2015 baseball playoff coverage

2015 Division III baseball Championship Series Cortland vs. UW-La Crosse: How it went down, the final analysis on each team, game stories, photos and more from the first Division III baseball Championship Series.

It's lucky 13 for Cortland: 13 trips, one title The elusive national championship trophy will finally come to Cortland State. The Red Dragons came back from a one-run deficit with a 6-2 win over the Eagles of UW-La Crosse.

Championship reflections An hour later the stadium is quiet in contrast to the bedlam that erupted when, in Cortland's 13th appearance of the D-III World Series, the Red Dragons captured their first baseball championship. Jim Dixon reflects on a long championship.

Cortland celebrates finally winning one Perhaps it was the decision to take the bus rather than fly to Appleton. Perhaps the late coach Bob Wallace looked kindly on his former program. Or perhaps this senior class and team just had everything break right. Whatever the reason, the Red Dragons ended their long runner-up streak. A feature by Austin Walther.

D3baseball.com All-Tournament team Every year, the D3baseball.com writers and editors in attendance in Appleton watch all the games and we're making notes throughout. Who's the best player at each position? Here's our take. This is our All-Tournament team.

Game 1: Cortland gets upper hand The Red Dragons took a 1-0 lead in the Championship Series, slamming the door on UW-La Crosse after the Eagles opened it a crack in the late innings.

Cortland freshmen catching on quickly After graduating three senior catchers from a World Series team, the catcher position could have been a weakness for Cortland. Instead, the three freshmen behind the plate have done more than hold their own for the Red Dragons. A feature by Austin Walthers.

Eagles bounce back with win Not even the rain could stop UW-La Crosse on Tuesday as the Eagles rediscovered their offensive stroke in a 10-7 win over Trinity (Texas) to earn a date with Cortland in the best-of-three Championship Series.

Cortland rally sends Red Dragons to Championship Series Cortland exploded for 11 runs in the fifth inning and cruised the rest of the way for an 17-4 win and a berth in the first-ever Championship Series.

Frostburg advances, Ramapo goes home After a delay of 25 hours, Ramapo and Frostburg finally got on the field. Frostburg led of the second with a home run and never looked back in a 5-2 win, advancing to face Cortland State in the Pool A championship game

Trinity silences Emory bats With the wind blowing out, Zack Speer pitched a gem for Trinity (Texas) and the Tigers got production from all parts of the lineup in defeating Emory 10-1 in an elimination game on Monday afternoon.

Trinity forces La Crosse to second game The Tigers' bats remained hot, holding off elimination and forcing a second game with the Eagles on Tuesday morning. Cortland State awaits the winner.

State of the game: Where is this tournament headed? We took advantage of a quiet day in Appleton to grab a half-hour of time with Ben Shipp, the chair of the Division III baseball committee. Find out his take about the rain, the tournament format, and whether we might see super regionals sometime soon.

Sadowske, La Crosse outduel Emory in classic nightcap UW-La Crosse closer Jameson Sadowske threw six scoreless innings of relief and his teammates scratched out a run in the 12th to make him the winner and put the Eagles in the final of the bottom bracket.

Ramapo's bats come alive after Berger's blast Brandon Berger hit a three-run shot as part of a four-run second inning and Ramapo went on to cruise to a 14-2 win vs. Webster in Saturday's first elimination game.

Tigers stay alive behind clutch pitching performance Matt Tindall kept his college career and the Tigers’ season alive as he led Trinity (Texas) to a 9-1 victory in Saturday’s second elimination game at the 2015 Division III World Series in Appleton, Wis.

Cortland goes 2-0 in World Series for first time After trying and failing a dozen times, Cortland State is finally 2-0 in the D-III World Series with a 4-1 win over Frostburg State. Cortland advances to the Pool A championship game to face either Ramapo or Frostburg

Freimuth makes an impact at Frostburg When Clayton Freimuth was looking for a place to finally get a chance to pitch again, he found Frostburg State University. And when the program gave him a chance, he rewarded them by pitching like an All-American.

Cejka, bottom of the order come up big for UWL Eagles starter Ben Cejka struck out seven in a nine-batter span and cruised through seven innings, while Joel Zyhowski and the bottom of the UW-La Crosse order provided the offense in a 7-3 win vs. Salisbury in Game 4.

