During a week when his team was competing for the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship, Tampa coach Joe Urso had some information about reserve catcher Chris Rosenbaum stored in the back of his mind.

Urso noticed that Rosenbaum, who hadn’t had a plate appearance since the team’s opening win in regional play May 18, was having good rounds of batting practice.

When it came time to call on a pinch-hitter with runners on first and second with two outs in the top of the 10th inning, Urso told Rosenbaum to grab his bat.

The junior catcher from Castleton, New York, delivered a solid opposite-field single to score Lee Cruz, the tournament’s most outstanding player, with the game-winning run as Tampa edged Cal State Chico, 3-2, in the Division II championship game at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery, Alabama, June 3.

Rosenbaum was Tampa’s starting catcher for most of the season, but a late-season slump due to pulling too many pitches took him out of the lineup.

"All year long, he’s been a kid who hit to the right side," said Urso, whose team added another NCAA title to the ones it captured in 1992, 1993 and 1998. "He stopped doing that for a while. Finally, this week, he started doing it again."

Despite this being his only at-bat at the finals site, Rosenbaum was confident he could put the ball in play because of the mindset he had when he stepped in the batter’s box.

"I just wanted something I could put out into right field," Rosenbaum said in the Montgomery Advertiser. "I thought that if I could get the right pitch and put it out there on the grass somewhere, I could get the run in. That’s exactly what happened."

Rosenbaum’s heroics would have been moot had it not been for a Tampa rally in the ninth. The Spartans were facing a 2-1 deficit with the bases empty and two outs.

Craig Corrado found himself down 1-2 in the count before delivering a single against Wildcats’ reliever Billy Spottiswood. Roberto Mena followed with an infield single to put runners on first and second.

Troy Ferguson delivered a ground-ball base hit that barely eluded the glove of shortstop Jesus Luna to tie the game and force extra innings.

In the 10th, Cruz singled and catcher J.R. Hopf walked to set the stage for Rosenbaum’s dramatic game-winning single.

The Spartans finished the season 54-6, but they never led in the title game until they took the lead in the top of the 10th.

"People think we had an easy run because of our record, but we’ve had a ton of games that we won late just like this," Urso said. "That’s the personality of this team. That’s what got us here and that’s what won it for us."

The Wildcats, 46-21, were ahead 1-0 courtesy of a run-scoring single by second baseman Robby Scott in the second inning. Tampa tied the game in the sixth when Mena scored on an error.

Cal State Chico reclaimed a one-run advantage in the eighth when Greg Finazzo led off with a single, went to second on a Carl Fairburn walk and then scored on Daniel Code’s single through the right side.

Cal State Chico needed three outs in the next frame and was then one strike away from celebrating the program’s third national championship, but it wasn’t meant to be.

"You feel like that should be good enough. Unfortunately, it’s not that way in baseball," said Cal State Chico coach Lindsay Meggs. "My heart just breaks for these guys. It really does. I wish I had the words to make it feel better."

Cruz was joined on the all-tournament team by Hopf, Mena, Ferguson and pitcher Sergio Perez. The Wildcats’ all-tourney selections were Code and first baseman Christopher Sweeney.

Francis Merion 000 001 020 — 3 9 0

Tampa 000 002 11x — 4 9 0

Dylan Owen, Ryan Ariail (8) and Michael Ward; Sergio Perez, Aaron Cook (8) and J.R. Hopf. W — Cook. L — Owen. A — 635.

West Chester 000 101 000 000 — 2 6 2

Montevallo 000 000 020 001 — 3 12 3

Frank Gailey, Jason Bowman (8) and Brett Wallace; Rusty Mask, Brandon Aldridge (8), Zach Andrews (9) and Jared Myrick. W — Andrews. L — Bowman. A — 2,101.

Franklin Pierce 110 100 010 — 4 11 0

Ashland 023 310 32x — 14 14 0

Shane Presutti, Arric Mather (3), Daniel Fournier (4), Mike Farrell (7), Kyle Graham (8) and Matt Anderson; Josh Davidson, Thom Abbott (8) and Eric Zattlin and Chase Beatty. W — Davidson. L — Presutti. A — 513.

Emporia St. 001 000 000 — 1 4 2

Cal St. Chico 001 000 001 — 2 5 0

Gabe Medina, Mickey Lara (9), Matt Petty (9) and John Martin; Garrett Rieck, Ben Buker (6) and Trevor Weedon. W — Buker. L — Medina. A — 867.

West Chester 000 002 000 1 — 3 9 4

Francis Merion 000 001 001 0 — 2 5 3

Chris Powl, David Slusser (9) and Brtt Wallace; Lee Tabor and Jared Barkdoll. W — Slusser. L — Tabor. A — 471.

