Trinity, Johns Hopkins Lone Unbeaten Teams Left In Field

Trinity (Conn.) College moved another step closer to a perfect season, while the defending champions were one of two favorites sent packing during the second round of games Saturday at the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship finals.

Trinity (43-0) looked like it might cruise to a win over Linfield College (35-12), but the Bantams had to hang on for a 6-5 victory in a winner’s bracket game. Trinity jumped out to a 6-2 lead after striking for four runs in the first, highlighted by Kent Graham’s two-run homer, and two more in the seventh. Linfield’s Rhett Fenton hit a three-run homer in the eighth to cut the lead to one, and the Bantams worked out of a jam in the ninth to preserve the victory.

Defending champion Kean University (39-11), which swept through the 2007 World Series with a 4-0 record, was eliminated on Saturday by Adrian College (35-12). Adrian, playing its second extra-inning game in as many days, picked up a 7-6 win in the 12th inning on Todd Meyers’ walk-off liner that bounced out of the glove of Kean’s shortstop to score the winning run.

The State University of New York-Cortland (42-5) had entered the weekend with a 38-game winning streak, but that was quickly turned into a two-game losing skid. The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (40-9) scored in six different innings en route to a 10-2 victory that sent Cortland packing. Adam Dominick was the complete-game winner for the Warhawks, while Kevin Zalnis blasted his 17th homer of the season for Whitewater.

Johns Hopkins University (40-6) displayed the same resiliency it showed during its 14-inning win over Adrian a day earlier by coming from behind to defeat top-ranked Chapman University (40-4) 5-4. Johns Hopkins starter Chez Angeloni allowed all four runs in the third frame but limited Chapman to four hits the rest of the way.

UW-Whitewater takes on Chapman at 10 a.m. in an elimination game, followed by Linfield against Adrian at 3:30 p.m. in another elimination game. Trinity takes on Johns Hopkins meeting at 7 p.m., and the winner of that game advances to Tuesday’s 11 a.m. championship game