The seventh-ranked Case Western Reserve University baseball team saw its 2024 season come to a close with a 6-5 walk-off loss to the University of Lynchburg in the championship game of the NCAA Cleveland Regional at Nobby's Ballpark on Sunday afternoon.

The Spartans, who entered the day needing to beat Lynchburg twice to advance to the Super Regional round, ended their campaign with a 33-11 overall record. The Hornets improved to 33-15 with the win and will face La Verne next weekend.

Trailing by a run heading into their final at bat, the Spartans were able to knot the score at 5-5 in the top of the ninth. Graduate student center fielder Jack Anderson led the inning off with a triple into the right center field gap and scored a batter later on a game-tying RBI single by graduate student catcher James Powers. However, that would be the only run the Spartans would score in the inning, and the score remained tied heading into the bottom of the ninth.

Anderson, who moved from the outfield to the mound in the eighth, struck out the first batter he faced in the ninth, but Josh Gjormand followed with a double and advanced to third on a single. Lynchburg designated hitter Joe Munitz followed with a high bouncing ball to short that left sophomore Jasiah Harris with no play at the plate, allowing Gjormand to score and giving the Hornets the victory.

It was the first run allowed all season by Anderson, who suffered the loss to finish the campaign with a 1-1 record.

The Spartans fell behind early in the game when Lynchburg pushed across a run in the bottom of the first, but CWRU struck back in the top of the second with a two-out, two-run single by junior left fielder Logan Andreyko. The score remained 2-1 until the bottom of the fourth when the Hornets knotted the score at 2-2. Lynchburg then took the lead with three runs in the bottom of the fifth, including two on a single by Sean Pokorak, who went on to earn the tournament's Most Outstanding Player award after driving in six runs in three games.

CWRU responded quickly, as senior designated hitter Zack Carinci, first-year shortstop Nate Arterburn, and Andreyko picked up three-straight one-out hits, with Andreyko's driving in a run to make the score 5-3. A wild pitch later in the inning allowed Arterburn to score, trimming the Hornets' lead to a run. The score would remain 5-4 until the back-and-forth ninth inning that ultimately saw Lynchburg come away on top.

Sophomore right-handed pitcher Archer Stankowski started for CWRU, allowing five runs (two earned) on six hits and six walks with four strikeouts over four and a third innings. Junior Jackson Brewer entered the game and held the Hornets scoreless through two and two-thirds innings, giving up just a hit and a walk and striking out a pair, while keeping the Spartans within striking distance.

Andreyko finished the game three-for-five with three runs batted in, while Anderson added two hits in three at bats and a pair of walks.

Graduate student first baseman Dane Camphause, Anderson, graduate student second baseman Franco Alonso, and senior pitcher Tyler Horvath were all named to the All-Tournament team.

Sunday's loss completes a historic season for the Spartans, who matched the second-most wins in program history during the campaign and were ranked as high as seventh in Division III, the team's highest-ever national ranking. CWRU also claimed the fifth University Athletic Association title in team history and qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the seventh time. This weekend also marked the first time in program history Nobby's Ballpark has played host to NCAA postseason games.