On Friday, eight teams will take the field in Appleton, Wisc. St. Thomas, Trinity (Conn.), Kean, Chapman all have come to Appleton and won championships and are looking to do that once again. One team, Trinity, is looking to do what Kean could not do last year, or anybody else since Glassboro State (now known as Rowan) successfully defended its national championship in 1979. This is currently the longest stretch in any NCAA sport without a repeat champion.

Since the NCAA moved to automatic playoff bids and a field of 54, there has always been a team making its first appearance. This year there are two as Farmingdale State and Shenandoah make their first appearance in the championship round.

Coverage for Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, and Day 6 of the 2009 regional playoffs.

At the beginning of the season D3baseball.com gave our best shot in foretelling who will still playing this weekend. Kean and Carthage were two favorites that stayed at the top of the regional rankings all season long and it looked for a while that our West pick, Chapman might not even make the playoffs.

Three teams we thought would be here played well all season and then stumbled in the playoffs: Heidelberg, Southern Maine and Salisbury. It is not surprising that instead of Heidelberg we see Wooster in its place. Nor is it a shock that Trinity will once again represent the New England region.

It is surprising to us that Shenandoah made the leap with its best season to date. We expected UW-Oshkosh to be the hometown favorite but the Titans did not even make it into the playoffs. Without a WIAC team, the local fans will have to choose between Carthage and St. Thomas.

We made Farmingdale State our Cinderella in the New York Region when we wrote back in January: "If Skyline favorites St. Joseph's (L.I.) or Farmingdale State can get into the playoffs, they might surprise." Never mind that we favored Cortland State but we welcome the Rams to the ball.

First-round matchups for the championship round (all times Central):
Game 1, 10:00 a.m.: Carthage vs. Wooster
Game 2, 1:15 p.m.: Kean vs. Trinity (Conn.)
Game 3, 4:30 p.m.: Shenandoah vs. Farmingdale State
Game 4, 7:45 p.m.: Chapman vs. St. Thomas

There will be live video of the entire championships from Wisconsin.

Teams with five or more consecutive appearances.

Team	No.	Years
Marietta	7	1980-1986
Montclair State	5	1983-1987
UW-Oshkosh	5	1984-1988
UW-Oshkosh	7	1990-1997
Cortland State	5	1997-2001
Chapman	5	2005-2009

One change this year in the championship bracket will be significant. Last January the NCAA announced that they were moving back to the bracket format used between 1993 and 2004. Gone is the winners bracket bye, taking away the day off for the victors of the winners bracket.

Once again the first round has four intriguing matchups: The first game features the last two qualifiers. Wooster and Carthage share more than their timing. Both are programs that stay in the top rankings from year to year but have no championship trophies in their award case back home. In game two you have the 2007 and 2008 champions going head-to-head. Game three will give one of the championship rookies their first win in the championship round as they square off against each other. The last game of the day has two former champions St. Thomas in 2001, and Chapman in 2003.

Our Cinderella pick is Shenandoah. They have several pitchers who can win games and an offense that will not quit. This was evident in the regional championship game as when they needed the runs, they got them in bunches. Our predicted winner will do more than win another championship. They will bring a second consecutive trophy back to Hartford. The Bantams are our pick to win it all, again.

Series Notes: Chapman is making their fifth-consecutive appearance, two shy of a record seven shared by Marietta and UW-Oshkosh. Since the Championship began in 1976, this is the sixth time a team has made five or more consecutive appearances in the Championship round.

Wooster won on a walk-off wild pitch, while Carthage steadily pulled away, claiming the Mideast and Central Regionals crowns on Monday afternoon by defeating Marietta and UW-Whitewater in winner-take-all games. Monday's scores.

The last two teams into the Championships will be the first two to take the field in Appleton, as Friday's full schedule is below.

Chris Wood scored on a wild pitch with one out in the bottom of the ninth as Wooster defeated Marietta 4-3 on Monday afternoon. He pinch-ran for Michael DeBord after DeBord's double and moved to third on a fly ball. Mark Miller got the complete-game win for the Scots.

Wooster took the lead in the sixth inning on a Matt Pierce two-run homer and retook the lead an inning later when a Marietta fielder lost a ball in the sun. But Marietta tied the ballgame in the top of the ninth inning on a hit batsman, infield grounder and a hopper into left field.

The Warhawks edged Carthage 4-2 in Monday's opener to force the decisive second game.

