By Rob Potter
SULLIVAN COUNTY — June 4, 2002 – Former Livingston Manor baseball standout Adam Larson played very well at the recent NCAA Division III College World Series.
He led the Christopher Newport University (Virginia) Captains with a .471 batting average at the five-day series, which was held in Appleton, Wisconsin.
Unfortunately, though, Larson and his CNU teammates fell short of their ultimate goal of winning the national championship.
CNU won its first two games of the series. The Captains defeated Carthage (Wisconsin) College 12-4 on May 24 and beat Lakeland (Wisconsin) University 10-1 on May 26.
Larson and his teammates were defeated by Marietta (Ohio) College 6-5 later that day, however.
After rallying to defeat Eastern Connecticut State University by a 6-5 margin on May 27, CNU fell to Marietta, 9-6 the next day. That was the final game for Larson and his CNU teammates in the double-elimination tourney.
CNU finished third, while Eastern Connecticut State defeated Marietta to win the national championship. However, CNU was the only team to defeat Eastern Connecticut in the series.
In addition to his outstanding batting average, Larson led the team in stolen bases (three) and sacrifices (four) in the CWS. He also hit four doubles, scored six runs and knocked in four runs.
In the field, Larson had a perfect fielding percentage of 1.000. He recorded 14 assists and helped turn four double plays.
“Adam’s switch-hitting impressed the (opposing) coaches and caused problems for their pitchers,” said Adam’s father Al, who traveled with his wife, Sonia, to watch their son play in the CWS.
Adam was 6-for-15 hitting left-handed and 2-for-2 hitting right-handed in the series.
“He had the best series of his college career,” Al Larson said of his son. “It was a whale of a way to end his baseball career.”
Still, Adam told his father of one way it could have been better.
“Personally, he had a great series, but he said he would gladly trade it for a College World Series Championship,” Al Larson said.