NCAA®
Division III Baseball Championship
To Receive National Television Exposure
Each game of the 2007 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship will air on College Sports Television (CSTV) tape-delayed, beginning on June 5. This marks the first time that any game of the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship will air on national television.
The games will air consecutively on CSTV from June 5-10. CSTV can be viewed on DIRECTV channel 610 and DISH Network channel 152. Baseball fans should check their local cable listings for the CSTV channel in their area.
The 32nd Annual NCAA Division III Baseball Championship was held May 25-29 at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute, Wis. The championship was hosted by Lawrence University and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.
The following is the schedule of games to be aired:
Tuesday, June 5
Emory University vs. University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point • Game 1 at 9 a.m.
Carthage College vs. Eastern Connecticut State University • Game 2 at Noon
Chapman University vs. Marietta College • Game 3 at 3 p.m.
Wednesday, June 6
Kean University vs. State University of New York-Cortland • Game 4 at 9 a.m.
Emory University vs. Eastern Connecticut State University • Game 5 at Noon
Marietta College vs. State University of New York-Cortlan • Game 6 at 3 p.m.
Thursday, June 7
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point vs. Carthage College • Game 7 at 9 a.m.
Chapman University vs. Kean University • Game 8 at Noon
State University of New York-Cortland vs. Carthage College • Game 9 at 3 p.m.
Friday, June 8
Chapman University vs. Emory University • Game 10 at 9 a.m.
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point vs. Kean University • Game 11 at Noon
Emory University vs. State University of New York-Cortland • Game 12 at 3 p.m.
Saturday, June 9
Emory University vs. University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point • Game 13 at 9 a.m.
Sunday, June 10
Kean University vs. Emory University • Game 14 at 9 a.m.
Kean Wins First National Baseball Title In Extra-Inning Thriller
Being the lone newcomer among the eight teams playing in the 2007 NCAA Division III National Championships didn’t bother Kean University.
From throwing baby powder into the air on the first Cougar at-bat of each game in the tournament to good-luck statues and superstitions, the team played with a loose, devil-may-care attitude throughout the weekend.
And it won the Cougars a national championship.
For the first time in the program’s history and just its fifth appearance in the national tournament, the Kean Cougars (43-8) took home the biggest prize in Division III baseball with a 5-4, 10-inning victory over Emory University (43-10) on Tuesday afternoon at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. It’s the second NCAA national title in any sport for Kean.
“No matter how much money you make, what position you’re in in life, you can’t buy these things,” said Kean coach Neil Ioviero. “You have to earn these. And no matter what they do for the rest of their lives, the memories they’ve created and garnered here will be with them the rest of their lives. No one could ever take this away.”
Of course, Ioviero wouldn’t call his team’s attitude this weekend “loose.”
“If you asked the question to them (the players), how do we practice, you’ll see that it’s not loose when we practice. We get on them like crazy. We create crazy, pressure situations. We make the biggest deal out of the littlest things,” Ioviero said. “We describe it to them like you study for a test. The teacher can throw whatever she wants at you, and you’re prepared. These guys play as if they’re prepared, and that creates that looseness, because they know they’re ready to go, they know those little things are going to matter.”
Like taking advantage of every situation thrown at them, including an unlikely ending to what turned out to be a classic championship game.
In the bottom of the 10th inning, leadoff hitter Joseph D’Andrea, who had already hit two triples in the game, reached base when a grounder snuck under the glove of Emory third baseman Frank Pfister. On a sacrifice bunt attempt, a throw from relief pitcher Rich Babb sailed into center field, advancing D’Andrea to third. An intentional walk loaded the bases, and after a flyout to short center field, an infield grounder to the shortstop by Perry Schatzow plated D’Andrea with the winning run.
The 10th inning provided an unlikely ending for Emory, a team that had committed just 70 errors with a .967 team fielding percentage before Tuesday’s game. Its .968 fielding percentage entering the championships was eighth-best in Division III baseball.
“That’s why we won games, we didn’t commit errors,” said Emory coach Mike Twardoski. “Frank Pfister is one of the best defensive third basemen in the country, and for that to happen to him, I’ll tell you right now, there’s nobody that feels any worse for making that than he does. He’s a gold glove in my mind … One thing about errors is that sometimes errors happen when you’re tired, and this team is tired.”
Emory was attempting to rally back after losing its opening game of the tournament, winning four games in three days to reach the final round. Meanwhile, Kean had the luxury of staying in the winner’s bracket throughout, winning three games in a row to earn a day off on Monday before playing Tuesday’s game.