First-round matchups for the championship round (all times Central):
Game 1, 10:00 a.m.: Carthage vs. Wooster
Game 2, 1:15 p.m.: Kean vs. Trinity (Conn.)
Game 3, 4:30 p.m.: Shenandoah vs. Farmingdale State
Game 4, 7:45 p.m.: Chapman vs. St. Thomas

There will be live video of the entire championships from Wisconsin. Check back at D3baseball.com for links and more details.

Carthage earned its spot in the Central Regional championship game with a 12-4 win last night over Millsaps. UW-Whitewater eliminated Wartburg 8-3 earlier today and did the same with Millsaps 10-4. The Warhawks' win moved the championship game with Carthage to Monday.

Click here for Wednesday's, Thursday's, Friday's, Saturday's, and Sunday's coverage.

Shenandoah got its trip to Appleton thanks to a seven-run rally in the eighth inning, lifting the Hornets past Johns Hopkins 11-7. Kean clinched a spot in the championship round yesterday for the third straight time. St. Thomas is also packing for a week of baseball action, their first since winning it all in 2001. Photo gallery.

George Fox extended their season with a 5-4 10-inning win over Chapman. It was for naught as Chapman took the afternoon game 7-4 to claim their fifth straight appearance in the championship round.

Down by one, Eastern Connecticut had the bases loaded with Shawn Gilblair at the plate with two outs in the ninth. But Jeremiah Bayer got the final out for Trinity (Conn.) to allow the Bantams' title defense to continue with a 5-4 win over the Warriors.

Farmingdale forced a final game yesterday and defeated RPI 8-0 for its first ever championship round appearance. Tom Heeman was named the Tournament MVP after pitching a complete game shutout in the championship game, while striking out seven batters and allowing no walks

Playoff toolbox: Regional pages | Day 1 results | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Sunday's scoreboard

Wooster got the early game at the regional in Adrian, taking on Marietta for the second-straight game. The Pioneers turned the tables, taking the rematch 6-2. Marietta moves to the championship game and Wooster earned an elimination game against Adrian, which it won 8-2.

Carthage earned its spot in the championship game with a 12-4 win last night over Millsaps. UW-Whitewater eliminated Wartburg 8-3 earlier today and did the same with Millsaps 10-4. The Warhawks' win moves the championship game with Carthage to Monday.

Scroll down for Saturday's coverage. Click here for Wednesday's, Thursday's, Friday's, and Saturday's coverage.

Top-seeded St. Olaf needed just one win against St. Thomas to claim its first ever appearance in the championship round. But the Tommies stayed alive with an 11-2 rout in the first game after another strong outing from Matt Schuld and 16 hits. In the second game, Dan Leslie threw a complete-game shutout and Matt Olson hit a three-run home run in the second to put the Tommies up 5-0, a score which stood up to send the Tommies to Appleton. Photo gallery.

Kean clinched a spot in the championship round, riding an eight-run outburst in the third inning to a 12-6 win against Keystone. RPI had a chance to punch its ticket as well, but will have to wait until tomorrow in a winner-take-all game against Farmingdale State. Tom Jebb singled home the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give RPI an 11-10 come-from-behind win over Clarkson, ending the Golden Knights' Cinderella bid, but got down big against Farmingdale before a five-run ninth made it a respectable 13-9 loss. Saturday's D3baseball.com scoreboard.

Playoff toolbox: Regional pages | Day 1 results | Day 2 results | Day 3 results | Saturday's scoreboard

Shenandoah got its trip to Appleton thanks to a seven-run rally in the eighth inning, lifting the Hornets past Johns Hopkins 11-7.

Drew Hedman drove in five runs, including a grand slam during a 10-run third inning as Pomona-Pitzer slammed SCIAC rival Cal Lutheran 14-1. Using a four-run first inning as a springboard, George Fox fought off elimination for the second straight day, topping Texas-Tyler 10-4. In a turbulent season for Chapman, one in which the Panthers wondered if they would even make the playoffs, The Panthers find themselves one win away from their fifth straight NCAA Division III West Region crown with a 5-2 win over Pomona-Pitzer. The Bruins play Chapman in a championship tilt tomorrow.

Eastern Connecticut rallied with three runs in the bottom of the ninth to end WPI's run and advance to tomorrow's championship in the New England Regional. Earlier Eastern Connecticut eliminated Husson as the Warriors recorded 18 hits, four of them home runs. The Warriors will have to take two from Trinity (Conn.) on Sunday to advance, however.

