North Greenville rides historic season to program’s first trip to DII world series
North Greenville University has advanced to the NCAA Division II baseball championship for the first time in program history.
The Crusaders punched their ticket to the eight-team DII finals in Cary, North Carolina by beating Columbus State in an elimination game of the super regionals Saturday.
After winning game one Friday in the best-of-three series thanks to a walk-off single from Bryce Roddey, North Greenville dropped game two when Columbus State got a walk-off win of its own. Despite the setback, NGU started off hot in game three and never looked back.
Pat Moneith and Gherig Octavio played big roles in game three, helping the Crusaders get out to a 6-0 lead after the first inning with a three-run homer and a two-RBI single, respectively. North Greenville scored 10 runs in the first five innings and beat Columbus State 13-3.
“Our guys have been resilient every second this entire season,” North Greenville head coach Landon Powell told WYFF News 4 in Greenville. “For them to come back out and do what they did that last game, score six in the first and win by 10 runs. It’s just an incredible group of guys.”
The Crusaders’ run to the DII world series comes in the eighth — and arguably the best — year of Powell’s tenure in Tigerville.
Powell is a University of South Carolina athletics hall of famer and is considered the Gamecock baseball program’s best catcher in team history. This season, he led North Greenville to its fifth NCAA DII tournament appearance as well as a program-best 50th win.
As a team, the Crusaders were ranked in the top 10 nationally in eight statistical categories, including ERA and hits.
North Greenville had individual players lead the Conference Carolinas in five different offensive categories. Redshirt junior catcher John Michael Faile accounted for two of those, leading the conference in batting average (.424) and slugging percentage (.746).
On the mound, junior Noah Takac led the way for the Crusaders. The Davidson transfer led the conference in several categories, including ERA (1.72) and opposing batting average (.150).
“They’re great baseball players, but they’re great human beings on top of that,” Powell told WYFF. “They’re not scared to compete, they love each other, and they’ll fight every second of the way for what they want and what they love and I’m proud of that.”
North Greenville was awarded the No. 1 seed for the World Series and will turn its attention to a first-round matchup Sunday with the No. 8 seeded West Chester Golden Rams.
Division II baseball championship game schedule
The tournament will be played at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina
- Saturday, June 4, 1:30 p.m.: No. 3 Southern Arkansas vs. No. 6 Rollins
- Saturday, June 4, 6 p.m.: No. 2 Point Loma vs. No. 7 Illinois Springfield
- Sunday, June 5, 1:30 p.m.: No. 4 Southern New Hampshire vs. No. 5 Angelo State
- Sunday, June 5, 6 p.m.: No. 1 North Greenville vs. No. 8 West Chester
- June 6-11: TBD
This story was originally published May 31, 2022 at 2:23 PM.