The Towson Tigers were only the fourth seed heading into the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament. Underdogs throughout, the Tigers faced the heavily favored William & Mary Tribe on Saturday afternoon in Harrisonburg, Va. for the conference championship.
The Tigers turned to senior right-handed pitcher Mike Volpe, who scattered seven hits over nine innings in a 5-2 victory that earned Towson its first ever CAA Title. With the win, the Tigers move onto the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1991.
“We never had any intention of relieving Mike Volpe,” said Towson Coach Mike Gottlieb. “We were going to stick with him as long as we could. For him to throw a complete game on two days’ rest was very impressive. It was one of the most courageous efforts I’ve ever seen.”
Volpe, who pitched the first complete game of his career, improved his record to 9-3 on the season. In two CAA Tournament games, he posted a 2-0 record with a 3.94 E.R.A. In 16 innings of work, he struck out 17 batters and walked only three.
“Fatigue was not a factor for me at all,” Volpe added. “After the first inning, I took something off my fast ball and tried not to do too much. After I walked a guy in the ninth inning, the defense turned another double play and that wrapped it up for us.”
The Tigers will compete in the Chapel Hill Regional this weekend against the NCAA Tournament’s top seed University of North Carolina, along with Canisius and Florida Atlantic. Towson’s first game is Friday afternoon against the Sun Belt Conference champions Florida Atlantic.
TowsonTigers.com contributed to this article.
