Golden Eagles reach final six

In their first-ever appearance in the Division III College World Series featuring the top eight teams in the country, Brockport defeated Aurora College from Illinois 5-2 before losing two heart-breaking one run games to top-ranked Eastern Connecticut State University and host Wisconsin-Whitewater. The games were played at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, Wisconsin, about 90 minutes north of Milwaukee.

Senior left-hander Ben Kimball, the school's second ever All-American in baseball, set the record for wins and innings pitched in a season as he allowed just two runs and ten hits in the opener. Seniors Matt Johnson and Andy Peterson each had RBI singles in the first inning and sophomore shortstop Tim Wilson added a two-run triple in the fourth.

Against Eastern Connecticut, the two teams were tied 1-1 thanks to Tim Wilson's solo home run before a controversial interference call at second base put a runner at third with no outs in the eighth inning for the tie. After a walk, E-C then successfully executed the suicide squeeze to score the game-winning run.

Sunday, May 30, Brockport battled hosts Wisconsin-Whitewater in an elimination game in the double-elimination format. The Golden Eagles gave up a run in the seventh on a two-out bloop single down the right field line and an unearned run in the eighth inning to lose a 3-2 lead and the game 4-3.

Andy Peterson hit a long three-run home run on a 0-2 pitch in the sixth inning with John Morgan (Hilton) and Matt Johnson aboard to account for all of the Golden Eagle scoring.

"I think we were very close (to being 3-0 in the finals)," commented Brockport head coach Mark Rowland. "I don't think any team can win a national championship without getting some breaks. I felt like the last two games we didn't get the breaks. It's hard to beat teams of this caliber without having someone on your side. Every team leaves here with one loss, but our team needs to be proud of how it responded. To do this on the national stage ... I can't believe how well they played. I knew they had it in them," Rowland concluded.