D3 World Series

I'll be sure to check in from our side of the country...should be a good time. First time in school history we've advanced to the NCAA tournament. The news came via a mass text message from the captain at 2:32 AM last night. We are in the midst of finals so the seeding and placement certainly cheered us up a bit.

Thanks for posting CD

My son is on the Wheaton (Mass) team. Looking forward to his first regional.

Adrian College;
today I received a summary from Adrian [my hometown]
regarding the Adrian College Baseball team.
Having departed the snow of the Adrian winters in 1958, I continue to have great memories of my time in Adrian, Michigan.

Bob Williams

Here is some later information on AC Baseball team.
Adrian College baseball team secures outright MIAA title

Adrian College junior Ryan Domschot is greeted by teammates as he returns to the dugout between innings. Domschot struck out 13 in
Adrian’s 9-2 victory over Kalamazoo in Game 1 of a MIAA doubleheader.
The victory enabled the Bulldogs to clinch the outright MIAA title.
Daily Telegram-Posted May 09, 2010 @ 11:00 AM ADRIAN, MI

Their spot in the NCAA Division III regional was already secured, but they wanted to clinch the outright Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic
Association title.

Even more importantly, they wanted to get a pair of victories for their teammate Chad Meyer, who lost his two-year battle with cancer on Friday morning.

The Adrian College baseball team accomplished both things Saturday as it recorded 9-2 and 6-0 MIAA wins over Kalamazoo at Nicolay Field.

“The rest of the season is for Chad and I think the last two years have been for Chad,” said Adrian senior outfielder Alex Cowart, who went 5-for-6 with four runs, three RBIs and two walks during the
sweep. “I know he is up there watching us right now. I’m glad we could win our last two on senior day for him and win the league championship
for him outright.”

Checking in from the D-III NY Regional.

My team (Oneonta) lost in the first game of the tournament, but we have went on to win 3 in a row from then. We lost to Farmingdale State in Game 1 (9-5). Then proceeded to defeat Brockport (9-7), Keene State (5-2) and Castleton (9-2).

There are only 3 teams left in the regional- us, St. John Fisher and Cortland. We will play St. John Fisher tomorrow (5/22) at 1 PM at Falcon Park in Auburn, NY (Blue Jays NY-Penn facility) for a shot at Cortland in the championship.

During the regular season, we split with St. John Fisher in a doubleheader at their place and beat Cortland 2 out of 3.

JH - awesome report - I am rooting for you and your team big time!

Here is a shout out to my friend Smokey. His son and my son were freshmen in 2006 at Coastal Carolina. His son now is finishing up his fine career at Illinois Wesleyan. The young man led his team to the championship game yesterday where they only need to win one out of the next two to get to the D3 college world series.



http://www.iwusports.com/news/...7.aspx?path=baseball

Another matchup I am looking at is Marietta and Heidelberg. Marietta is hosting but they have to beat Heidelberg twice to advance. Heidelberg has been on a steady incline for several years and are looking for their first trip to Appleton. They'll just have to beat a few ghosts to get there.

Our own JH (Joshua Herzenberg) pitched like an All-American today

Came into the game today with two outs in the bottom of the third with his team trailing 4-2 in a championship game. All he did was pitch 7.1 innings without allowing a run, 6 strikeouts, and no walks in the biggest game of his life. He turned the game over to the bullpen to pitch the bottom of the 11th and a one run lead. Alas, it was not to be for Oneonta today as they gave up two runs to lose a hearbreaker in the bottom of the 11th robbing Josh and his team of a hard-fought win.

For all the fretting and stewing and plotting to play D1 ball we see on this site, some might like to ask Josh what it was like to play in that game for a championship and with all the marbles on the line. It was indeed COLLEGE BASEBALL at its finest

CD- Thanks for the shout and the praise. The game this afternoon was probably the single greatest baseball game I've ever been a part of, win or lose. The place was packed, loud, and intense.

As you said, we were down 4-2 when I came in in the 3rd inning. It remained that way until our senior captain and starting first baseman came up and hit a hanging curveball over the batting cage facility in left field for a 2-run home run to tie it 4-4 in the top of the 7th. It was 330 down the line with a 20 foot fence and then the 2 story building. To say the shot was impressive and clutch is an understatement.

We jumped ahead in the top of the 11th on an RBI single up the middle by another senior captain, our centerfielder. At this point I had gone 7 1/3 and my pitch count was 90, both more than I had ever thrown in college to this point. Our closer has been pretty much lights out all year and there was no second-guessing bringing him in. Unfortunately, St. John Fisher's hitters did what they were supposed to do and put together a 2-run, walk off comeback.