But the two teams staged a back-and-forth championship tilt, just the fourth in the history of the Division III championships (and first since 1989) to go to extra innings.
Emory pitcher Ian Ganzer threw a solid nine-inning effort, striking out eight while walking two. Twardowski said that Ganzer threw 125 pitches before handing it off to reliever Babb to start the 10th. Babb was suffering from muscle strain in his arm, Twardowski said, but he added that he wasn’t going to keep the senior from playing.
“I cannot tell a team that works as hard as this team (does) that they’re not going to be able to have a chance to compete out there. It’s not the right thing to do,” Twardowski said.
Freshman pitcher Joe Bartlinski got the start for Kean and lasted four-and-a-third innings, allowing five hits and four runs while striking out four. Reliever Andrew Cupido, a junior, went five-and-two-thirds innings to get the win, striking out two while walking four and allowing three hits.
Kean jumped on the scoreboard in the first inning, when leadoff hitter Maikel De La Rosa hit a double to the left field corner, and was driven home on a single by Dan Mattonelli.
In the bottom of the third, D’Andrea launched a one-out triple to the right field corner, and came in on a sacrifice fly by Dan Mattonelli. Derek Gianakas followed that with a solo homer to deep left, his sixth blast of the year and 40th RBI.
Steve Bralver led off the Emory fourth inning with a solo homer to left, his fourth shot of the year. A single, hit batter and two stolen bases put runners on second and third with one out in the fifth for the Eagles, and a walk loaded the bases. Kean pulled starter Bartlinski in favor of Cupido, and a high chopper for a double over the third baseman’s head by Bralver plated two runs and tied the game at 3-3, and a sacrifice fly by Pfister gave the Eagles the lead.
“Other than that play (the double), there were ‘zeroes’ on the board the rest of the day,” Ioviero said of Cupido’s relief performance. “That’s one of the top three lineups we’ve faced all year.”
In the bottom of the fifth, De La Rosa reached base and advanced to second on a throwing error, and a bunt single by D’Andrea, plus another throwing error, plated De La Rosa to tie the game at 4-4. The teams played even baseball after that, leading to the extra-inning finish.
Kean put four players on the All-Tournament Team – D’Andrea, Schatzow, and pitchers Joseph Augustine and Daniel Zeffiro. Emory’s Bralver, Pfister, shortstop Brandon Custer and pitcher Jason Glushon also were named to the elite squad.
Wisconsin-Stevens Point pitcher/designated hitter Jordan Zimmerman, who pitched a one-hit shutout in a 2-0 win over Emory on Friday and hit a tournament-best .615 (8-for-13) with three doubles, two home runs and six RBI, was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. Chapman University outfielder Tyler Dean and Carthage College second baseman Steve Rucks also earned All-Tournament Team honors.
Tuesday’s championship game was played before 1,158 spectators, and the 24,872 in attendance throughout the weekend was the second-largest paid attendance in the 32-year history of the championship finals.
First-time Champion Will Be Crowned
As Kean University, Emory University Square Off For Title
Kean University will square off with Emory University in the title game of the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship on Tuesday, May 29.
Kean (42-8) earned its place in the title game with a 7-4 win over the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in a winner’s bracket game on Sunday, and Emory (43-9) punched its ticket with an 18-7 victory over UW-Stevens Point in an elimination game on Monday.
The game has been moved up one hour and starts at noon Central time, due to the possibility of inclement weather in the area of Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. If Emory wins Tuesday’s first game, a second title game will follow 30 minutes after the completion of the initial contest.
Kean has been impressive in its first appearance in the finals, and the Cougars are making only their fifth appearance in the NCAA Division III Championship. Kean started with a 4-1 victory over Cortland State University on Friday. The Cougars then downed Chapman University 3-1 on Saturday before topping Stevens Point 7-4 on Sunday.
Emory is making its third appearance in the finals and is playing in the tournament for the ninth time. The Eagles, who have never finished higher than fifth in the finals, are the authors of a remarkable turnaround since picking up only one hit in a 2-0 loss to Stevens Point in their opening game on Friday.
The Eagles have now won four consecutive elimination games. Emory downed Eastern Connecticut State University 5-4 on Saturday and then beat Chapman 16-7 on Sunday before winning twice on Monday.
Emory rallied from a 6-0 deficit and pounded out 14 hits against the Pointers. Stevens Point (34-17) built its early advantage on the strength of Jordan Zimmermann’s two homers, a two-run blast in the first and a solo shot in the second.
The Eagles took a 7-6 lead in the fifth with seven runs, as Tyler Short and Joe Roth both had two-run singles in the frame.
