series). The 16 winners will meet next week at eight sites for a best-of-three series super regional with the eight winners advancing to the 2022 NCAA Div. III National Championships, which will be held June 3-8 at Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
This marks Wooster’s 32nd Div. III Tournament appearance, and the Scots sport a 70-67 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. 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 (1997, 2009) finishes.
More information will be posted on WoosterAthletics.com when available.
Chumita named NCAC Player of the Year
Another top offensive season in program history is being turned in by The College of Wooster’s Tyler Chumita, who is this year’s North Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Year, which was announced on Tuesday morning. Senior center fielder Ben Gbur, senior designated hitter Alex Gasper, sophomore utility ace Eli Westrick, and senior right fielder Ben Hines joined the Fighting Scots’ senior shortstop on the All-NCAC team for the 2022 season. Chumita and Gbur were repeat first-team selections, Gasper and Westrick debuted on the all-conference team as second-team picks, and Hines earned honorable mention honors.
Chumita has been a run-producing machine for the 30-14 Scots, needing just 44 games to match three-time American Baseball Coaches Association All-American and W Association Hall of Famer Rick Sforzo’s 1986 single-season RBI record. The education and mathematics major blasted a solo home run that tied the first game of the NCAC Tournament Championship Round at three in the seventh inning on Sunday, and the RBI marked his 77th of the year. Chumita, who ranks third in Div. III this spring in RBI, has 25 more RBI than any other player in the NCAC entering this week’s NCAA Div. III Regional Tournament. The smooth-swinging lefty is batting .384 (66-for-172) on the year with 37 runs, 10 doubles, seven home runs, three triples, and a Div. III-leading 10 sacrifice flies. Chumita has 21 multi-RBI games this spring, headlined by a career-high seven during a 13-6 win over DePauw University on April 2. The senior, who had the fifth-highest single-season average in program history (.465, 59-for-127) a season ago, ranks second in the NCAC in hits and fourth in average. His selection marks the league-leading 18th NCAC Player of the Year honor to go to a Wooster player and the first since three-time All-American Jamie Lackner in 2017.
Gbur, a five-tool player, earned All-NCAC honors for the second time. The mathematics major, who ranks fourth in Div. III in runs, scored for the 70th time on the year at the NCAC Tournament. It marked just the sixth time a Wooster player has scored 70 times in a year and the first since 2018 ABCA Div. III Position Player of the Year Michael Wielansky scored a Div. III-leading 76 times that season. Gbur, who enters this week’s regional one hit shy of 70, also leads the NCAC in base knocks and total bases. He is hitting .359 (69-for-192) with 31 of the hits going for extra bases, thanks to 19 doubles, 10 home runs, and two triples. Gbur sits at 24 stolen bases on the year.
Gasper is hitting .276 (27-of-98) in 34 games this spring. The senior has 22 runs, 21 RBI, and six round-trippers entering this weekend’s regional. He came up big in a 13-4 win over John Carroll University on May 2, finishing 2-for-3 with two home runs and three RBI.
Westrick split time as Wooster’s No. 2 starting pitcher, starting second baseman, and starting designated hitter this spring. His consistent offensive production led to playing as a two-way player when on the bump as the season progressed. Westrick’s .369 average (45-for-122) ranks third on the team and he has 31 RBI, 22 runs, eight doubles, and a home run entering regionals. On the mound, Westrick sports a 5-1 record with two saves and a team-leading 3.68 ERA. The right-hander has worked 51 1/3 innings and has allowed just 25 runs.
Hines, Wooster’s other two-time All-NCAC performer, is hitting .335 (58-for-173) on the year with 60 runs, 32 RBI, six doubles, five home runs, and three triples. The mathematics major, who is second in the NCAC in runs, became the first Scot since Sean Karpen in 2008 to hit the quarter-century mark in stolen bases, and his 27 ranks third in the NCAC.