SAN ANTONIO, TX — Ryan Vosika was the hero as the University of La Verne baseball team walked off Trinity 1-0 in the 10th inning to advance to the 2024 NCAA Super Regional next weekend.
Scoreless heading into the bottom of the 10th, Anthony Salcedo led off with an infield single to the shortstop. Benny Vogel followed by sending a ground-rule double to the left-field corner to put the winning run 90 feet away. That brought up Vosika who delivered with a single through the right side to give La Verne the regional title. It is the second-straight regional crown for the Leopards.
It was a pitcher's duel in Texas. Gerald Terry got his first start since May 4 for the Leopards who played as the home team. He went eight innings, striking out seven and walking five. Jackson Teer, who got the start in game 1 of the regional for Trinity, got the start today and went seven innings, striking out ten and walking one.
"The game that Terry had today, I mean I can't even tell you how tough this guy is. He was just unbelievable. To go as far as he did and hold that team to no runs was unbelievable. It was an heroic effort as Coach [Mason] Stoltenberg said," added University of La Verne head baseball coach Scott Winterburn.
With the score deadlocked at 0-0 through four innings, the fifth inning was the first real threat for both teams. The Leopards and Tigers ultimately grounded into inning-ending double plays, maintaining the thrilling scoreless tie.
In the top of the seventh inning, the Tigers had a runner threatening at third, but Terry escaped the jam, preserving the scoreless game.
The Tigers had another threat loading the bases in the top of the eighth inning, but Terry got out unscathed.
Austin Klopfenstein relieved Terry with nobody out in the top of the ninth inning.
The Leopards had two runners on in the bottom of the ninth inning but could not plate a runner as the score was still goose eggs going into extra innings.
Klopfenstein worked another scoreless frame in the top of the 10th inning capped by a strikeout.
It was a total team effort to win the regional Winterburn explained.
"It was a tough start in game one but we knew it was a five game series. We felt like [Niko] Urquidi was gonna have a good start and we felt pretty good about [Matthew] DesMarets. We knew we were gonna get Jerry back but we didn't know what we're gonna get from him. When you look at the number of guys that really came out this regional, [Logan] Reese hit some home runs, Noah [Garcia] hit a couple home runs. Vogel was great during the series. He hasn't really played all year long on the offensive side, he just recently really started to get it going. He came off the bench and he was great."
"We got a lot of those contributions from people. [Matt] Rice caught a great game yesterday and made a tremendous throw today in the biggest game of the year. Klop closed out and pitched two tough innings to win a regional. Those are just some great things about this week."
The Leopards will play defending national champion the University of Lynchburg Hornets beginning Friday, May 24. Game times and location are to be determined.
"Getting back to a Super Regional is really gratifying. I'm proud of this team. They worked extremely hard like most of our teams do and they made plays to get there. I'm really proud of them and hopefully we can keep it going in the supers," added Winterburn.