Emory then blew the game wide open with 10 runs in the sixth. The Eagles had only four hits in the inning, but the Pointers walked four batters, hit another, committed two errors and had a passed ball. Dan Molnar had a two-run double for the Eagles, and Tommy Dugan and Steve Bralver both had run-scoring singles in the inning.
Emory started Monday with a 6-3 victory over Cortland State University in another elimination game. Dugan, Sam Cunningham and Brandon Custer all had two hits against the Red Dragons, and David Hissey drove in three runs.
The Eagles broke a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the sixth with a pair of runs. Dugan and Bralver both had run-scoring singles in the inning. Jason Glushon pitched six innings to pick up the win and improve to 13-2 on the season, and Rich Babb worked the final three innings to get the save.
Travis Robinson went 3-for-3 to lead Cortland State, which finished fourth in the nation with a 42-7 record.
Eagles Fly Past Pointers To Advance To Title Game
The inconspicuous line of relief pitcher Julian Smith was lost in the wake of Emory University’s victory on Monday.
The Eagles posted an 18-7 come-from-behind win, which included a 17-run outburst over two innings, over the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (34-17) in an elimination game Monday at the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship finals at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium.
Smith’s three earned runs on six hits during 3.2 innings of work doesn’t scream difference-maker, but upon closer review, it was his calm under pressure after flirting with disaster on more than one occasion that ultimately kept Emory (43-9) alive in the early going.
“That was a tough, tough spot we put Julian (Smith) in early,” said Emory head coach Mike Twardoski. “That he only allowed three runs in those first few innings was the key to our rally. It could have easily been six or seven runs in the first inning, and who knows, another run in the first may have made the difference in momentum and affected whether or not we came back and won this game. It was a clutch performance.”
After Emory starter Adam Genn failed to register an out in the first inning, Smith inherited a three-run deficit and loaded the bases before ending the inning without any further damage. A solo home run in the second was followed by a perfect third frame, before he reloaded the bases in the fourth. The damage was minimal though, as the junior right-hander allowed a run on a fielder’s choice and another on a sacrifice fly, before Will Gumm entered the game to retire the final hitter of the inning.
“Coach told me to be ready the day before and I anticipated that I was going to throw at some point in the game today,” Smith said. “They had a great lineup and I just tried to stay calm and let my teammates pick me up.”
UW-Stevens Point’s Jordan Zimmermann had pushed the Pointers past Emory earlier in the tournament when he limited the Eagles to one hit, drove in a run and scored a run in a 2-0 Pointer triumph. The junior did his best to try and extend his season, as he clubbed a two-run home run over the left field wall in the first inning off Genn and followed with a nearly identical solo shot in the third frame. Zimmermann, who was 3-for-3 with three runs and three RBI, was the catalyst for UW-Stevens Point taking a 6-0 lead after four innings of play.
The lead wouldn’t make it to five innings, as the Pointers went from seemingly being in control of the contest to trailing after the Emory bats and momentum swung mightily in the sixth.
UW-Stevens Point starter Garrett Nix allowed two hits through four innings, but opened the fifth frame by allowing a walk, single and hit batsman to load the bases. Tyler Short got Emory on the board with a two-RBI single to left and after a wild pitch moved the runners up, Dan Molnar doubled home a runner. Steve Bravler walked and Joe Roth cut the lead to 6-5 with a two-RBI single to left-center field. The Pointers tried to shoot Roth as he attempted to steal second, but the throw was mishandled, allowing Bravler to score without a throw. Brandon Custer, who was preceded by another base on balls, put Emory up for good when he plated Roth with a single to right-center field.
“We never gave up as a team and we came back the right way,” Twardoski said. “We were taking pitches, getting clutch hits and forcing errors. All signs of a team that knows how to win. Baseball is game of momentum and you could feel us pushing on the door in the sixth and I really felt like it was ours for the taking after that.”
The wheels officially came off for the Pointers in the sixth inning, as a cavalcade of walks, past balls and errors led to 10 runs on four hits en route to a 17-6 Eagle advantage.
Both teams recorded 14 hits in the game, further emphasizing the Pointers’ woes, which included several wild pitches, a balk, three errors, eight walks and two hit batters.
“This was obviously far from out best game,” said UW-Stevens Point head coach Pat Bloom. “I don’t ever want to ever make excuses, but we saw a team that was mentally and emotionally exhausted and that fatigue showed through. I am really proud of these kids and what they accomplished the last few weeks. They have lifted our program to a championship level and didn’t go down without a fight.”