A short rain delay at today's Mideast Regional did not slow down the Wooster offense. Stu Beath went 5-for-5 with 4 RBI's to pace the Scots' to a 13-3 win against Marietta. Marietta came back in the next game to eliminated Rose-Hulman. With the win, the Pioneers earned a date with Wooster on Sunday. In the remaining Mideast Regional game, Nick VanDike and Ryan Domschot combine to shut down Heidelberg. Heidelberg is the fourth top regional seed to be eliminated from the 2009 playoffs.

Saturday's action got going early once again as Elizabethtown and TCNJ finished off a game halted yesterday due to heavy fog. Elizabethtown tied the score 3-3 on a Eric Luff double but single runs in the seventh and eighth innings made New Jersey a 5-3 winner. The Lions then fell to Keystone. In the Central, Fontbonne and Wash U were eliminated, while Carthage is 3-0 after rallying past Millsaps with eight runs in the eighth inning on a 12-5 win in the Central Regional nightcap. Millsaps, despite being out hit 7-13, defeated UW-Whitewater 12-4 to advance to the winners bracket final against Carthage.

Scroll down for Friday's coverage. Click here for Wednesday's and Thursday's coverage.

Cortland State and Salisbury are out of the New York and South Regionals, respectively, after each fell in elimination games on Friday afternoon.

On the other end, Kean, Shenandoah and Trinity (Conn.) end the evening at 3-0. Trinity gets a day off, waiting for Eastern Connecticut, Husson and WPI to sort themselves out on Saturday in the New England Regional. Kean is waiting for the conclusion of the Elizabethtown-TCNJ game, then for Keystone to face the winner, and could lock in its trip to Appleton as early as tomorrow evening. Shenandoah can do the same when it plays the winner of Johns Hopkins at Christopher Newport at 5 p.m. on Saturday.

Cortland State\'s hopes for a third consecutive trip to Appleton were dashed when Steve King shut the Red Dragons down for 7-2/3 innings and Tom Heeman came on to snuff a late rally in a 6-4 Farmingdale State win. Salisbury coughed up a 6-0 lead as Johns Hopkins scored 11 unanswered runs in a South Regional elimination game to win 11-6. Friday\'s scores.

Playoff toolbox: Regional pages | Day 1 results | Day 2 results | Friday\'s scoreboard | Playoff Central

Elsewhere, RPI got to 2-0 this afternoon with a win against Western New England, in a game held over by rain from Thursday night. St. Olaf did this morning and kept St. Thomas from doing the same. In fact, the Midwest Regional championship is going to look a lot like the MIAC championship, with St. Olaf and St. Thomas squaring off on Saturday. Only this time, it will be St. Thomas who needs to win twice. St. Thomas freshman John Licht shut out UW-Stevens Point 6-0 to eliminate the Pointers early Friday evening.

One place we don\'t have any 2-0 teams is the Central and Mideast Regionals. In the Central Regional, the entire schedule was washed out for the second time in three days. Games will begin to pile up in Moline, Ill., on Saturday as the tournament races to get its last game started by the 9 p.m. Monday deadline. The Marietta-Wooster game was also rained out in the Mideast Regional and was rescheduled for Saturday.

In the wild west it was Texas-Tyler, George Fox and Chapman coming out with wins on Friday. Texas-Tyler erupted for five runs in the top of the eighth, knocking off Hendrix 5-3 as the Patriots move on and Hendrix heads home. Matt Wyckoff went 3-for-4 with four RBIs, Pat Bailey slugged a grand slam, and Chad Jones set a new George Fox University single-season record with his seventh save as the Bruins upset top-ranked Pomona-Pitzer 12-6. In the late game it was Chapman edging Cal Lutheran 7-6 as Tyler Hadzinsky\'s RBI single in the seventh inning provided the difference.

Elsewhere on Friday, Matt Grassley doubled, tripled and homered, driving in four runs to lead Heidelberg past Concordia (Ill.) 12-2 in an elimination game. Defending national champion Trinity (Conn.) blew open a tight game with a three-run eighth to hand Southern Maine its first loss of the tournament, 6-0. Jeremiah Bayer threw the complete-game seven-hitter for the Bantams. Seventh-seeded Husson eliminated eighth-seeded Babson in the New England Regional, 10-6. TCNJ eliminated Alvernia 8-2 behind a complete game from Sean Stewart.