The loss was stunning and a very disappointing way to go out. However, we ended the season at a record of 31-13 and finished 3rd in the regionals (prior to this year no team in school history had ever made it passed the conference tournament). While everyone wishes we were still playing, we are holding our heads high knowing that it was a great accomplishment and looking forward to next season.

My personal game was good, as CD said, but it was all just part of the larger scheme of things to help the team win. The team needed me to give them quality innings to keep the game close, and that's the goal that I went out there with. If a team has 9 guys that have that goal set in their minds on a consistent basis then chances are that team will be successful in winning a lot of ballgames. My team had the right mentality the entire season and I think we proved that heart and desire triumphs pure talent and ability in many ways.

Josh


great season and great final game---more to come next season

quote:

My personal game was good, as CD said, but it was all just part of the larger scheme of things to help the team win. The team needed me to give them quality innings to keep the game close, and that's the goal that I went out there with. If a team has 9 guys that have that goal set in their minds on a consistent basis then chances are that team will be successful in winning a lot of ballgames. My team had the right mentality the entire season and I think we proved that heart and desire triumphs pure talent and ability in many ways.

Goose bumps reading that. You can win at every level of the game with that attitude. 9 guys playing as one almost always beats 9 talented individuals.

JH- Thanks for sharing this with us. You are an amazing kid, I thought a parent had written your post. Great to see you have been paying attention in college and learning so much.

I keep saying it's not about the win/loss record but more importantly what you learn from the game. Your team has lots of heart and you are all winners!

JH

Congrats on a very fine season for your team - and for such a fine outing at such a big time for yourself. Best of luck to you and Oneonta next year...

08

JH that post made me so proud of you. Not only as a player but as a young man.

quote:

My personal game was good, as CD said, but it was all just part of the larger scheme of things to help the team win. The team needed me to give them quality innings to keep the game close, and that's the goal that I went out there with. If a team has 9 guys that have that goal set in their minds on a consistent basis then chances are that team will be successful in winning a lot of ballgames. My team had the right mentality the entire season and I think we proved that heart and desire triumphs pure talent and ability in many ways.

JH,
Congratulations for a terrific outing, for picking up the starter and giving your team a chance to win.
Thank you for sharing your insights. Your comments could be bulletin board material and required reading for every parent and player.
That is one fine post!

JH is a mature kid who's ready to hit the real world with some tools to succeed.

JH

Great job! -great season! - and great post!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts out here!

You guys should be proud of your season!

Glad to see the top three seeds battle it out so well in this conference!

I renamed this thread to D3 World Series....

The magical run continues for Smokey's son.

From d3baseball.com

quote:

Lefty comes up alright for IWU
Joe Froelich got called out of the bullpen for Illinois Wesleyan in the top of the third inning, his team tied 1-1 and with a runner on third base. And less than two hours later, the left-hander had spun a masterpiece, allowing one run over the final seven innings to defeat Linfield 4-3 and send the Titans into a guaranteed berth in the 2010 Division III baseball national championship game on Tuesday afternoon. Scoreboard, with live stats and audio links.

Tyson Smith helped stake the Wildcats to a 3-1 lead through five and a half innings, twice hitting singles, stealing second and coming around to score.

But Illinois Wesleyan put together four hits and a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth to score three runs, helped by an infield error to lead off the inning, giving the Titans their first lead of the game.

The championship play-in game is on free video right now between Linfield and Cortland State. The score is 8-6 Cortland in the bottom of the 6th. The championship game follows at 3:30 and is also on free video. Some of the best college baseball games I have ever seen have been in these championship series. Sending good wishes out to Smokey and Illinois Wesleyan who have caught lightning in a jug.

http://all-access.cbssports.co...de=ncaa&media=181401

I should add, Scott Brosius is the head coach for Linfield...

Lets go JOE BROWN and his Cortland State team

Baseball sure is a funny game.
On Saturday, Linfield beat Cortland State 25-11.
Today, Cortland State comes back and wins 12-9 in the Championship play-in game.
Cortland will play Illinois Wesleyan in just a few minutes for the DIII National Championship.
Just like the DII series, there have been great, great games throughout. Yesterday, Linfield was on the brink of elimination. Got a grandslam HR in the 8th to beat Heidlburg 6-4.
Baseball sure is a funny, emotional game that is darn tough to figure out, especially in post season play at the college level. Guess that is one reason I love to watch it.

Should be fun- they played and exciting game yesterday with Cortland winning in bottom 9th.

IWU was a conference 4 seed, regional 6 seed, unranked, and they are playing in the title game!

Nice work !