Roth, Molnar and Short paced the Emory offense, as all three players drove in three runs and scored three runs apiece. Gumm allowed four hits and one earned run in 2.1 innings on the mound to earn the win after relieving Smith.
Emory, which has rallied to win in 19 games this season, advanced to Tuesday’s title game against Kean University at noon. The Eagles, making their first appearance in the title game, will look to follow in the footsteps of 2004 national champion Chapman, which came from the loser’s bracket to win twice on the final day of play. Kean will need only one win over Emory to be crowned champs.
Possibility Of Inclement Weather Pushes Tuesday's Title Game To Noon
The title game of the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship will begin earlier than scheduled due to the possibility of inclement weather on Tuesday, May 29.
The game, which features Kean University (42-8) against either the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (34-16) or Emory University (42-9), begins at noon (Central time) at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium.
A second championship game, if needed, will begin 30 minutes after the completion of the first contest.
Kean needs to win only once to claim its first national title. UW-Stevens Point or Emory must defeat the Cougars twice to win the championship, which also would be a first for both schools.
Kean is the lone unbeaten team left in the eight-team, double-elimination tournament. The Cougars earned their berth in the championship game with a 7-4 victory over UW-Stevens Point Sunday evening in a winner’s bracket contest.
Championship Rookie Kean University Reaches Tuesday’s Final Round
The rookies are in the finals.
Kean University, making its first appearance in the NCAA Division III Baseball National Championship, will play for the national title on Tuesday, clinching a berth in the final set of games with a 7-4 victory over the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in the final game of Sunday’s action at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium.
With the win, Kean (42-8) bypasses Monday’s two elimination games and advances directly to the final, where it only needs to win one of two possible games in order to claim its first national championship.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin-Stevens Point (34-16), the State University of New York-Cortland (42-6) and Emory University (41-9) will battle on Monday in elimination games for the right to join Kean in the final round. Cortland State and Emory will face off first at 12 noon, with the winner to face Wisconsin-Stevens Point at 3:30 p.m.
In Sunday’s two other games, Cortland State ended Carthage College’s (37-13) season with a 5-2 triumph, and Emory pounded out 25 hits in eliminating top-ranked Chapman University (41-8) 16-7.
Kean received its third straight solid starting pitching performance, as Colin Feneis struck out seven in seven innings of work, allowing just six hits. Brandon Aich pitched two innings of scoreless relief, striking out two, to score the save. Kevin O’Neill went 3-for-4 for the Cougars.
Cortland State used a 12-hit effort to claim the win over Carthage, including a two-out, two-run single by Steve Nickel in the first inning and a two-run single by Matt Vitalone as part of a three-run fifth inning. Both Vitalone and Nickel went 2-for-3, as did Anthony Coromato, who scored twice and had an RBI. Mike Zgorzelski struck out seven to pick up the win for the Red Dragons.
Emory built a 14-0 lead after three-and-a-half innings en route to the 16-7 win over Chapman. The Eagles scored seven runs on eight hits and a walk in the first inning, and sent 13 of their first 16 batters to the plate in the game. Frank Pfister went 4-for-4 with two doubles, four runs scored and three RBI for the Eagles, while Joe Roth went 4-for-6 with two runs scored and two RBI.
Saturday's Recap
Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Kean University remain unbeaten after second day of finals
The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and Kean University remained unbeaten after two very different games on Saturday evening at the NCAA Division III Baseball Championships at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium.
Wisconsin-Stevens Point (34-15) had to outlast fellow Wisconsin school Carthage College (37-12) 12-8 in the first winner’s bracket game on Saturday, while Kean (41-8) rode a complete-game, 11-strikeout effort by Joseph Augustine to claim a 3-1 win over Chapman University (41-7).
Wisconsin-Stevens Point and Kean will face off on Sunday at 7 p.m., with the winner advancing automatically to the final day of action on Tuesday, bypassing elimination games on Monday.
In the two elimination games on Saturday, Emory University (40-9) rallied past Eastern Connecticut State University (38-12) 5-4, and the State University of New York-Cortland (41-6) topped Marietta College (32-17) 9-3.
In addition to Sunday’s winner’s bracket game, there will also be two elimination games at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. At 12 p.m., Cortland State will face Carthage, and at 3:30 p.m., Chapman will face Emory.
Kean’s Augustine threw 142 pitches en route to the complete-game victory over Chapman on Saturday, his sixth of the season and 14th of his career. The Cougars broke a 1-1 tie in the seventh, as Derek Gianakas tripled and scored on a single by Aaron Richard and added an insurance run in the eighth on a double-steal.