Frostburg survives early mistakes to advance Frostburg figured out the Ramapo offense and survived first game jitters for a 3-1 win in the NCAA D-III World Series. Zach Keeler lined a two-run two-out single to center for the winning margin.

Emory wins first ever opener Emory was 0-4 in their previous D-III World Series opener and got off the schneid with a 9-7 win over Trinity (Texas). Jackson Weeg was effective and Ben Vizvary got the big hit in the win.

Lamando pitches Cortland to win Seth Lamando ties a career high in strikeouts and the Cortland offense supplied eleven runs as Cortland defeats Webster 12-3 and will face Frostburg State in game six of the D-III World Series.

Coaches split on value of experience It will be a mix of veterans and rookies as the D-III World Series games get underway on Friday, but on Thursday everyone is without a loss and spent the day getting ready for the challenges to come.

D3baseball.com World Series preview Who is the favorite? Who is most likely to disappoint? Who are the dark horse and Cinderella teams in the 2015 Division III World Series? Get Jim Dixon's take.

UW-La Crosse: From chopping block to World Series In 2009, the UW-La Crosse program was nearly eliminated. But public support allowed the program to continue, and this season the Eagles have landed in the Division III World Series. We spoke with Eagles coach Chris Schwarz following the Midwest Regional final.

Final day: Webster tops Carthage; UWL wins twice Webster erupted for a five-spot in the fourth and made it stand up to beat Carthage and win the Central Regional, while UW-La Crosse scored four in the seventh and one in the ninth to force a second game, then rolled past Coe for the Midwest Regional win.

Cortland, Emory, Salisbury return; newcomers move on On the day in which UWW's title defense ended, Emory became the first team to secure its trip to Wisconsin, while Cortland State and Salisbury will return from the 2014 Appleton field as well. Trinity (Texas) finally got past Linfield to clinch its first trip, while Ramapo outlasted MIT.

Keystone, Johns Hopkins offense clicking on third day Johns Hopkins and Keystone offenses came out clicking as both teams moved their regionals final four teams with large victory margins. Here's the Day 3 roundup.

Kean and Emory score big wins on Day two Kean and Emory roared back with wins with Cinderella Oberlin not ready to leave the ball. In Iowa, rain washed out the Thursday schedule while the Tyler regional is set to be back on schedule after their rainouts on Wednesday. Here's the Day 2 roundup.

Berks takes down Kean; Ripon slams UWW Two top seeds will be thrown into their respective regionals' losers brackets by the end of the afternoon, as Penn State-Berks outlasted Kean 5-4 and Ripon pounded the defending national champs' pitching staff in a 15-7 win. Here's the early Day 1 roundup.

2015 Waterloo Regional preview We are looking at a slugfest to decide the Central champion. Welcome to a wide-open regional, where just about everyone can mash the ball and there's a good chance for an underdog to stick around for a few days.

2015 York Regional preview With Alvernia, Johns Hopkins, Kean and Salisbury in this regional, could the glass slipper fit anyone?

2015 Washington Regional preview Frostburg State brings an immaculate defense and tremendous pitching numbers into the regional. Can anyone keep the Bobcats from Appleton?

2015 La Crosse Regional preview Top-seeded and defending national champion UW-Whitewater headlines this regional, but several quality teams have the opportunity to emerge and make their way to the 2015 World Series.

2015 Harwich Regional preview Southern Maine is trying to make it three in a row, but some hot bats wielded by Engineers, or some speedy Roadrunners or determined Cardinals could waylay the Huskies.

2015 Auburn Regional preview Representatives of half of the regions in Division III baseball will make an appearance in Falcons Park this week. Will anyone be able to tame the dragon?

2015 Demorest Regional preview The South Region has had its off years recently in Division III baseball. We don't think this is one of them, and since the perennial playoff contenders are the lower-seeded teams in this regional, all bets are off.

2015 Tyler Regional preview Threes are either lucky, wild or both this year in the West Region, it seems. Will we see another low-scoring regional with tight games?

2015 Playoff Central More than 7,500 games were played this season to determine the playoff participants. Here's how that all shook out in 2015.

Red Men win improbable championship Nobody saw this coming in February, but Carthage is going to the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship after the Red Men won the CCIW Tournament with a 12-2 decision over Illinois Wesleyan.

Mariners survive three elimination games for title Mitchell won three elimination games on Sunday to capture the 2015 NECC l Championship. The top-seeded Mariners beat Elms twice to claim the conference crown, winning by final scores of 9-0 and 9-3.