Adrian held off elimination, as No. 9 hitter Andrew Anderson hit a sacrifice fly to score Brian Bilius with an unearned run in the bottom of the 10th, lifting the Bulldogs past Rose-Hulman 9-8. York (Pa.) was eliminated 4-1 by Washington and Jefferson, and the Presidents were, in turn, eliminated by Johns Hopkins 10-2.

Rounding out Friday\'s action was Clarkson\'s Austin Pitkin\'s complete game, 5-2 victory, over Western New England. Elizabethtown defeated Penn State Berks 9-2 in an elimination game to advance to play in another elimination game against New Jersey. Joel Delorit yielded just one earned run over eight innings to help the UW-Stevens Point advance with a 9-3 win over St. Scholastica, ending the Saints season.

What was on the schedule as elimination day in the regional playoffs, three Regionals were just getting underway. The Mideast, Central and West Regionals were washed out on the first day and all three got a full slate of games in as the rain stayed away.

The games got underway on Thursday with a morning shocker, as sixth-seeded Rose-Hulman got a stellar pitching performance from Derek Eitel and rolled past top-seeded Heidelberg 12-2. Eitel scattered six hits and two walks while striking out six, allowing just one run to a fourth-ranked Heidelberg team that entered the game hitting .355.

Playoff toolbox: Regional previews | Playoff Central

There were other outstanding pitching performances turned in on the second day of playoff action. Cal Lutheran southpaw Greg Gelber took a no-hitter through six innings and defeated George Fox, the highest-hitting team in the country, 2-1. In the South Regional, it was freshman right-hander Dave Trushel who stayed undefeated on the mound for Washington & Jefferson after allowing only three hits during an 8-3 victory over Washington and Lee. Will Musson pitched a complete-game seven-hitter with a career-high 13 strikeouts to lead Eastern Connecticut past Suffolk, 13-2.

It was not all pitching as some teams brought out their bats. WPI blew open a tight game by batting around in consecutive innings and scoring 11 runs in winning its second game against no losses with a 15-5 rout of Babson. Motivated by a rare underdog label, Chapman exploded for six runs in the second and led 14-1 after four innings on its way to a 16-2 win over Texas-Tyler. The New York Regional featured a slug fest with both teams as tournament host, Farmingdale State defeated Clarkson, 19-10 in a game that featured 28 hits and 17 walks combined.

In other regional action: Husson College scored six runs in the seventh inning on three hits and five Westfield State errors to wipe out a one-run deficit and record a 10-3 victory in an elimination game in the New England Regional. The late game featuring Trinity (Conn.) and Southern Maine was pushed to Friday as the rain that fell during the Husson/Westfield State game continued.

In a game between New York regional powerhouses, top-seeded Cortland stayed alive as they defeated Ithaca 3-2, eliminating the Bombers from the double-elimination Regional. Ithaca had a 2-1 lead going into the the bottom of the eighth when Cortland started its game-winning rally. With two outs, A wild pitch allowed Kevin Jackson to score the tying run to score. One batter later, Alex Coffey’s bunt single drove in the go-ahead run.

In dramatic fashion, Kean scored four runs in the final two innings to erase a 5-3 deficit and defeat New Jersey, 7-5. The top-seeded Cougars won their 10th straight regional game dating back to 2007 and advanced in the winners bracket to face Keystone. Seth Shultz had a two-run home run in the fourth inning as Penn State Berks defeated Penn State Behrend, 8-5, in one of two elimination games at the Mid-Atlantic Regional. In the other, Chuck Nicholas allowed just one run through eight innings and Alvernia pounded out 12 hits en-route to a 10-1 win over Montclair State. Eric Groff went 4-for-5 with four runs scored and Ryan Smyth hit a grand slam as Keystone earned a spot in the winners bracket final with a 10-8 win over Elizabethtown.

Johns Hopkins avenged its loss in the first round with a 14-2 win over N.C. Wesleyan. The Blue Jays used a six-run first inning to gain an early lead and take controlof the game. Salisbury, the host team dropped a 5-4 heartbreaker in 10 innings to Christopher Newport. Facing Chritopher Newport in the winners bracket final is Shenandoah. The Hornets made it two wins in two days with an 11-2 blowout victory over York.

