Four in a row. The Winston-Salem State baseball team defeated Virginia State 9-5 on April 19 to win the program’s fourth straight CIAA championship.
Head Coach Kevin Ritsche has been the man in charge since the program was brought back to WSSU in 2010. In four seasons as coach, he’s won four conference titles and including the one he won this year, three CIAA Coach of the Year awards.
“Anytime you do something over and over again [win the CIAA championship], it’s tough no matter who you’re playing or what team you have,” he said.
“It’s always a challenge to repeat in any sport. I think it’s really good for the program. We should win; we’re expected to win every year, and so far we’ve done that.”
The Rams (33-14, 16-4 CIAA) [as of April 22] had several players receive regular season and CIAA tournament honors.
Senior second baseman Rafael Gonzalez and junior outfielders Ray Crawford and Leland Clemmons were named to the All-CIAA First Team. Senior pitcher Scott Wells, junior pitcher Wes Helsabeck, junior catcher Connor Andrus and senior utility player Anthony Nutall made the All-CIAA Second Team. Freshman outfielder Gavin Culler was an All-Rookie Team selection.
Crawford, Wells, Andrus, sophomore pitcher/first baseman Devin McLemore and sophomore designated hitter Alex Grubb all earned spots on the CIAA All-Tournament team.
The Rams’ season is still far from over, with three more non-conference games left on their regular-season schedule before the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional Tournament in May.
Crawford, in his first season at WSSU after previously playing at UNCG, won the CIAA Player of the Year and Tournament MVP awards. He is hitting .382 with 5 homeruns and 59 RBIs [as of April 22] and is excited about the rest of the season.
“It’s a good feeling to win the CIAA championship, but we’re not done,” he said.
“We’re ready to go for the regional tournament. We all have to play as one unit, one link. I feel like we can play with anybody in the country. If we come to play, we can beat anybody.”
In 2013, WSSU was given a No. 2 seed in the regional tournament but lost in the second round to fourth-seeded Shippenburg 7-4. The Rams are still waiting to see what seed and matchup they will be given for this year’s tournament.
Grubb, a transfer from NC A&T, is also in his first season with the program. He, like Crawford, is confident in his team.
“We kind of struggled hitting the ball early on, but now we’re starting to score runs to support our pitching, which has been strong all year. Everybody’s contributing. We’ve already had success this year, but we’re all going to have to step up even more if we’re going to finish like we want to,” Grubb said.
Ritsche said his team will take a different approach to the regional tournament than it did during the regular season and conference tournament.
“I always said that this was going to be the hardest year for us to win the conference tournament, but that we’d have the best chance to win the regional,” he said.
“The reason I say that is because we have a target on our back when it comes to conference. Everybody’s out to beat us. Because of that, we have added pressure, and our players mentally have to overcome the fact that they’re the ones playing not to lose.”
Despite the Rams losing seven seniors from last year’s team, Ritsche feels that this year’s team has the talent and depth it takes to win the regional tournament.
“This year’s team is young, but we definitely have what it takes to make a run,” he said.
“Pitching and defense are the keys to winning at the regional level, and we have both of those things. If we can get hot offensively and stay hot, we’ll have as good a chance as anybody