CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Eastern Connecticut State ended LaGrange's run at DIII World Series with an 8-1 win over the Panthers on Monday at Perfect Game Field in Veterans Memorial Stadium.
The loss takes nothing away from the remarkable season by the Panthers (44-9). They overcame the loss of teammates Stephen Bartolotta and Jacob Brown by advancing further in the postseason than any other team in the program's history.
Over the last four weeks, the Panthers have won a fifth straight USA South Tournament championship, then set program firsts by winning an NCAA regional, a NCAA Super Regional, and reaching the Division III World Series.
"Today, we just could not quite get going. Give Eastern Connecticut all the props in the world," said Coach David Kelton. "Their pitching staff is really good, and they neutralized us. Our guys competed extremely hard; it just wasn't our day."
Kelton spoke of the future of the program with a good corps group returning.
"This is the standard for us, this group was the first to bust through the regionals, a super regional, and here to the DIII World Series. We talk about it all the time, wanting to compete for a national championship. I have no doubt we will be back."
Senior pitcher Tanner Chafin spoke about the season.
"The team came together when we could have laid down earlier after the conference tournament, but we came together as a family," said Chafin. "We decided we wanted to do for them (Bartolotta and Brown) is what it came down for us."
The game marked the final one for the seniors: Chafin, Cael Chatham, Dustin Doscher, McKinley Erves, Corey Farrow, Cal Fuller, Rhett Hebert, Jack Layrisson, and Michael Menhart. The group had four USA South championships, four NCAA regionals, the Super Regional, the Division III World Series and 142 wins during their LC careers.
The following are individual and team records set by the 2022 LaGrange baseball team:
LC season records:
At-bats: 247 (record 221, set by David Wilson, 1984)
Hits 109: (previous record was 86, set by Danny Little, 1988)
Doubles: 22 (record 22, last set by Casey Bell, 2017)
RBIs: 83 (previous record 64, set by Matt Lee, 2000)
USA South season records:
Hits: 109, (previous, 94 set by Matt McCay, N.C. Wesleyan, 1998)
RBIs: 83 (previous, 80 set by Dan Hartline, Methodist, 1987)
NCAA Division III season records:
Hits:109 (record 103, set by Sean Risly, Marietta, (63 games, 1986)
LC season records:
Runs scored: 91 (previous record 73, set by Michael Sims, 2008)
Walks: 51 (previous record 47, set by Stevie Cottrell, 2000)
NCAA Division III season records:
Runs scored: 91 (record 89, last set by Ryan McCarty, Penn State-Abington, 2022)
Jack Layrisson:
Layrisson is the NCAA Division III career leader in sacrifice flies with 26. Layrisson leads the team and the USA South and is third in NCAA Division III with 10 this season.
LC season records
Wins: 11 (ties record set by Titus Martin in 2003)
Innings Pitched: 97-2/3 (previos record 97-1/3 set by Joey Merrifield in 2006)
Team:
LC season records:
Wins: 44 (record 40, 2017)
At-bats: 1912 (53 games) (record 1754, 1986, 55 games)
Runs Scored: 534 (53 games) (previous record 454, 2001, 48 games)
Hits: 672 (53 games) (previous record 593, 2008, 44 games)
Doubles: 134 (53 games) (record 125, 2003, 46 games)
RBIs- 480 (previous record 392, 2008, 44 games)
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