Trinity (Conn.) College kept its record winning streak alive, and Kean University saw its hopes of a repeat national championship take a hit with a loss in opening-round games at the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship finals.

Trinity (42-0) ran its NCAA Division III win streak to 42 games with a 2-1 victory over the State University of New York-Cortland (42-4) in the final game of the day at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Trinity broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the ninth when the winning run scored on a bases-loaded passed ball.

Trinity faces Linfield College (35-11) in a winner’s bracket game at 7:45 p.m. Saturday. Cortland saw its 38-game win streak snapped, and the Red Dragons take on the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (39-9) in an elimination game at 1:15 p.m. Saturday.

Kean (39-10), looking to be the first team to repeat as national champs since Rowan University did it in 1978 and 1979, dropped a 4-2 decision to top-ranked Chapman University (40-3) in the day’s opening game.
Chapman, which used its 1-2 punch on the mound of Wayde Kitchens and Kurt Yacko, plays Johns Hopkins University (39-6) in a winner’s bracket game at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. Kean takes on Adrian College (34-12) in an elimination game at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Johns Hopkins, the nation’s most prolific offensive team, won a pitchers’ duel against Adrian. The Blue Jays, averaging more than 11 runs per game, beat Adrian 3-2 in 14 innings. Matt Benchener’s run-scoring double in the bottom of the 14th drove in the winning run. Johns Hopkins pitchers Joe Zaccaria and Ryan Kealy combined to strike out 19 batters.