Tampa Spartans baseball coach Joe Urso earns career win No. 1,000
TAMPA — For a milestone nearly a quarter-century in the making, the celebration was subdued. Then again, the University of Tampa baseball team reserves its greatest jubilation for national championships.
Yet in their relentless quest for title No. 9, the top-ranked Spartans at least paused momentarily Friday to honor the 1,000th career win of coach Joe Urso.
The triumph came on a warm, windy evening on Day 2 of the NCAA Division II South Regional at UT Baseball Stadium. Behind a lineup teeming with locally produced players, the Spartans handed Urso his latest notable triumph with a 13-1 romp of Lee University.
A second baseman on UT’s 1992 national title team, Urso, 53, now possesses a career mark of 1,000-286-1 with five national titles as a coach at his alma mater.
“It’s real special. I mean, it’s everything,” Urso said before pausing several seconds to compose himself.
“You make goals for yourself that sometimes are pretty big, and my expectations here were unbelievably big. And we’re still not where I want to be, because I want to be No. 1 with those (national title) rings, and Florida Southern still has one more than us. But to know (pitching coach) Sam (Militello) and I did this together, pretty special.”
A former Yankees pitcher and Little League rival of Urso when both were 12, Militello has remained the Spartans’ other constant during Urso’s staggering run, which began in 2001. The two immediately embraced upon the conclusion of Friday’s game.
“He knows his personnel as far as his team, and he just knows how to put them in the right positions to have success, and you constantly see it just with little moves here and there,” Militello said. “But probably even above that is that he creates a family atmosphere here like no other, and these guys buy into that, and they actually become a family.”
On Friday, Urso and Militello watched right-handed junior Alex Canney — a Durant High alumnus — deliver the first nine-inning complete game of his life on only 99 pitches. Canney scattered four hits, struck out 10 and walked none.
Providing a bulk of the offensive support was senior E.J. Cumbo, who became the Division II career hits leader earlier this season. Cumbo finished 3-for-5 with a pair of two-run home runs and six total RBIs.
“I tried to put (Urso’s milestone) in the back of my head, just because I didn’t need any extra added pressure per se,” Canney said.
“But yeah, that feels really good that this is the game that kind of really messed us up the past two years; we’ve just automatically lost Game 2 (of the regional), and it really puts you in a hole. So that whole goal to come out here was just really try to give us a chance, try to go deep and save as many arms as possible for (Saturday).”
A Plant High alumnus, Urso becomes only the third local coach believed to have reached 1,000 career wins at the same school, joining Spartans volleyball coach Chris Catanach (1,201 wins, 40 seasons) and USF softball coach Ken Eriksen (1,117 wins, 28 seasons).
Contact Joey Knight at jknight@tampabay.com. Follow @TBTimes_Bulls
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