Illinois Wesleyan is going to win this one and there are still several innings left....

TrHit - perhaps you could talk about Coach Brown and what type of program he has going up there in New York.

Smokey - my friend owes all of us a big, long post on what his son has been through. When his son was recruited by Coastal Carolina, he told Coach Gilmore that he was coming there to win a National Championship. Well, as it turns out, he was right about the National Championship part. I have met some great people in this game but Smokey (Jim Froelich and his wife Barbara) are the nicest and most positive people I have ever met. Never once did they complain or whine when things didn't turn out how they thought they ought to. Now, their son is a National Champion and he played a huge role in making that happen.

As infielddad said, baseball is a funny game...

CD,
Thank you for the insight about Smokey, his son, and the route they traveled in college baseball.
The DIII CWS and Regionals are so much different than DI and DII. Not any less challenging or rewarding for baseball, just very different.
Sometimes, scores like those being posted are the result.
DIII post season places such an emphasis a lot of games in a short time period. Teams need to have a lot of pitching, lots of it. Travel is condensed, sometimes to the point of being unfair, and teams that fall into the losers bracket in 8 and 6 team tournaments end up playing 5-6 games in 4 days. The winners take 3 days off, travel and start over.
In contrast, the DII CWS lasted the entire week with opportunities for some days off. Same is true in DI once in Omaha. Regionals and Super-Regionals are 4 and 2 team series so, again, not as many innings and more pitchers.
There are some very, very talented coaches, players and pitchers at the DIII level. Every team that played in the DIII CWS and most which played in the Regionals could hold there own on many college diamonds playing DI and DII.
As Summer Wood bat leagues become more popular, it is proving to be the place where DIII players really show they belong in the world of collegiate baseball.
In a sense, it does not seem completely right they have to prove themselves. On the other hand, I'll bet players like JH and Joe Froelich and many, many others don't mind at all when they do it. 20 to 30 of them are likely to be drafted next week. Not a lot, but enough to show there is a a lot of quality baseball being played in DIII.

I've really enjoyed following the D3 CWS on D3-Baseball.com. It would be fun to go back to WI sometime to watch the real thing.


As infielddad says - a very different structure to the championship. I'd sure like to see D3 have a CWS Finals playoff more akin to the D1 brackets - with two double elimination pools leading to the championship game. As for the earlier rounds, the bracketing needs to be tuned up - perhaps having all 8 team regionals would help.

IWU's women also just snagged the national championship in Outdoor Track. Big week for Titan sports! And all that from a cold-weather school!

Nice job, kids!

I followed the entire World Series very closely. Cortland is in our conference, and I have thrown against them both my freshman and sophomore years. A few notes on them:

-They are probably the best hitting team I've ever faced, 1 through 9. They hit like .360 as a team and have incredible plate discipline.

-They are physically big and very fast. They use this to their advantage in the game.

-Coach Brown seems to be a quality coach who knows how to produce consistently winning teams. They are certainly the team to beat in the area.

With that being said, we have had our fair share of battles with them on and off the field. We beat them 2 out of 3 times this year (proudly the only team in the country to do so). However, these games aren't necessarily filled with the most sportsmanship. Let's just leave it at this: If you can't lose graciously then you don't deserve to win. I am glad I chose to go to school where I did.

And bigtime congratulations are in store for Illinois Wesleyan for the feat

.



.

I have always told my kids, “It’s not where you start – It’s where you finish.”

Dan, please accept my apology for not posting earlier after I said, that I would. An old quirk or personality flaw I picked up with baseball – superstition – prevented me from posting. I didn’t want to post out of fear that I would jinx the IWU baseball team’s run of success – kind of like mentioning that a no-hitter or perfect game is in progress before the last out. Baseball people are funny that way.

I just got back from Appleton (Grand Chute), Wisconsin – WOW – what a ride. It is a long story you wouldn’t believe if someone made it in to a movie. We had a great team all year with 10 seniors, 7 of whom were regular starters – both pitchers and position players. I think there was a high expectation that they had put on themselves to achieve greatness in their final year. We started out a bit rough – contending with weather (to practice and play) – going on our “southern spring trip” (during spring break) with just 2 games under our belt - both losses. We then struggled with very good programs that, due to their proximity to the Mason-Dixon, had 15 to 20 games under their belts. I recall listening to Milsaps’ Coach Page stating, in a post game interview (an 11 to 10 loss, our second loss to them), just 6 game in to the season, that he would hate to meet us in the post season after we have a chance to play some games and work the kinks of winter out. Now I don’t know if he was just being nice… but boy was he ever right. We lost a lot of close games by 1 or 2 runs. Coach Martel doesn’t book weak sisters for non-conference games, several are (or were) ranked (top 25) and the CCIW has its share of ranked teams – Carthage was in the D3 CWS last year and ranked all year long, Augustana and North Central were both ranked. We also had several nagging injuries that just took time to heal – you name it; wrist, shoulder, back, knees – some of them from the second varsity sport they play at IWU. Anyway, they made it through the regular season May 9th, barely .500, with an overall record of 20-19, 12-9 CCIW, making the CCIW Conference Tournament by the skin of our A$$. NEW LIFE!

