Spartans Open World Series With Dominant 20-3 Win

Cary, N.C. - The University of Tampa's Baseball Program began their quest for a tenth national championship this evening in the opening round of the 2025 Division II College World Series. The Spartans entered as the number one overall seed and faced the number eight seeded Felician University. Along with a possible double digit national title number, the Spartans are vying to beat their own history as the  the first team since 2007 to repeat as national champions (2006 and 2007 Tampa Spartans). 

Final: #1 University of Tampa Spartans 20, #8 Felician University Falcons 2

Records: Tampa (50-8),  Felician (43-21)

Location: USA Baseball Training Complex l Cary, North Carolina 

All-Time Series: This was just the second meeting all-time between these two programs. With the win, the Spartans lead the series 2-0. 

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Fresh off a spectacular eight inning performance in the super regionals and being named a CCA All-American, C.J. Williams was dominant for the Spartans. He took the ball in the top of the first and did not allow a Felician base runner to reach second base his entire outing. Through his five innings of work, he punched out three batters while only allowing one hit. In those same five innings, the Spartan offense exploded for 14 runs. Tampa wasted no time getting on the board as in the bottom of the first, Nico Saladino blasted a home run over the right field wall. J.D. Urso and Brayden Woodburn added hits but the Spartans settled for a 2-0 early lead. Tampa then doubled their lead in the bottom of the second when Jordan Williams drove a ball over the scoreboard for a two run homerun. Maddox King added another run in the bottom of the third when his hard hit groundout scored Cole Russo from third. Already holding a 5-0 lead, the Spartans blew the game open in the bottom of the fourth. They scored nine runs on seven hits including three home runs. Nico Saladino led the inning off by hitting his second home run of the game before Edgardo Villegas went deep (3 RBI, HR) three batters later. The next batter, Cole Russo, hit a rocket to the opposite field that left the park in a hurry to go back-to-back with Villegas. Now leading 10-0, the next three batters (Jhoander Irigoyen, Brayden Woodburn, and Maddox King) all reached via singles to add another run. The top of the order (Saladino and J.D. Urso) each drove in a run with the bases loaded to make the scoreline 13-0. Tampa added their final run of the inning with an RBI fly out from Villegas to lead by 14. The fifth inning saw C.J. Williams finish his day on the mound with another hitless frame before Felician earned their first scoreless inning of the game.  

With a 14-0 lead, Tampa turned to Michael Alfonso to continue the domination on the mound in the top of the sixth. Alfonso tossed a perfect 1-2-3 inning, inducing three straight fly balls. Jake Griffith and Nico Saladino led off the bottom of the sixth with free passes before J.D. Urso singled to center to load the bases. Two batters later, Cole Russo cleared the bases with a double to the right field wall and Tampa's lead grew to 17-0. Santiago Garavito then scored Russo by hitting his own opposite field extra base hit to score Russo and push the run total to 18. The onslaught continued as Tampa earned three straight walks to score another run and lead 19-0 before the sixth inning came to a close. Felician put an end to the Spartans shutout bid after a leadoff double sparked a small rally that brought home two runs in the seventh before adding another run in the top of the eighth. In response to the Falcon runs, Cole Russo led off the bottom of the eight with a triple before scoring on a sac fly. With the lead now 20-3 and the Spartans needing three outs, Eli Thurmond took the ball to do the job. Thurmond struck out the first batter he faced before picking up the final two outs. The scoreless ninth from Thurmond puts a bow on Tampa's 20-3 win against Felician in the opening round of the Division 2 College World Series. 

AT THE PLATE:

• All nine Spartan Starters recorded at least one hit by the fourth inning 

• All nine Spartan Starters scored in the bottom of the fourth

• Nico Saladino - 3-4 2 HR, 4 RBI

• Cole Russo - 3-5 HR, 4 RBI (Single shy of cycle)

• Kevin Karstetter - 2-3, Walk 

ON THE MOUND:

• C.J. Williams - 5.0 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 3 SO, 0 ER (Picks up nation leading 14th win)

• Logan Wash - 1.0 IP, 2 SO, 1 ER 

• Eli Thurmond - 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 SO, 0 ER

UP NEXT: The Spartans have advanced to the winners bracket of the NCAA Division II World Series. Tampa will face Northwest Nazarene University (No. 5 Seed) on Monday, June 2nd.