Penn College perfect in NEAC title run Penn College won the 2015 NEAC Championship after defeating Penn State Berks 9-7 Sunday. The win left the Wildcats a perfect 3-0 through the three-day, double-elimination tournament.

Penn State Berks gets consolation prize PS Berks fell in the NEAC title game to Penn College but receives the conference automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs as Penn College is still in provisional status.

St. John's is back into the playoffs with MIAC title St. John's was on its game for the second day in a row as it won its second MIAC baseball playoff crown. SJU never trailed on the day in 9-6 and 5-1 wins over St. Thomas.

Pointers comeback with WIAC win Third-seeded UW-Stevens Point overcame an early 5-0 deficit to win its 11th WIAC tournament title by defeating top-seeded UW-Whitewater 15-7 on Sunday afternoon at Prucha Field at Miller Stadium.

Cardinals fly into playoff It took some time but Wesleyan finally found a path to the 2015 playoffs. The Cardinals defeated Amherst 4-3 in 12 innings to take the 2015 NESCAC title and now will wait to find out where they will play later this week.

Anderson, HCAC Champs For the first time since 2003, The Anderson Ravens has won the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament title. Anderson knocked off Manchester Saturday, 9-6 for the title win.

Catholic comes back for Landmark win After dropping game one of the Landmark Conference final series on Friday evening, Catholic came back Saturday afternoon to sweep Moravian to become the 2015 Landmark Conference Champions.

Kohawks are playoff bound An early grand slam by Wartburg didn't faze the Kohawks on Saturday, as they came back for a 12-7 win over the 14th-ranked Knights in the Iowa Conference Tournament Championship.

Cougars three-peats in NACC Concordia-Chicago earned a playoff bid with a 5-4 win over host Concordia (Wis.). The Cougars won their third consecutive Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference tournament on the heels of a regular season co-championship.

Greenville wins first SLIAC title Greenville is going to its first NCAA national tournament. The Panthers defeated Westminster 3-0 in their second game of the day to defeat a Blue Jay squad who forced a second game after winning two games.

Ithaca, inaugural Empire 8 tourney champs Ithaca won the inaugural Empire 8 Conference Championship on Saturday with a 12-4 victory over Stevens at Utica. Senior Christian Brown was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

Seventh heaven for Keystone Keystone won its seventh-straight Colonial States Athletic Conference baseball championship on Saturday by defeating Neumann 20-10 in a high-scoring championship game played at Marywood.

Marietta sweeps to OAC title Marietta earned its 30th OAC Tournament Championship with a doubleheader sweep of Heidelberg. The Pioneers outslugged the Student Princes 18-11 in the first game and took the deciding game, 7-4.

Misericordia wins fifth straight Freedom championship Misericordia defeated DeSales 10-6 to earn its fifth straight Freedom Conference Championship on Saturday afternoon at Owls Field in West Lawn, PA.

Ripon punch ticket to regionals Ripon is back where they've been many times before - King of the Midwest Conference. The Red Hawks earned their latest crown on Saturday, defeating Cornell College to win their 21st conference championship.

RPI captures league title RPI recorded 27 hits in two games to win the 2015 Liberty League Championship over RIT, today at Robison Field. With victories of 13-9 and 10-5, the Engineers have now won two league titles in the last three years.

Huskies ride Richards for title Andrew Richards threw a complete game four-hitter as Southern Maine defeated Eastern Connecticut State 4-2 in the championship game of the 2015 Little East Conference Championship Tournament.

St. Scholastica makes it 18 in a row St. Scholastica won its 18th consecutive Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament championship on Saturday, defeating Bethany Lutheran 3-0 at Wade Stadium.

Texas-Tyler wins ASC Texas-Tyler completed a perfect-run through the 2015 American Southwest Conference championship, defeating Texas Dallas 6-5 in the championship game on Saturday.

Presidents win 10th PAC title Washington & Jefferson captured its 10th Presidents' Athletic Conference Baseball Championship with a 17-5 victory over Thomas More.

Adrian finishes atop MIAA Adrian built another brick in the foundation on Friday with a 11-4 win over Calvin in the MIAA championship game. The Bulldogs have now won all four tournament titles since the inception in 2012. I

First time for everything, Oberlin NCAC champs The Oberlin Yeomen defeated the nationally ranked Scots of Wooster 11-5 in the North Coast Athletic Conference Championship game to secure their first league title.