They entered the CCIW Tournament with nothing to lose. The pressure of school was over and the seniors had just graduated – let the fun begin. They made the collective decision as a team that baseball was a fun game and should be played accordingly…. They bought this monkey (you’ll see it in some of the pictures) at the local Dollar store and kept it in the dugout for our center fielder Ryan Hopp, they made freshman pitcher Nick Mehn wear this pink girls backpack around the field and in the dugout during games, they would go to karaoke night at the local watering hole every Sunday night as a group and make everyone take a turn and sing – they would watch B movie “chick-flicks” (real girly “not a dry-eye-in-the-house” love stories) before the start of every tournament and before a big game (my son will kill me if and when he finds out I disclosed this) – stuff like that…. These guys got loose – put the fun back in the game – came together as a TEAM and road that attitude all the way to the D3 College World Series Championship. They truly are a funny group of dirt-bags! Anywho… they started to win. This lit the fuse… what a lethal combination – playing for the love and enjoyment of the game – having fun – and doing it with confidence! They took the attitude that they were going to have fun as long as they left the lights on… They were sandlot kids again. Coach Martel will be the first to tell you that he just got the heck out of the way. It was a pure joy to watch. These guys totally snuck up on every one. Don’t get me wrong – we won 2 one run games against the best in the nation - real tough games – my son’s victory against Linfield being one of them. These guys had the confidence in each other that they – someone would eventually step up and get the job done. If one guy was off on a given day – someone else would pick him up.

These guys enjoyed the lack of respect they got. They were dubbed “Most likely to disappoint” by the writers at D3baseball.com as they evaluated the Regional seeds. Another baseball article dubbed them as "Tounamant Road Kill". These became their war cry - "ROAD KILL". IWU Baseball came into each and every tournament the last seed – they don’t seed the Championship Tournament but if they did they would have been rank last. Illinois Wesleyan now holds the NCAA record for winning a national title with the worst record, 31-21.

My son stated that he is most proud of the fact that he didn’t give up a walk in 14 innings of NCAA post season play – “walks will kill ya”. Former New York Yankee, 1998 MLB World Series MVP, Linfield Coach Scott Brosius stated the following about my son;

"Sometimes you just have to tip your cap," said Linfield coach Scott Brosius. "They made the move early in the game to bring in that left-handed pitcher and it turned out to be a great move. He did a great job of commanding pitches and to keep our hitters off balance. It was a battle to score runs off him."

He got the chance to compete with the best – that’s all you can ask.

What a way to end your baseball career – NCAA Baseball D3 National Champions!!!!!!

Remember; it’s not the dog in the fight – it’s the fight in the dog……

The thing I’m gonna’ miss the most about this game are the people you meet along the way – baseball people are “the best there is…” Dan your one of’em.

Smokey,
What a great summary of an unbelievable senior season for your son, your family and his teammates.
Jim Page is one of the fine coaches at any level of college baseball. Reading your post suggests he may also have a future as a fortune teller.
Thanks for sharing the experience, the thrills and what it means when a group of non-scholarship guys, most of whom will end their baseball careers, play and compete.
I really enjoyed reading your post. The excitement and pride is well deserved. Your son earned this in every way!

Smokey,

Congrats to Joe.

One of the nicest and most hard nosed player's I ever coached.

It warms my heart to read of his huge part in winning the National Championship.

Congrats, JH on a great run, and also to IWU; sound like a great group of guys. It's always wonderful to hear a story like theirs!

Smokey- I keep reading over what you wrote and smile. It is a great summary of what college baseball (and all sports) is all about. We've played thousands of games in our lives with hundreds of different people, but some stick more than others. This experience that you, your son, and all those others involved had will be something that will stick with them their entire lives. Congratulations once again

J H – Thanks for the kudos. Good Luck #20 and to the rest of the Red Dragons. Believe it or not next year is right around the corner. Work hard, respect the game, always remember to stay loose and HAVE FUN. BTW – the back-pack was the Pink Disney Princes. They made freshman Nick Mehn fill it with snacks and seeds. Is this a great game or what……