Pitching, chemistry and some timely hitting, in that order, are said to be the ingredients needed to bake up a championship team. Of course, on paper that looks like a cakewalk. But as the calendar flips to May and the college baseball season readies for the postseason, the University of Tampa men’s baseball team is intent on following that recipe to become the sixth national championship baseball team in UT history.
It sounds easy enough, but before we gaze too deeply into our crystal baseball, let’s remember a championship is never guaranteed. In UT’s 33 years of baseball, only five national championships have ever been won. Let’s take a look back and see what made those teams rise above the rest and go down forever in UT history.
1992
The first ever baseball championship for the school came in 1992. Second baseman and now head coach of the team Joe Urso took home World Series MVP honors as UT beat Mansfield, PA., 11-8.
“Being a part of the first championship will always be very special to me,” Urso said. “We’d been close in the late 80’s with Tino [Martinez] but this will always be something special to look back on.”
The team had a scare the night before the regionals. UT was up 9-1 in the ninth inning against the University of Miami before blowing the lead and losing the game.
“We didn’t get back to the hotel until about 2 in the morning,” Head Coach Lelo Prado said. “I was concerned the loss would carry over but it didn’t. It made us focus on finishing games off.”
The game against Miami stuck with the team so much that throughout the playoffs they would chant, “remember Miami!” and drew ‘Miami’ in the gravel outside of their dugout.
“The Miami game was special; we realized that anything was possible,” Urso said. “When we went down 4-0 in the championship game, we didn’t panic. We knew anything was possible because of that game.”
1993
Unsatisfied with just one, UT grabbed another to make it back-to-back championships in 1993 as they defeated Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo by a score of 7-5.
“In 93’ we knew we were good, and knew if we stayed together we could do it again,” Prado said. “We felt with the new additions plus the guys coming back that we could go back to back.”
That’s exactly what happened, as UT baseball had finally shifted the tide after years of Florida Southern dominating DII baseball.
1996
Mike Valdes was the winning pitcher as UT beat Kennesaw State 6-1 to claim its third championship in seven years in what Valdes called “the best game I’d ever seen or been a part of.”
Tampa had been on the cusp of a championship in the two seasons prior, finishing fifth in ‘96 and third in ‘97 before finally breaking through and winning it all again.
“We just had more drive, more focus that season,” Valdes said. “We didn’t want to let it slip away again.”
The season came close to slipping away when, during the playoffs, infielder Adrian Merkey suffered a broken hand. “We had to convert an outfielder into a third baseman in a week,” Head Coach Terry Rupp said. “Luckily he only had one ball hit to him the whole series.”
The team was dealt a heavy blow at the beginning of the season when they learned Rupp had been diagnosed with a brain tumor.
“Coach was so high energy, such a high powered guy, we just took his energy,” center fielder Erik Mirza said. “We didn’t have the biggest or strongest team, but we took on his personality.”
Several players agreed that coach Rupp’s inspiration was the little extra bump they needed to go from a runner up to a national champion.
2006
UT was down to their final strike in two separate at bats in the ninth inning before two hits and a throwing error tied the game sending it to extra innings where UT finished off Chico State 3-2 in the 10th.
“That was the most memorable championship I’ve been a part of,” Urso said. “We tied it up in the ninth, and took the lead in the 10th. Sergio Perez came in on one day of rest and put them away.”
2007
Despite a large number of returning players, the ‘07 team was determined to create their own identity.
“We lost a lot of firepower that year,” Urso said. “A lot of people didn’t think we would make a run again.”
But they did, rolling through the playoffs before beating Columbus State 7-2 in the championship game.
“We just had a great team atmosphere that year,” first baseman Nolan Brannon said. “We clicked really well and just kept winning.”