Montevallo 000 020 200 — 4 6 0

Tampa 130 000 001 — 5 14 2

Josh Davis, John Chamblee (4), Zach Andrews (8) and Jared Myrick; Ross Jackson, Aaron Cook (7) and J.R. Hopf. W — Cook. L — Andrews. A — 1,806.

Franklin Pierce 000 000 000 04 — 4 8 2

Emporia State. 000 000 000 00 — 0 6 1

Tyler Cummings, Mike Farrell (11) and Jacob Ferriera; Toro Trevino, Mickey Lara (11) and John Martin. W — Cummings. L — Trevino. A — 405.

Cal St. Chico 200 010 100 000 4 — 8 16 0

Ashland. 000 030 001 000 0 — 4 9 2

Nick Bryant, Marcus Martinez (8), Steven Johns (9), Reid Horton (9), Billy Spottiswood (12) and Trevor Weedon; Cody Castle, Ryan Douglas (8), Todd Schlenkerman (13) and Eric Zattlin. W — Spottiswood. L — Douglas. A — 805.

Ashland 000 002 000 — 2 9 3

Franklin Pierce 012 000 13X — 7 11 0

Jim Barry, Todd Schlenkerman (7), Ryan Douglas (8), Josh Davidson (8) and Eric Zattlin; Bryan Duplissie and Matt Anderson. W — Duplissie. L — Barry. A — 503.

Montevallo. 200 000 071 — 10 7 3

West Chester 003 000 000 — 3 7 1

Jeremy Joyce, Brandon Aldridge (7) and Jared Myrick; David Slusser, Frank Gailey (7), Mark Rubini (8), Ryan Adkinson (8) and Brett Wallace. W — Aldridge. L — Gailey. A — 817.

Cal St. Chico 010 122 003 — 9 12 4

Montevallo 002 030 000 — 5 9 2

Ben Buker, Billy Spottiswood (7) and Trevor Weedon; Rusty Mask, John Chamblee (5), Zach Andrews (9), Heath Wilson (9) and Ryan Norman. W — Buker. L — Chamblee. A — 527.

Tampa 200 115 022 — 13 17 3

Franklin Pierce. 000 001 020 — 3 6 3

Sergio Perez, Nick Peterson (8), Craig Benner (9) and J.R. Hopf; Arric Mather, Shane Presutti (6), Tom Gilmore (8), Tyler Bishop (8), Eric Grabowski (9), Clay Jenkins (9) and Matt Anderson. W — Perez. L — Mather. A — 581.
Championship game

Troy Ferguson rf 3 0 2 1 1 0 1 0

Ryan Kennedy 2b .4 0 0 1 0 0 0 5

Orlando Rosales cf. 5 0 2 0 0 1 1 0

Lee Cruz dh 4 3 0 1 0 0 0 0

Jose Jimenez 1b 5 0 0 0 0 0 14 1

J.R. Hopf c 4 0 1 0 1 0 11 0

Billy Wimberly 3b. 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 2

Chris Ignaut ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Charlie Raley 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Chris Rosenbaum ph 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0

Jaime McKean 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Craig Corrado lf. 5 1 1 0 0 1 1 0

Roberto Mena ss. 4 1 2 0 0 0 1 6

Ross Jackson p .0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Aaron Cook p. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Sergio Perez p. 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0

Totals 39 3 12 3 3 2 30 14

Greg Finazzo, cf 5 1 2 0 0 2 2 0

Carl Fairburn, rf. 3 0 1 0 2 1 2 0

Jerin Harper, 3b 5 0 0 0 0 1 2 1

Daniel Code, lf 4 0 1 1 0 0 2 0

Chris Sweeney, 1b 4 1 1 0 0 2 12 0

Aaron Demuth, dh 3 0 0 0 0 3 0 0

Joey Burke, ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Robby Scott, 2b 4 0 1 1 0 0 5 4

Jesus Luna, ss 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 4

Trevor Weedon, c 2 0 0 0 1 1 3 0

James McCarthy, c. 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Nick Bryant, p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4

Garrett Rieck, p. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Billy Spottiswood, p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

Elliot Tyson, p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Ben Buker, p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 36 2 6 2 3 11 30 14

Tampa 000 001 001 1 — 3 12 0

Cal St. Chico 010 000 010 0 — 2 6 1

E — Luna. DP — Cal St. Chico. LOB — Tampa 11; Cal St. Chico 7. 2B — Mena; Finazzo; Fairburn; Sweeney. SH — Ferguson; Kennedy.

Jackson 7.0 3 1 1 2 7 24 26

Cook (W) 2.0 2 1 1 1 3 8 9

Perez..(S) 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 4 4

Bryant 5.1 7 1 1 0 1 21 22

Rieck 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 2 2

Spottiswood. (L) 3.2 4 2 2 3 1 14 18

Tyson 0.0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1

Buker 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1

WP — Jackson. PB — Weddon. Umpires — Dave Brown, Tracy Roles, Don Warner, Rick Denny. A—1821.