The Case Western Reserve University baseball team highlighted its 2022 campaign by claiming the University Athletic Association Championship for the fourth time in program history.
The Spartans went 12-4 in UAA play during the season, finishing tied atop the conference standings with Emory to split the title. CWRU was the only team in the league to win each of its four series during the season, going 3-1 during each of the four matchups. It was the program's first conference title since the 2018 campaign, and the second since the conference switched to site play prior to the 2017 season. CWRU has finished among the top-two teams in the UAA in each of the last five seasons.
CWRU ended the year with a 23-17 overall record, despite playing the toughest schedule in all of Division III. The Spartans were 11-9 against regionally-ranked opponents, tied for the most such victories among Region VII teams during the regular season, and ended the year ranked sixth in the region.
As a team, CWRU batted .266 and averaged 6.1 runs per game, while pitching to a 4.48 earned run average. The pitching staff also led the UAA and was 34th among Division III teams, allowing opponents just 8.75 hits per nine innings, while the staff's 8.8 strikeouts per nine innings ranked second in the UAA and 57th in Division III. CWRU's defense turned 0.93 double plays per game, the 13th-highest mark in Division III during the year.
The Spartans' success came through the combination of a veteran pitching staff with a dynamic offense. On the mound, sophomore Tyler Horvath became the sixth player and first relief pitcher in program history to be named an all-American, earning a spot on the D3baseball.com Second Team. He appeared in 18 games during the season in relief, going 3-1 with a 1.50 ERA, while striking out 48 batters in 36.0 innings and holding opponents to a
Leading the rotation was newcomer Evan Faxon, a southpaw graduate student, going 6-0 with a 4.16 ERA over 10 starts and 12 appearances, while striking out a program record 80 batters. Faxon went on to be named the UAA Co-Pitcher of the Year, while also claiming D3baseball.com and ABCA All-Region Third Team recognition. Two more lefties joined Faxon in the starting rotation and claimed All-UAA Second Team honors - sophomore Reece Marley (5-4, 3.70 ERA) and senior Nick Denove (1-3, 4.11 ERA). Helping to anchor the back end of games along with Horvath was sophomore Zack Carinci, who went 2-1 with a 2.14 ERA and three saves.
Carinci was also one of the team's top hitters during the campaign, as the third baseman started all 40 games and led the squad with a .371 batting average, 33 RBIs and a .443 on base percentage, en route to being named the UAA Sophomore Rookie of the Year and earning a spot on the all-conference first team. First-year outfielder Nick Harms made an immediate impact to the lineup, claiming UAA Rookie of the Year honors and All-UAA Second Team recognition after batting .295 with nine home runs (the second-highest single-season total in program history and most-ever by a first-year player) and 23 runs batted in. Junior catcher Jack Anderson also claimed All-UAA First Team honors after hitting .335 and stealing a team-high 15 bases on 17 attempts. Adding a strong season at the plate was junior first baseman Nick Talarico, who batted .268 with four home runs and 29 runs batted in.
CWRU opened its season strong with three-straight road wins, including a season-opening sweep of a doubleheader at Washington & Jefferson, which would go on to make the NCAA Tournament. However, the Spartans hit a bump in the road on their annual Spring Break trip, losing eight of their nine games during the stretch. The team's one win during the trip was a 7-3 victory over then top-ranked SUNY Cortland, which featured a 10-strikeout game by Faxon.
After returning from Spring Break, the Spartans began to heat up, taking two of three games against Denison, which was ranked 15th at the time and eventually made the NCAA postseason. CWRU then went on to take three of four against both Emory and Brandeis to begin UAA play, improving to 12-11 on the season. In the final game of the Brandeis series, the Spartans overcame an early 7-1 deficit, tying the game in the ninth on an RBI double by Harms and winning it in the 10th on an RBI triple by junior second baseman Trey Haley.
After the Brandeis series, the Spartans had a six-game break from UAA play, which included games against top-ranked Marietta and two other NCAA Tournament teams – Baldwin Wallace and Wooster. The Spartans went on to split the six games, going 3-3 during the stretch, and headed into the final two conference series of the year with a 15-14 overall record, including a 6-2 mark in the league.
CWRU helped to bolster its lead in the UAA standings by winning the final three games of a four-game home series against NYU. Despite taking the loss in the opening game, Faxon, sophomore Patrick O'Connor, Carinci and junior Sankalp Doshi combined to strike out a program-record 17 Violet players in the game. The Spartans also won the final three games of their series against WashU, claiming each in walk-off fashion. In the second game of the series, senior outfielder Cole Jarrett broke a 7-7 tie in the ninth with a game-winning RBI single to right center that scored Talarico for the victory. In the third game, Harms blasted a two-out, two-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to propel CWRU to a 4-2 victory. Harms played the hero role again in the series finale, going four-for-six with a double, a solo home run in the ninth, and a game-winning walk-off two run home run in the 10th, which would clinch the conference title for the Spartans.
Harms, a St. Louis native, finished the four-game series against his hometown team seven-for-17 (.412) with six runs, a double, four home runs and six runs batted in. He hit .333 (21-of-63) in UAA play during the campaign, leading the league in home runs (eight) and ranking second in doubles (7) and fourth in RBI (17) in conference games.
CWRU wrapped-up its season with three non-conference games, picking up a win at John Carroll and splitting a road doubleheader against Mount Union. The Spartans had hoped their 23 wins combined with their top-ranked strength of schedule would provide enough of a resume to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Championship field, but ultimately, CWRU narrowly missed out on earning its sixth bid all-time to the postseason.
In addition to the team's success on the field, 21 members of the team received UAA Spring All-Academic honors – graduate student Tre Armstrong, seniors Willem Bouma, Denove, Jarrett, and Keaton Stankowski, juniors Anderson, Sankalp Doshi, Haley , Flynn Lenahan, Owen Levinson, Kevin Mackenzie, Cooper Schmidt, Jonathan Simon, and Talarico, and sophomores Andrew Allen, Carinci, Tim Demetris, Horvath Marley, Michael Shinohara, and Connor Stephenson.
The Spartans earned the following honors during the 2022 season:
The following were the CWRU team leaders in 2022:
* Indicates school single-season record