Marietta and Wooster posted wins and will face each other in the second round. Wooster advanced as they defeated Concordia-Chicago by the final score of 5-1 . Matt Groezinger blasted a three-run, home run in the bottom of the first inning to give Wooster an early 3-0 lead and the Scots' went on to defeat Concordia-Chicago by the final score of 5-1. Marietta got to starter Ryan Domschot early, chasing him in the third, to take a 14-3 decision in the Mideast Regional on Adrians home field.

Carthage built a 8-2 lead in the fifth and held on for an 8-7 win over Fontbonne as the Griffins' ninth inning rally fell short. Millsaps showed little rust from a 20-day layoff as they scored three runs in their opening at-bat and relied on their defense to hold on for a 5-3 win over Wartburg. UW-Whitewater took advantage of Washington miscues to come back in the bottom of the ninth and beat the Bears 3-2

After three straight extra-inning games, the Midwest Regional finally got a game completed in the regulation nine innings. UW-Stevens Point sent Beloit home with its second loss in the regional. St. Olaf rattled off eight unanswered runs in the final five innings to come from behind and register an 8-4 win over St. Norbert. St. Thomas rallied with seven runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to remain perfect in the Midwest Regional, beating St. Scholastica 8-4.

As the West regional got underway at Linfield, Pomona-Pitzer knocked off Hendrix 8-3. The Sagehens will face George Fox, a day one loser to Cal Lutheran and the Kingmen will take their 1-0 record against Chapman.

On a day where rain wiped out the Mideast, Central and West Regional, the bottom seeds came up

big twice and nearly came up big two other times. Bottom-seeded Babson and Clarkson each

posted upset wins, as the eighth-seeded Beavers knocked off New England top seed Eastern Connecticut and the sixth-seeded Golden Knights topped New York top seed Cortland State in Wednesday's opening-round games.

Playoff toolbox: Regional previews | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Playoff Central

Clarkson struck the biggest blow of the early games, rallying for eight runs in the top of the eighth and tacking on one in the ninth to knock off New York Regional top seed Cortland State 15-12. Jerry Coleman hit a based-loaded double to knock in three of his four runs for the Golden Knights. And Babson put up seven runs in the second, including a grand slam by Sean Cleary, to propel the Beavers to their first-ever tournament win, 10-6 against Eastern Connecticut.

In losing efforts, Beloit and Washington & Lee had strong efforts but ended up with losses to the topped ranked teams in their regionals. St. Olaf beat Beloit 2-1 in 11 innings as the Buccaneers nearly knocked off the

Midwest Regional's number one seed. For Salisbury, it took a complete game effort by Eric Willey for Salisbury to claim a 3-2 victory over Washington & Lee. General's starter, Chuck Davidson made the game a pitchers duel as he went the distance, allowing three runs (two earned) on two hits.

In other regional action : James Wood went 2-for-4 with two runs and three RBI, including a three-run homer to the left-center gap to tie the score at 3-3 in the fourth inning, as Trinity (Conn.) posted a 6-4 win over Westfield State in the opening round of the NCAA Division III New England Regional Baseball Championship Tournament. In the opener, Suffolk rallied to tie the game by scoring four times in the top of the eighth inning, but WPI answered with the go-ahead run in the bottom of the frame and went on to post its first NCAA tournament victory in its first try, 7-6. The late game featured Southern Maine and in-state foe Husson. Mike Eaton pitched 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to gain the win on the mound and drove in the decisive run with a single in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift the Huskys to a 5-4 win over Husson.

RPI and Western New England used big innings to join Clarkson as winners in the opening round of the New York Regional. RPI used a four-run third inning to get a jump on Farmingdale State, and held on throughout a late Farmingdale comeback for the 5-4 victory. Seven runs in the first three innings gave Western New England a comfortable lead, as they continued on for the 15-6 victory over Ithaca.

Senior Colin Feneis threw a one-hitter and had a career-high 15 strikeouts as Kean earned a 10-0 victory over Penn State Berks. They fill face conference rival, New Jersey as the Lions opened their play with a 13-1 victory over Penn State Behrend. The third NJAC team in the Mid-Atlantic Regional did not find the same success. Elizabethtown capitalized on a two-out error in the top of the eighth inning to break a 2-2 tie, as the Blue Jays defeated Montclair State 5-2. In the late game, Ray Jackson had a two-out walk-off single to drive in the game-winning run, lifting Keystone to a 2-1 victory over Alvernia.

