CARY, N.C. – History was made at the USA Baseball National Training Complex on Saturday in Cary, N.C., as the University of West Florida baseball team won its first-ever national championship in a 12-2 win over Winona State. The Argonauts surged ahead with four runs in the first and ran away with the win to claim the trophy. The national championship is the first baseball title in school history and the sixth across all sports at UWF.
Senior Daniel Vargas-Vila (Jacksonville, Fla./Wallace State CC-Dothan) (16-1) won his 16th game of the year and allowed just two runs in eight innings. The right-hander earned Most Outstanding Player honors for the tournament, earning two wins and allowing just two runs in 16 innings. Vargas-Vila was relieved by senior closer Shane Waller (Bryceville, Fla./Northwest Florida State), who struck out the side in the ninth and clinched UWF’s first-ever baseball national championship.
Winona State starter Kodey Simon (8-3) received the loss, allowing seven runs, three earned, in four innings. The Argonauts rallied for five more runs off four Warrior pitchers over the final five innings.
West Florida wasted no time, scoring four runs in the first inning on three consecutive RBI base hits by Josh Huggins (Bay Minette, Ala./Faulkner State CC), Leo Lamarche (Miami, Fla./Wallace State CC-Dothan), and Zach Taylor (Vindiver, Ala./Wallace State CC-Hanceville).
The Argos continued their offensive attack, plating three runs in the fourth on RBI base hits by Taye Larry (Panama City, Fla./Wallace State CC-Dothan), Brandon Brewer (Apopka, Fla./Apopka HS), and Huggins to take a 7-0 lead. UWF then plated a run in both the fifth and sixth innings on RBI singles by Brewer and Taylor, taking a comfortable 9-0 lead.
The Argos continued to add to their lead with two more runs in the seventh inning on a two-RBI double off the left center field wall by Dustin Lawley (Bessemer, Ala./Wallace State CC-Hanceville), taking the lead to double digits at 11-0.
Vargas-Vila had a shutout entering the eighth, but Winona State rallied for two runs to get on the scoreboard for the first time.
Along with Vargas-Vila, UWF had three other players earn spots on the all-tournament team: third baseman Josh Huggins and outfielders Taye Larry and Greg Pron.
With Saturday’s win, the Argonauts finished their historic season with a school record 52 wins and just nine losses. In a season of firsts, the most significant one was the program’s first national championship. For information on all UWF Athletics, visit www.GoArgos.com.
#ARGOS#
POST-GAME QUOTES:
“It's an amazing moment and a great moment for West Florida baseball, the University of West Florida and the Pensacola community. As a coach, you work hard and you wonder as you're out there in the hot sun, doing field work and doing individual work with the guys if anyone is ever going to see the fruits of your hard work. There are so many great teams across the country working hard, too. It's special. Words can't describe it.”
West Florida head coach Mike Jeffcoat
“When you get four runs in the first inning, you go out there and just pitch to contact - throw strikes, not try to strike everyone out. Our hitters did what they've done all year, just try to put the ball in play and let the ball do the work. Our defense was amazing again today. An outstanding performance by our infield and outfield. It's just a great job all around.”
West Florida pitcher and Co-Most Outstanding Player Daniel Vargas-Vila
“It's exciting. Words really can't describe how great this feels. We've worked for it all year. Jumping out to a big lead like that was huge. We were excited throughout the whole game, but still trying to stay focused, stay in the moment, not lose ourselves. It's just a great feeling.”
West Florida left fielder Taye Larry
“When we got near the end there, everyone could feel it building. We were just waiting for that last out to be made. When we had the big lead and a couple of outs left, you could just feel your hair standing on end, waiting for the last out to be made.”
West Florida right fielder Greg Pron
“That's a pretty good team and we knew that coming in. I don't think we played that bad. We just couldn't find the holes. I can see why they were ranked in the top five all year long.”
Winona State head coach Kyle Poock
“First two guys got hits and I thought, ‘Okay, we'll be all right.’ Then we hit a couple of balls hard early in the game right at them. They hit some balls that found holes and rolled through the infield. That's baseball. What are you going to do.”
Winona State head coach Kyle Poock
“Our goal since we came in was to make it to the College World Series. We knew we had a team that could do it. We won the regional. We knew anything could happen once we got here. We beat a couple of teams that I don't think people gave us much of a chance to beat and that was probably the same thing today. West Florida just came out on top. It's been the best experience in my life playing baseball.”
Winona State centerfielder/pitcher and Co-Most Outstanding Player Tony Meuller
“We wanted to get here - it was our goal all year. We beat some pretty good teams here. We just came up a bit short today.
Winona State pitcher Kodey Simon
NCAA Division II Championships All-Tournament Team:
Daniel Vargas-Vila, West Florida
Tony Mueller, Winona State
Kyle Sill, Winona State
Daniel Coffey, Mount Olive
T.K. Kiernan, Southern Connecticut State
Alex Todd, Sonoma State
Josh Huggins, West Florida
Greg Pron, West Florida
Taye Larry, West Florida
Bryan Dorsey, Southern Connecticut State
Cody Strang, Winona State
Co-Most Outstanding Players
Tony Mueller, Winona State
Daniel Vargas-Vila, West Florida
