The 'Cats do the dogpile in Appleton. Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com More photos from this game Postgame dogpile video

By Ryan Smith
for D3sports.com

Linfield won its first NCAA Division III College World Series title behind another gem from Chris Haddeland as the Wildcats defeated Southern Maine 4-1 Tuesday at Fox Cities Stadium for the 2013 Division III baseball national title.

• D3baseball.com scoreboard
• Final 2013 Top 25
• D3baseball.com All-Tournament team
• Video: Postgame dogpile
• d3photography.com photo galleries
• Watch Chris Haddeland interview
• Watch Linfield news conference
• Watch Southern Maine news conference
• Video: Day 5 World Series wrapup
• Timelapse: Ground crew preps for title game
• Championship Record Book

Haddeland, the D3baseball.com Pitcher of the Year, threw a complete game, allowing just one run on eight hits while striking out five Huskies. The sophomore finished the tournament allowing three runs in 17 innings and earning two wins and a save.

Linfield junior first baseman Clayton Truex said that the whole team gets a boost when Haddeland is pitching, and it takes the pressure off of the offense.

“When you know a guy is going to go up there and shut teams down inning after inning after inning ... it gives you so much confidence,” Truex said. “You are able to relax at the plate and do what you practice and what you are trained to do.”

Southern Maine was coming off a 13-inning thriller with Ithaca in an elimination game earlier Tuesday afternoon.

The Huskies showed no signs of fatigue when they came up in the top of the first as Sam Dexter led the game off with a double, followed by a John Carey single. A wild pitch from Haddeland allowed Dexter to score and give Southern Maine an early 1-0 lead.

Haddeland settled down after the first, not giving up another run and only allowing one Southern Maine runner to get past second base.

“I left a couple fastballs up right at the beginning,” Haddeland said. “The first hit, the double, was a fastball up. I just needed to focus on getting the ball down, executing my pitches and just doing all the fundamental things.”

Andrew Richards, who tossed 12 innings and picked up the win in the first game of the day, got the start for the Huskies less than an hour after he recorded the final out against Ithaca.

The first inning got off to a shaky start for Richards, who hit Corey VanDomelen and Nick Fisher in back-to-back at-bats but was able to get out of the inning unscathed.

Richards finally came out of the game in the fourth after surrendering three runs and recording only one out. The sophomore set the record for a tournament with 24.2 innings pitched and the record for appearances in a tournament with five.

Fisher led off the fourth inning with a double and scored on a Truex single into center, tying the game at 1-1. Kyle Chamberlain laid a bunt down the third-base line, scoring Kramer Lindell after miscommunication between Richards and third baseman Nick Grady while attempting to field the ball. Richards hit Michael Hopp with the bases jammed to bring home a third Linfield run.

Logan Carman came on to relieve Richards and it looked as if he would get out of the inning quickly. Tim Wilson knocked a quick chopper back at Carman who tossed it home for the out at the plate but catcher Matt Verrier sent the throw to first over Carey’s head and Kyle Chamberlain came around to score and give Linfield a 4-1 lead and would be the final run of the game.

Carman, the Huskies’ ace, was injured in the New England regional when he was hit with a line drive. He started the first meeting with Linfield but was bounced early after surrendering five runs in two-thirds of an inning. Carman threw 4.2 scoreless innings of relief on Tuesday. 

Southern Maine, who won national championships in 1991 and 1997, set a school record with 46 victories in 2013.

“To play on a team like this, it is the best team I have ever played for,” senior third baseman Nick Grady said. “This is the funnest team I have ever played for and every guy is going to be one of my best friends in the future. I’m glad I got to play for this team.”

Huskies coach Ed Flaherty said that he was proud of his team but acknowledged that only one team could come out on top.

“There can only be one winner,” Flaherty said. “I thought my team fought as hard as they possibly could and left everything out in the field.”

Linfield coach Scott Brosius knows the pressure of playing in big games having won three World Series titles with the New York Yankees. Brosius said that winning the national championship has been the goal for the Wildcats all season and now that they have won it, it is something they will never forget.

“Everybody talks about winning as an ideal,” Brosius said. “But as an actual, tangible reality, is it something you see yourself doing? Is it something that you can put yourself there and make that happen? We talk in those terms. There are people who have been in this game a long, long time that never get this opportunity, that never get this chance to sit here. This is special.”

Linfield postgame news conference

Southern Maine postgame news conference