| Six years ago UW-La Crosse was set to cut baseball. This year they make their first appearance in the D-III World Series. By Ryan Coleman, d3photography.com |
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By Jim Dixon
D3sports.com
The field is set and on Friday eight teams will meet to decide a national championship on the field of Fox Cities Stadium. D3baseball.com will be there to record the action in words and pictures.
Half of the field knows their way between the Paper Valley (the official team hotel) and Fox Cities Stadium. Salisbury, Cortland, and Emory were in last year's D-III World Series with Webster's last appearance a few years ago.
Ramapo is making just its second trip to the championship round and the last time out, won it all in 1984. The site of the D-III World Series has changed four times since the Roadrunners were last in the championship round, so count Ramapo in with a trio of newcomers. The D-III World Series will welcome Frostburg State, Trinity (Texas) and UW-La Crosse.
There is one thing that everyone will have to be introduced to: the schedule. The NCAA has once again changed the championship format. Now the teams play in two four-team pools with the winners facing each other in a best-of-three series. This means more games, a mid-tournament reset, and the end of the throwaway game. It also means that fans who have been following the D-III series will also have something new to think about if their team slips into the elimination round.
Favorite: Cortland State.
One of the two top seeds to survive the regional round, a No. 1 ranking in the D3baseball.com's Top 25, a stacked pitching staff, and experienced coaching will have the Red Dragons as our pick to win out. My first championship series was back in 1995, the same year Cortland made its first appearance, and over the last 20-plus years, there is something I have not seen, the Red Dragons celebrating on the field with a Walnut and Bronze in baseball. This should change this year.
Most likely to disappoint: Cortland State
Last year we tabbed UW-Whitewater as likely to disappoint -- they won it all. In 2007 we thought it was Emory and all they did was disappoint all the other teams, finishing second. With our record, we should be taking up a collection for this segment of our preview.
Cortland has given us a lot of reasons to expect them to win but nobody has made the trip as often as they have without taking home the ultimate prize. The Achilles' heel for Cortland is the expectation of finally breaking through. Several times the defense has slipped -- most recently in the regional -- but they were able to overcome and win. The competition is tougher here as any team can come out on top and mistakes will not be as easily overcome.
Dark Horse: Salisbury
The Sea Gulls took a second seat to conference mate Frostburg State this season but the Salisbury can put together a string of wins. They started the season with 21 straight wins before dropping four of seven with three losses to Frostburg State. Good news is that the Bobcats are in the Pool A and Salisbury will not see them until the final series. In our Mid-Atlantic Regional preview we noted that Salisbury could be putting together a run and with the four regional wins, Salisbury brings to Wisconsin a nine-game win streak, the longest active streak of the eight teams in Appleton.
Cinderella: Frostburg State
History has proven that the hardest thing to do is to win a national championship in your first appearance. Frostburg State is having an historic season and just getting to the D-III World Series is an accomplishment. To get out of the Mideast Regional, Frostburg had to face the one team which had had sustained success against them this season, La Roche. Frostburg prevailed 8-4 and this confidence boost could propel the Bobcats to greater glory.
The rest of the field
Emory is making back-to-back appearances to the D-III World Series and once again the Eagles had to do it after an early loss in the regional. Coming off an early loss is something the Eagles have been good at but nobody wants to start their championship quest with one foot on the bus. Look for Emory to put pressure on the opposing teams with their running game and an opportunistic offense. Entering the D-III World Series with seven pitchers who have started a game gives Emory the arms to survive into the final series.
Ramapo won the championship in 1984 but that hardly makes them veterans. They were sent out of region and won an uncharacteristically weaker than normal New England Regional. No regional win is easy, so the Roadrunners are battle tested and ready to carry the NJAC banner onto the diamond. Ramapo was 1-4 in one run games during the season but turned that around with 2 one-run decisions in the Harwich Regional. For the Roadrunners to win, they will need a significant contribution from their offense so these games could be a fan favorite and a scheduler's nightmare.
It’s over. The long wait is over. Trinity (Texas) finally made the regionals in seven of the last ten years and is finally getting the chance to finish a path that started more than a decade ago. What made the regional win sweeter was that it came over a Linfield team that made a habit of eliminating the Tigers in past regionals. Pitching was the difference this year for Trinity as any number of pitching stars could have landed in our list of players to watch, so expect Trinity to be in every game they play. Trinity catches Emory in the opening round on Friday.
Meet the teams |
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UW-La Crosse needed two wins on the final day of the regional and it did not hurt that they were playing on their home field. The Eagles are one of two regional hosts that made the D-III World Series. UW-La Crosse has some hot bats, including right fielder Taylor Kohlwey, who hit .667 (18-for-27) en route to being named Most Outstanding Player at the Midwest Regional. He crushed a home run in his last at-bat (and was subsequently walked in his last plate appearance). One of the key pitchers will be reliever Jameson Sadowske, who got really stretched out in throwing five innings of relief on Friday and three innings on Sunday.
Webster had expectations at the beginning of the year but slipped and regained the winning form. A surprising Greenville team took the SLIAC tournament title, and Webster slid into the playoffs with an at-large bid. A 4-0 run through the Waterloo Regional has the Gorloks in the final round for their third time in four years, previously advancing to the D-III World Series in 2012 and 2013.
Players to watch
C Drew Butler, Trinity (Texas) (.384, 29 R, 10 2B, 3 HR, 47 RBI, FA .988)
1B Kyle Uhrich, Webster (.364, 39 R, 12 2B, 17 HR, 61 RBI)
2B Joe Venturino, Ramapo (.399, 47 R, 19 2B, 5 HR, 40 RBI, 13 SB)
3B Phillip Maldari, Emory (.383, 43 R, 21 2B, 2 HR, 35 RBI)
SS Pete Grasso, Salisbury (.355, 54 R, 8 2B, 5 HR, 47 RBI, 7 SB)
OF Taylor Kohlwey, UW-La Crosse (.439, 52 R, 20 2B, 6 HR, 42 RBI, 10 SB)
OF Jordan Gowe, Salisbury (.367, 35 R, 12 2B, 48 RBI, 12 SB)
OF Conrad Ziemendorf, Cortland (.345, 2 HR, 38 RBI, 44 R, 14 2B)
OF Nick Walker, Frostburg State (.372, 51 R, 5 3B, 7 HR, 54 RBI, 28 SB)
DH Danny Breen, Salisbury (.438, 38 R, 10 2B, 4 HR, 35 RBI)
SP Ryan Gray, Trinity (Texas) (8-0, 1.72, 2 SV, 70K, .136 b/avg)
SP Jackson Weeg, Emory (11-1, 2.53, 93 K, .241 b/avg)
SP Walker Larson, Ramapo (10-2, 2.10, 8 CG, 2 SV, 91 K, .228 b/avg)
SP Clayton Freimuth, Frostburg State (8-2, 1.62, 3 CG, 2 SV, 97 K, .193 b/avg)
SP Greg Schneider, Frostburg State (8-1, 1.90, 2 CG. 94 K, .183 b/avg)
SP Josh Fleming, Webster (7-2, 2.21, 2 CG, 83 K)
SP Brandon Serio, Cortland (7-0, 1.98. 1 CG, 44 K, .227 b/avg)
RP Jameson Sadowske, UW-La Crosse (4-0, 0.74, 9 SV, 30 K, .194 b/avg)
RP Dylan Dean Smith, Webster (8-3, 0.89, 1 SV 21 APP, 30 K)