Wisconsin-Stevens Point rallied from a 4-2, second-inning deficit with a 13-hit effort, scoring eight runs in the middle three innings to pull away from Carthage. Justin Bushong went 3-for-5 with two RBI, while Adam Evanoff and Brandon Scheidler had two hits apiece, with Scheidler scoring three runs and Evanoff scoring twice. Joel Hojnacki had two doubles and scored twice for the Pointers.
Emory took an early 2-0 lead on Eastern Connecticut State but fell behind 4-2 going into the seventh inning. But the Eagles scored twice in the seventh, on a run-scoring double by David Hissey and a throwing error, and scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth, as a pinch-hit, RBI single by Tim Cournoyer plated Brandon Custer.
Cortland State also rallied for its elimination-round victory, overcoming a 3-2, fifth-inning deficit with seven runs in the last four innings. Mike Zgorzelski hit the first home run of the finals, a solo shot in the seventh inning for the go-ahead run. Steve Nickel, Matt Vitalone, Dan Maycock and Nick DeVito had two hits each for the Red Dragons, with Vitalone, Maycock and DeVito driving in two runs apiece.
Friday's Recap
The two Wisconsin schools in the 2007 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship will meet in an intra-state battle on Saturday, after they advanced with first-round victories to highlight Friday’s action at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium.
The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (33-15) opened the tournament with a 2-0 victory over Emory University (39-9), behind a one-hit, complete-game shutout by Pointer pitcher Jordan Zimmerman. The one-hitter was the first in the championship finals since Montclair State University’s Dan Olsson one-hit Marietta College in 1984.
Carthage College (37-11), the other Wisconsin school, built an early 6-2 lead, then used a six-run seventh inning to pull away from Eastern Connecticut State University (38-11), en route to a 15-4 win. Carthage pitcher Jeff Livek struck out seven in a complete-game effort, while the Red Men pounded out 18 hits in the victory.
Carthage and Wisconsin-Stevens Point will meet in a winner’s bracket game on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. The other winner’s bracket game, at 7:45 p.m., will feature Chapman University (41-6) and Kean University (40-8), after both advanced with wins on Friday.
Chapman overcame a 4-2, fourth-inning deficit to rally past defending national champion Marietta College (32-16). Chapman pitcher Devin Drag improved to 16-0 on the season – the most victories by any Division III pitcher this season – while Kurt Yacko picked up his 10th save of the year in relief. Tyler Dean had two doubles and reached base all five times he was at the plate (two hits, two walks, one hit-by-pitch) on Friday.
The final game on Friday was a classic pitchers’ duel, as both hurlers threw complete-game, 12-inning efforts – Daniel Zeffiro struck out nine for victorious Kean University, while Jimmy Dougher struck out six for the State University of New York-Cortland (40-6). Friday’s final game went to 12 innings, as Kean scored three runs in the top of the 12th, keyed on a pinch-hit, two-run single by Eric Ammirata, to claim a 4-1 victory.
Saturday’s play will begin at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium with two elimination games, as Emory faces Eastern Connecticut State at 10 a.m., and Marietta faces Cortland State at 1:15 p.m.
Donations To Be Taken At NCAA® Division III Baseball Championship For Bluffton University Baseball Memorial Fund
Donations will be taken for the Bluffton College baseball team memorial fund during the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium.
The baseball championship, being hosted by Lawrence University and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, begins Friday and concludes with Tuesday's championship game.
The Bluffton baseball team was involved in a bus accident early March 2, in Atlanta, Ga.ÊThe bus, carrying 35 student-athletes, coaches and bus drivers, was on its way to Sarasota, Fla., for the Beavers' doubleheader with Eastern Mennonite University. The team was then scheduled to go to Fort Myers, Fla., to participate in the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic.
Seven passengers were killed in the crash. The victims were Bluffton student-athletes Zachary Arend, David Betts, Scott Harmon, Cody Holp and Tyler Williams and bus driver Jerome Niemeyer, and his wife, Jean Niemeyer.
The Bluffton baseball team voted unanimously to continue its season, and on March 30, the Beavers took the field, wearing black uniforms to honor their fallen teammates.
The memorial fund will enable the college to make enhancements to recently renamed Bluffton University Memorial Field and establish a permanent memorial to the victims.
Lawrence University, the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and the residents of the Fox Valley region, along with the entire NCAA Division III baseball community, extend their thoughts and sympathy to the Bluffton University family and all of those affected by this tragic accident.