GRAND CHUTE, Wis. - It was well past their collective bedtimes - and the bedtimes of the hundreds of hearty fans who stayed awake as the clock neared the 2 a.m. mark - but for the College of Wooster, the sleep deprivation was more than satiated by the dramatic result that kept them in the winners' bracket of the NCAA Division III Baseball Championships.

    Rallying from a 5-0 deficit after two innings, Wooster claimed a dramatic 7-6 victory over the State University of New York-Cortland in a championships first-round game late Friday night at Fox Cities Stadium.

    With the win, Wooster (38-7) will advance to play Rowan (42-8) in a championship-round game on Saturday at 7:45 p.m. (Central time), while Cortland State (39-8-1) will play an elimination game against Hampden-Sydney (27-14) on Saturday at 1:15 p.m.

    Because of a mid-afternoon rain delay, the final game of the day did not start until 10:50 p.m., and did not end until 1:45 a.m. early Saturday morning - the latest ending game in Division III championship history.

    For a while, it seemed as though the gloomy weather conditions matched the mood of the Scots, who found themselves having to rally from what appeared to be an insurmountable early deficit.

     "Maybe (the win) will make us relax," said Wooster coach Tim Pettorini. "We didn't handle things really well early, and we didn't prepare the way we should have. There's no excuse for that.

     "After we fell behind, we just relaxed. I said, 'OK, what's the worst that can happen? We get bombed, but we still get to play another game.' … Now we've got to find a way to make it fun for these guys, and that lightened everything up."

    Of course, having the Division III National Player of the Year on your roster, shortstop Luke Ullman, can help lighten the mood significantly. Especially after a 3-for-4 performance at the plate and a dramatic game-tying home run in the sixth inning. His towering solo shot to left field was the high point of one of the most dramatic comebacks in championships history.

     "You can't say enough about this team. We will not quit. We will go down fighting until the very end. It just goes to show what the character on this team is," Ullman said. "I don't think, at any point in this game, we were thinking that we were too down and we were going to lose this game. We weren't thinking that at any point."

    After a shaky first two innings, Wooster starter Jon Oliver settled in and pitched well, keeping the Red Dragons off the scoreboard over the next five innings, before reliever Luke Katich came in to throw the final two innings.

     "To his credit, he doesn't give up. He will not give up. He's really, really competitive," Pettorini said.

    Oliver ended up striking out seven, while walking just three. After giving up five hits in the first two innings, Oliver surrendered just four hits over the next five innings.

     "It just didn't feel like I was feeling the ball well (early). It didn't feel like it was coming off my hand right," Oliver said. "All of a sudden, I just settled in and got in a groove."

    Jake Frank had two hits and drove in three runs for the Scots, including the final run of the game on as part of back-to-back run-scoring singles in the eighth inning.

    Cortland State was paced by Andy Mead, who went 4-for-4 at the plate, scoring twice and driving in three runs. He also had a walk to reach base all five times he appeared at the plate.

    The Wooster rally began in the third, as a two-out double by Shaun Swearingen and a run-scoring single by Pat Christensen put the Scots on the board. Wooster made the game a close one again in the fourth. Two walks to lead off the fourth for Wooster brought a run across, as Ullman collected his 59th RBI of the season on a single to left to drive in Brandon Boesiger. A two-run single by Frank followed, as Wooster cut the lead to 5-4.

    The Scots tied the game in the sixth with Ullman's homer, his 14th round-tripper of the season and 38th extra-base hit of his campaign.

    Wooster took the lead for the first time in the eighth inning, as Ross Yoder reached base with two outs on catcher's interference, and Ullman moved the runner ahead on a walk. A clutch single to center by Swearingen put the Scots ahead, 6-5. Frank followed with a single to plate another run, driving Cortland State reliever Jim Dougher from the game.

    Cortland State scored a run in the ninth, as Mead walked and came around on a double by Pat D'Auria. An infield single by Ricky Piovesan put runners at the corners - and the tying run at third base - with one out. But Wooster reliever Katich got a strikeout and grounder to end the contest.

    To open the game, Cortland State batted around in the first inning. The Red Dragons loaded the bases with nobody out on a single, walk and hit batter, and a two-run single by Mead started the Red Dragon rally.

    Another hit batter loaded the bases again before Oliver was finally able to record a strikeout on the game's sixth batter. Will Groff then drove in a run on a single to short right field, and another run scored on an infield grounder. The first frame continued an impressive trend for Cortland State, as the Red Dragons have now outscored their opponents 69-9 in the first inning this season.

    Ullman led off the Wooster half of the first with a double off the left-center wall, his 22nd two-bagger of the season. But he was stranded at third to end the Scot threat.

    Jimmy Basnight led off the Cortland second inning on a single, stole second, then scored on Mead's RBI single to short right to build the Red Dragons' lead to 5-0.

    Wooster again led off its half of the second with a double, as Pat Christensen pasted a double off the left-center wall. But again, the Scots' threat was squelched, as Christensen was stranded at third after a double play and strikeout.

    Cortland State loaded the bases again in the fourth inning, on a hit batter, walk, and Mead's third straight single of the game. A strikeout ended the inning, however, keeping the Red Dragons from inflicting any more damage.

    Cortland State had a major threat in bottom of the sixth, as Travis Robinson and Mead each singled, and a walk loaded the bases with one out. But a flyout to short right field and an inning-ending grounder to the pitcher kept the Red Dragons from scoring.

    Red Dragon starter Matt Miller went 6.1 innings on the mound, striking out six before being relieved by Dougher. Meanwhile, Wooster starter Oliver lasted seven innings, striking out seven - five in his last four innings of work, before Luke Katich relieved him.