In the South regional, it was pitching that dominated. In additon to the pitching of Willey and Davidson, York, Shenadndoah, and Christopher Newport got strong performances from their starting pitchers to open the day with wins. Behind an exceptional playoff performance from Jason Christenberry, York rolled to a 12-1 victory over North Carolina Wesleyan. Shenandoah's Greg Van Sickler won his third straight decision on the mound as the Hornets won their first-ever NCAA Tournament contest 8-2 over Johns Hopkins. The Captain's Josh Brinkman tossed seven strong innings and was backed by a four run fifth for a come from behind win, 5-3, against Washington & Jefferson.

The Midwest Regional featured two extra inning games with the third game of the day postponed until Thursday. The 11 inning affair with St. Olaf prevailing over Beloit was the short game on the day. A walk-off home run by Taylor Rahm in the 17th inning ended the longest postseason game in NCAA Division III history as the St. Thomas earned a 5-4 win against UW-Stevens Point at E.J. Schneider Field in Oshkosh.

Last year, the surprises came in the form of Adrian and Linfield. The chalk prevailed in the form of Trinity (Conn.), Kean, Chapman and Cortland State. And Johns Hopkins and UW-Whitewater advanced as the No. 2 seeds out of their regional.

But 2009 is a new season. And while Adrian is in the field again, and is once again seeded in the bottom half of its regional, it's unlikely many will take the Bulldogs for granted. Nor Johns Hopkins. Nor George Fox or UW-Stevens Point. They're all teams in the lower half of their brackets that have done it before, once upon a time.

Who will this year's surprises be? Who will be the disappointments? And in the end, which eight teams will we see in Appleton, Wis.? That's what the D3baseball.com staff aims to predict with the 2009 Regional Previews.

Pick a region to read more.

2009 Regionals: Central | Mid-Atlantic | Mideast | Midwest | New England | New York | South | West

Early Monday morning the brackets were announced and early Wednesday morning the games will begin. D3baseball.com will bring you all the coverage from here through the awarding of the Walnut and Bronze in two weeks.

Playoff toolbox: Wednesday's schedule | The bracket | Playoff Central | Discuss the selections, games

Did you miss Monday's coverage? Scroll down for more as we get ready for the opening games of the 2009 Division III baseball championships.

It seems this year, if you went out and scheduled strong non-conference opponents, you were rewarded.

Sure, if you're Southern Maine or Kean, who entered last week No. 1 in their respective regional polls, getting knocked out of the conference tournament might not have been that big a deal. But as you get further down last week's regional rankings, the decisions get harder to make. As does the waiting. When the 13 Pool C teams were announced with the brackets on Monday morning, scheduling seemed to be a key component, more so than in-region winning percentage.

Playoff toolbox: Wednesday's schedule | The bracket | Playoff Central | Discuss the selections, games

"We're obviously thrilled to be selected to the tournament," St. Norbert coach Tom Winske said. "The NCAA committee has always looked at strength of schedule as an important factor and with the schedule we played this year I'm sure that was a big reason we were selected. I'm happy for our team we have another week to play."

St. Norbert defeated three WIAC teams this season, splitting doubleheaders with UW-Stevens Point, UW-Oshkosh and UW-Platteville, marking the first time in program history that's happened. The Green Knights also played six games against Midwest Conference champion Beloit (losing four) and two games with Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament champion St. Olaf (both losses).

At WPI, a 1-0 record against Trinity (Conn.) and a 2-1 mark against NEWMAC rival Wheaton (Mass.) may well have put the Engineers over the top. "It's cool to think it's the first time in 106 years that it has happened," said coach Mike Callahan, whose Engineers are in the tournament for the first time. "This senior class deserves it. Four years of hard work has paid off. This was their goal and they accomplished it. It's a good feeling when you set a goal early in January and come May you can say you have accomplished it."

WPI's senior class has won 82 games in four seasons. The program's previous record for wins by a senior class was 62.

Christopher Newport made the field with a 24-11-2 overall record, 20-11-1 in-region. The Captains made the tournament as an at-large team along with Shenandoah, giving the USA South three teams, while Montclair State joined Kean in the field of 54 as at-large teams, giving the NJAC three teams as well.

But the biggest strength-of-schedule case may well be made for UW-Whitewater. The Warhawks had double-digit wins against regionally ranked opponents, although the NCAA doesn't release its final regional poll. UW-Whitewater was 5-2 against UW-Stevens Point, the WIAC automatic qualifier, 1-1 against St. Thomas and 1-1 against Carthage, while going 4-0 in non-region games against Otterbein and Wooster, each ranked in the Mideast.