In its 40th year in Division III baseball, Catholic University is going to the D-III World Series for the first team. They join LaGrange as the two teams who are new to the final weekend. Catholic athletics photo

On Sunday afternoon, in front of 590 fans, Drew Holderbach helped the Pioneers cruise to a 19-5 victory over Oswego State in the Marietta Super Regional and advance to the NCAA Division III World Series, which begins Friday at Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. "It's a big jump for us," said Holderbach, who had two hits and four RBI. We're all really excited for the opportunity, but we're not going to be a team that's just happy to be there. We're looking to win the whole thing." Marietta is returning to the World Series for the 23rd time in program history, but the first time since winning the championship in 2012. Starting pitcher Isaac Danford, who gave up one run on four hits over four innings, returned for a fifth season for this opportunity. "Last year we got a little taste in the regional of what it's like to win again," Danford said. "With the group of seniors and fifth-years coming back, yeah, this is awesome. This is definitely what I came back for, but we're not done yet."

• D3baseball Regional Scoreboard
• Super regional Day 1 coverage
• Super regional Day 2 coverage
• Super regional preview

Catholic exploded for 16 runs, scoring in all but two innings, to secure its first-ever appearance in the Division III College World Series with a 16-2 win over Ithaca Sunday. The Cardinals (34-12) are the first team from the Landmark Conference to advance to the national championship. Highlighted by a two-run double from senior Peter Giombetti, Catholic scored four runs in the bottom of the first. The team added four more in the bottom of the second on a grand slam by junior Ben Nardi, his eighth home run of the season and 60th hit of the season. to get to this game, they needed a win in the first game of the day. Senior Matt Tesoriero totaled two hits and picked up his third save in a 7-4 victory over Ithaca to force the deciding game.

Eastern Connecticut emerged from the longest game in the program's 190-game NCAA postseason playoff history by scoring the tie-breaking run on a hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded in the top of the 13th inning and went on to a 7-6 victory over Rowan in the second game of the Mansfield Super Regional on Sunday afternoon that propelled the Warriors to a spot in this coming week's national tournament. The lead changed hands five times through the first seven innings but remained tied for five straight innings before the Warriors pushed across the go-ahead run in the top of the 13th inning. With one out in the top of the 13th, Plantamuro and No. 9 hitter Jason Claiborn singled and a walk to junior shortstop Zach Donahue on a 3-2 pitch loaded the bases. Down 1-2 in the count, senior centerfielder Ryan Bagdasarian was hit by a pitch from senior closer Christian Bascunan (10 saves) that forced in Plantamuro. Bascunan kept the damage at a minimum by striking out the final two batters, but the Profs could not rally in the bottom of the inning. Eastern (44-3) turned to Billy Oldham to protect its one-run lead in the bottom of the 13th on Sunday. After Rowan (33-10) put the leadoff man on for the fourth straight inning to open the 13th, Oldham came out of the bullpen for the first time this year and needed only seven pitches to earn his first career save.

Seventh-ranked Salisbury University took a wildly-remarkable winner-take-all slugfest 18-16 to win the Salisbury Super Regional at Sea Gull Baseball Stadium. Earlier in the day, Wooster survived with a 6-4 win over Salisbury to force the if-necessary game. Sea Gull center fielder Cameron Hyder's two-run, eighth-inning homer held as the go-ahead blast, then Salisbury tacked on a run in the ninth on third baseman Luke Weddell's RBI single. Brock Hilligoss retired six of the seven batters he faced en route to earning the save. Senior pinch hitter Alex Gasper gave the Scots a chance to tie the game with one swing of the bat with a one-out, ninth-inning single, but the next two Wooster batters were retired.