Cortland wins fifth straight SUNYAC title Tournament MVP Mark DeMilio went 4-for-5 with a homer, double, two RBI and three runs scored as Cortland defeated Oswego, 10-3, in the SUNYAC Championship Game.

Curry takes CCC title with late surge Curry defeated fifth-seeded Roger Williams, 5-4, to capture the 2015 CCC Championship when Kyle Connors stroked a two-out single in the bottom of the ninth inning to plate the winning run.

Blue Jays blitz Diplomats in CC title win Johns Hopkins jumped on the board early and never looked back, blitzing Franklin & Marshall, 9-4 in the first game and 20-1 in game two, en route to capturing the program's 13th Centennial Conference title.

Cougars earn 6th NJAC title For the sixth time in program history, Kean claimed the New Jersey Athletic Conference Tournament Championship, with a 7-2 win over top-seeded Rutgers-Camden on Sunday afternoon.

Leopards finish off Kingsmen for SCIAC title Nick Byrd pitched 7.2 scoreless innings in relief to lead La Verne past Cal Lutheran, 4-2, and capture the 2015 SCIAC Baseball Postseason Tournament championship.

MIT takes NEWMAC title MIT took and early lead and then held off Wheaton (Mass.) down the stretch as the Engineers claimed a 5-4 victory over the Lyons, giving MIT a 2-1 series win and its second straight NEWMAC championship.

Panthers are Skyline champs Old Westbury earns the Skyline's automatic qualifier for the NCAA Division III Championship with an 11-4 win over Farmingdale State and will make its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in program history.

Rhodes sweeps into NCAA playoffs Rhodes defeated Birmingham Southern on Sunday in the Southern Athletic Association Championship, 2-1 to earn an automatic bid t the 2015 playoff field. The Lynx swept the best of three series with the Panthers.

Vikings claim MASCAC championship Andrew McLaughin pumped out 5.2 frames of relief and Andrew Deloury earned tournament MVP honors to help lead the Salem State Vikings to a 6-5 triumph over Worcester State in the MASCAC Championship game.

Trinity sweeps to SCAC crown Third-seeded Trinity was in the position of of having to defeat the top-seeded Gents twice to claim the conference crown. The Tigers did just that, winning the opening game 6-4, and run-ruling their hosts 10-0 in a seven-inning second matchup.

Spartans Repeat as NAC Champions Castleton recorded 14 runs from 15 hits to capture its second straight North Atlantic Conference Championship and third in the last four seasons with a 14-2 victory over the Thomas Terriers this afternoon at Spartan Field.

Crusaders earn Commonwealth title Top-seeded Alvernia won its second Commonwealth Conference Championship with a 6-1 win over #4 Widener in the if-necessary game Saturday afternoon at Santander Stadium.

Methodist clinches USA South crown Travis Johnson's four-hit shutout in the nightcap of Methodist's doubleheader against LaGrange clinched the USA South Conference Championship for the Monarchs, as well as an NCAA Championship berth.

Hornets claim first ever ODAC title No. 8 Shenandoah claimed the university's first-ever ODAC Championship with a 4-2 victory over Virginia Wesleyan Sunday at Lynchburg City Stadium.

Rams walkoff with GNAC title Suffolk captured the 2015 GNAC championship with a 4-3 walkoff victory in 13 innings over the Johnson & Wales Wildcats on Sunday afternoon at historic Holman Stadium in Nashua.

Whitworth return to playoffs with NWC crown Cory Mack pitched seven strong innings and Whitworth scored seven early runs as the Pirates defeated top-seeded Pacific Lutheran for the second consecutive day with an 8-2 win to claim the inaugural NWC Tournament championship at PLU Field.

Team effort pays off in CAC title Frostburg State claimed the first playoff ticket in 2015 with a 6-0 team win over Salisbury. Using good pitching and hitting up and down the line up, the Bobcats earned their first playoff bid since 2011.

La Roche rolls to AMCC title La Roche won their second straight AMCC Championship and their third in the past four years after defeating Penn State Behrend in the Championship Round's second game 22-2. The Redhawks dropped the first game 11-6.

Castleton repeats as NAC champs Castleton recorded 14 runs from 15 hits to capture its second straight North Atlantic Conference Championship and third in the last four seasons with a 14-2 victory over the Thomas Terriers at Spartan Field.