Championship reflections

UW-La Crosse and Cortland did what everyone wants to do, play on the final day of the D-III season.
Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com

By Jim Dixon
D3baseball.com

GRAND CHUTE, Wis. -- Back in 1995 nobody knew that a new era was dawning in the D-III World Series.

From 1976-1984, Ithaca was the dominant team in the New York region. In 1995, Cortland State made their first appearance, going 0-2 with a 11.94 ERA. It was not an auspicious start but in the following 20 years the Red Dragons would make the trip, first to Salem, Va., and then to Appleton, Wis., a dozen more times, cementing themselves as dominant as the Ithaca Bombers were in the first 20 years of the D-III World Series.

What the Red Dragons were lacking was the Walnut and Bronze in their trophy case. That all changed in 2015 as Cortland won its first national championship in baseball, sweeping two games from UW-La Crosse, 11-3 and 6-2.

It has been a memorable series. Here are some memories that stick out.

The bracket: Most fans will not find the new bracket to be a much of a problem. Give it a tweak here and there and maybe we can see the top two teams in the nation meeting in the Championship Series instead of in Game 6. It would not be very difficult for the NCAA baseball committee to meet and decide on the seeding. They did all the hard work already seeding the regionals. Set up crossover games on the third day so we do not see the same two teams play three games against each other. In the past, I always enjoyed the games on Sunday. A later start time, the start times at a more reasonable pace but the third straight day with a four-game set was more than I wanted.

Best pitching performance: Jameson Sadowske, UW-La Crosse. Sadowske, averaging less than two innings per appearance, came in the seventh inning of the La Crosse's game with Emory with two runners on and no outs. He was unable to keep the inherited runners from scoring but escaped the inning tied 2-2. He proceeded to throw five shutout innings, allowing three baserunners the rest of the way in earning the win in relief.

Best hitting performance: Brandon Berger, Ramapo. In Game 5 where Ramapo eliminated Webster, Berger was a perfect 3-for-3 with two runs scored and five RBI. Two of the three hits went for extra bases, a double and the first of Berger's series leading two home runs.

One still image can't definitively tell the story of an interference call, but does this seem like interference to you?
Photo by Steve Frommell, d3photography.com

Best fielding performance: Matthew Michalski, Cortland. The common adage is that defense wins championships and this certainly applies to the D-III World Series where the top fielding team in the series is usually the one holding the trophy. Michalski entered the D-III World Series with a .863 fielding percentage. Along with Anthony Simon, who can forget his four errors against Salisbury in 2014, the left-side defense was steady at a time that even one error can turn the game around. Perhaps Austin Clock's presence at first base deserves some of the credit as well.

Most controversial call: Wes Peacock's 11th-inning out in Emory's game with UW-La Crosse. Replays clearly showed Peacock beat Adler’s dive to the base with the glove hand, but that was not what first base umpire Ron Brown saw. The umpiring crew huddled and left the play stand as called. What makes this play more remarkable is what followed in the bottom of the inning. Second base umpire Rick Force called batter Justin Anderson out after Force judged Taylor Kohlwey’s slide into second to be interference. In a hard fought game, both calls helped move the game into the 12th inning with Force's call the quintisential makeup call.

Best interview: Beau Attyah, Trinity (Texas). Attyah would never have expected to make the interview room based on his accomplishments on the field, making a single pitch-hitting appearance in the game which he was asked to speak about, and just three at-bats in Appleton. But after a tough loss, the fifth-year senior spoke eloquently about the season and what Trinity head coach Tim Scannell did for his development as a person and a player. If you missed it, you can watch the video of the postgame news conference. Pick it up at the 5:50 mark.