With all the injuries that the University of Tampa pitchers dealt with this season, the players probably didn’t expect the national championship game to be won by a starter’s complete game. But that’s exactly what happened Saturday, May 30, thanks to Michael Calkins. And now four Durant High alumni can now show off some new hardware the next time they’re in town.
“You couldn’t ask for a more perfect way to end your senior season, as national champion,” senior Brett Jones says.
Jones, who graduated from Durant in 2011, was the one who put the final nail in Catawba’s coffin in the championship game. After Catawba took a 1-0 lead in the third inning, Calkins was lights-out on the mound, and in the fourth inning, Tampa got on the board when Stephen Dezzi and Cody deNoyelles were driven in by Nick Tindall’s RBI single. In the seventh inning, Jones hit a one-out single and scored on Casey Scoggins’ RBI single one out later.
“It was definitely exciting,” Jones says. “I wasn’t starting at the beginning of the year. … I went from a substitution guy to a starter, and to win a national championship this year was a really good feeling.”
The championship capped off a perfect 8-0 run through the postseason for the Spartans, who are looking at this season as a testament to hard work.
Earlier in the season, Tampa lost five of its pitchers to injury. Among those injured was junior starter Trey Oest, another former Cougar, who hurt his shoulder. The Spartans also lost starter David Hines, and three bullpen arms. But the rest of the pitching staff took it as an opportunity to show what it was capable of and why Tampa is a force to be reckoned with on the diamond.
“Our pitching wasn’t as strong as we wanted throughout the year, but when it mattered most they came up big,” Paxton Sims says.
Looking at the season stats, it would be tough to guess at first glance that the Spartans were banged up. The team finished with a 43-13 record and ended on a 10-game win streak. Also notable was the team’s 6-2 win over Major League Baseball’s Philadelphia Phillies in a March 1 spring training exhibition game.
Of course, such success isn’t possible without strong team chemistry. So when Jones, Oest and senior Dylan Barrow all arrived at UT after playing for other schools, the familiarity they had with each other helped everyone get more comfortable playing with each other.
“We already knew each other, so we gelled right away,” Jones says. “Other guys on the team, understanding we’re from Durant, they picked up on it. It helped bring the team together in a big way and build that chemistry. Knowing that you have each other’s backs is big for the postseason.”
Jones came from Polk State College, which won the NCJAA JUCO World Series while he was there in 2012. Oest came from the University of Virginia and Barrow came from Santa Fe College. Sims, a freshman, is the only one of the group to have come to Tampa straight out of high school.
Sims says that his playing days at Durant, which included a trip to the state championship series, helped him transition to life in a big-time collegiate program.
“There are a few Durant guys on the team, so UT knows it’s a big program,” Sims says. “It’s definitely better to come from a top high school when you go to a situation like this.”
Oest and Sims will be the last Durant players left from this championship roster, going into next season. Should any more Cougars find their way onto the team, it sounds as though they’ll have plenty of support right out of the gate.
“I got to know all the guys pretty well, but a core group of guys you can go to with questions does make it easier,” Sims says.
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.
WINNING WAYS
Since the 1990s, the University of Tampa has been nothing short of a baseball powerhouse. The school can claim that it’s won championships in each of the past three decades, and it’s not outrageous to think that the team could keep its winning ways alive in the near future.
Championships: 2015, 2013, 2007, 2006, 1998, 1993, 1992.