Chumita honored, Scots’ thrill ride comes to end
College of Wooster baseball player Tyler Chumita, right, was this year’s North Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Year. Chumita, a senior shortstop, set a single-season school record with 84 RBI.
Another top offensive season in program history was turned in by The College of Wooster’s Tyler Chumita, who is this year’s North Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Year, which was announced late last month.
Senior center fielder Ben Gbur, senior designated hitter Alex Gasper, sophomore utility ace Eli Westrick and senior right fielder Ben Hines joined the Fighting Scots’ senior shortstop on the All-NCAC team for the 2022 season. Chumita and Gbur were repeat first-team selections, Gasper and Westrick debuted on the all-conference team as second-team picks, and Hines earned honorable mention.
Chumita was been a run-producing machine for the Scots, surpassing three-time American Baseball Coaches Association All-American and W Association Hall of Famer Rick Sforzo’s 1986 single-season RBI record.
The education and mathematics major, who had the fifth-highest single-season average in program history (.465, 59-for-127) a season ago, batted .372 with 7 homers. His selection marks the league-leading 18th NCAC Player of the Year honor to go to a Wooster player and the first since three-time All-American Jamie Lackner in 2017.
In his final game as a Scot, the 18-16 loss at Salisbury in the Super Regional title game May 30, Chumita’s three RBI on the day upped his single-season program record to 84, a total tied for the 11th-most in single-season NCAA Div. III history.
Gbur earned All-NCAC honors for the second time. The mathematics major led the NCAC in hits and total bases, and batted .367 with 15 home runs, 54 RBI and 24 stolen bases on the year.
He also finished the year with 83 runs, a North Coast Athletic Conference and Wooster single-season record, and the total is tied for the sixth-most in single-season NCAA Div. III history. Gbur’s 226 at bats broke the program’s single-season record, and his 83 hits are the fourth-most in program history.
Gasper hit .280 this spring, clubbing six homers, while Westrick split time as Wooster’s No. 2 starting pitcher, starting second baseman and starting designated hitter this spring. Westrick batted .373 with 3 homers and 43 RBI, and on the mound went 5-1 with two saves and a team-leading 3.68 ERA. The right-hander worked 51 1/3 innings and allowed just 25 runs.
Hines, Wooster’s other two-time All-NCAC performer, hit .328 with 8 homers and 41 RBI and also swiped 31 bases, third in program history for a season.
The Scots’ thrilling postseason run ended on May 30, as seventh-ranked Salisbury University — the defending national champion — took a wild winner-take-all slugfest 18-16 to win the Salisbury Super Regional. Earlier in the day, Wooster survived with a 6-4 win over Salisbury to force the if-necessary game, but it was the Sea Gulls (36-10) advancing to the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship, which began in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on June 3.
Gbur, Westrick, Dean Brown, Dominic Stilliana, and Michael Thomas were Wooster’s All-Salisbury Super Regional Tournament Team selections.
Prior to dropping the finale, Wooster warded off elimination five times on its NCAA run. Prior to the win over Salisbury, the Scots ran the table after dropping the Alton Regional opener with four consecutive victories.
Under third-year head coach Barry Craddock, Wooster finished the season at 35-17.