The 17th-ranked Case Western Reserve University baseball team will be headed to the NCAA Division III Super-Regionals for the first time in program history after overcoming a five-run deficit to defeat 16th-ranked Centre College 12-9 in the Regional Championship Game at Nobby's Ballpark on Sunday afternoon.

The Spartans, who won all three games of the regional and have won eight-straight games overall, improved to 30-12-1 with the win. CWRU will now turn its attention to its Super-Regional opponent, top-ranked Johns Hopkins University. A site for the weekend's games will be officially announced by the NCAA shortly.

Senior right fielder Nick Harms went two-for-four with two runs, three RBIs, and his 14th home run of the season in the win and was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. He was joined on the All-Tournament team by graduate student catcher Jack Anderson, graduate student second baseman Franco Alonso, sophomore shortstop Nate Arterburn, and first-year relief pitcher Ayush Shetty.

For the second straight day, the Spartans found themselves behind early, trailing 5-0 after two and a half innings. Harms got the Spartans on the board in the bottom of the third, cutting the Colonels' lead to three runs with a two-run home run to straight away center field, his second long ball of the tournament.  However, Centre got the two runs back in the top of the fifth to push its lead back to five runs, 7-2.

The five-run Centre advantage did not last long. In the bottom of the fifth, sophomore designated hitter Tyler Stillson doubled to plate graduate student first baseman Dane Camphausen, and Alonso later scored on a wild pitch to pull the Spartans back within three runs, 7-4. An RBI groundout by junior center fielder Matt Trout capped off the scoring in the inning and made it a two-run game.

Centre added a run in the seventh to increase its lead to 8-5, but for the second straight day, CWRU registered a six-run inning, this time in the bottom of the seventh, to take the lead. Harms was hit by a pitch to start the frame, and Camphausen and Alonso each followed with a single, the latter of which scored a run. After Stillson drew a walk on a 12-pitch at-bat to load the bases, Trout walked to force across a run, and graduate student third baseman Zack Carinci hit a sacrifice fly to plate Alonso and knot the score at 8-8. With two outs in the inning, Anderson gave the Spartans the lead, driving in a pair with a single through the left side of the infield, and Harms followed with a single to right field to push CWRU's advantage to three runs, 11-8.

First-year southpaw Jeff Radinsky allowed just one run over his two innings of work and turned the game over to Shetty in the eighth, who entered the game after throwing 77 pitches on Friday. Shetty worked around two runners in scoring position in the eighth to hold the Colonels scoreless in the inning, and CWRU added to its lead with an RBI single from Carinci in the bottom of the eighth, putting the Spartans' lead at 12-8 heading into the ninth.

Shetty allowed a leadoff home run to start the bottom of the ninth, but retired the next two batters. With two away and the bases empty, Shetty induced a ground ball up the middle off the bat of Ayden Lohr that Arterburn dove to stop and threw out the runner at first to clinch the regional win for CWRU.

Radinsky earned the win for CWRU to improve to 2-0 on the year, while Shetty picked up his first career save in the game.

CWRU finished the game with 12 hits, including a three-for-five day at the plate for Camphausen. Anderson, Alonso, Trout, and Carinci each had two hits on Sunday.

Centre's TJ Schira suffered the loss in relief to finish his year with a 2-2 record, while the Colonels ended their campaign with a 32-11 mark.

More information on next weekend's Super Regional games against Johns Hopkins, which will be held on Friday and Saturday, will be posted to athletics.case.edu early in the week.

Spartan Notes

• The Spartans have now scored 404 runs this season and are just five away from matching the program record of 409 runs set by the 2011 squad.

• With his two hits on Sunday, Anderson is just three away from 300 for his career.

• Sunday's game was the first-ever meeting between the Spartans and the Colonels.