ANVILLE, Va. --- The season of firsts continued for Roanoke College baseball on Sunday afternoon as the Maroons recovered from a 7-6 loss to Salisbury University with a 13-5 triumph over the Sea Gulls to win the Danville Regional and punch a ticket to the NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament championship series.
The finals feature eight teams that will play thru a double elimination format. Those squads will travel to Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, Wis., and compete over six days from May 26-31 for the right to hoist the NCAA's walnut and bronze.
RELATED: NCAA Division III Baseball
Putting Roanoke's advancement into perspective is an easy analysis. The Maroons are just the second team to qualify for the Division III baseball finals under the ODAC banner, joining Hampden-Sydney College in 2005. Shenandoah University, which has a shot to join Roanoke in Appleton with a win on Monday, twice has appeared in the finals as a member of the USA South in 2009 and 2010.
Roanoke's postseason run began in the ODAC Tournament, although entry into that six-team field had its own drama as RC needed a tiebreaker to secure its position. The Maroons made the most of the opportunity, although they took the long road to the title after losing its first game in the four-day affair. They rallied for four straight wins to lift their first conference baseball trophy.
The path the Maroons took in the regional started off on the right foot with wins over Salisbury (15-5), Emory University (4-2), and LaGrange College (5-2). Those wins reversed RC's position from the ODAC Tournament, where instead of having to win twice on the final day to advance, the Maroons had two chances to win one game.
And that brings us to today (Sunday). While Roanoke needed both games, it still made good on its earlier efforts to earn a coveted place in Appleton.
RELATED: NCAA Tournament History
In Sunday's first game, Roanoke (32-17) held leads of 3-2 after three frames and 4-3 following the fifth, but two runs by Salisbury (35-10) in the sixth against one for Roanoke left the game tied at 5-all. The Sea Gulls added two more in the eighth to go ahead 7-5, a lead which persisted until the ninth when Roanoke nearly mounted a comeback.
Dean Hermanson led off with a walk and Sam Watson followed with a single thru the right side. Scott Ellis sacrificed to move both runners up, although he nearly beat the play at first. Drew Mikula stepped to the dish for the first time as a pinch hitter for Cody Shell. He sent a ground thru the left side to pull RC to within one at 7-6. With Watson now on third, Will Black nearly pushed him the remaining 90 feet with a liner back up the middle. But SU shortstop Scott Ardoin made a diving stab and doubled up pinch runner Ross Strickland at first to end both RC's threat and the game.
RELATED: Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score
The loss certainly didn't deter Roanoke from its goal, especially with ace John Ruhlman returning to the hill. He defeated the Sea Gulls with six strong innings in the regional's opening game, fanning eight along the way. He didn't strike out as many in this contest, but he went another six frames and partnered with Rawlings Cumbea to keep Salisbury at bay.
RC's offense was first to crack the scoreboard with two runs in the top of the third. Hermanson drove in Collier Donald and Sean Guida with a single to left-center. SU got one back in the bottom of the frame, leaving Roanoke up 2-1 after three.
The Maroons tacked on two more in the fifth. Will Decker drove in Eli Sumpter with a sac fly to right. Two batters later, Hermanson pushed around Donald with a single to center. Donald's stay on the basepaths was extended via a throwing error by the catcher on a failed pickoff attempt.
Salisbury was again equal to the task in the bottom of the fifth as they posted three runs, including two unearned tallies, to knot the game 4-all after five.
The Maroons were done playing small ball in the sixth as they exploded for seven runs to blow the game open and put thoughts of advancement in their fans' minds. With one down, Mikula and Sumpter singled around a Black walk to load the bases. Guida sent a shot back up the middle to bring around both Mikula and Black. Donald reloaded the bases with the second free pass of the inning. Decker delivered the knockout punch one batter later as he tripled to center to clear the bases. Hermanson drew the third walk of the inning before Watson smacked the second extra-base hit of the frame, doubling down the right field line to plate both runners and put RC ahead, 11-4.
Donald, who scored three runs in the game, turned run-producer in the seventh as he drove in Sumpter with a triple down the left field line. The run was Sumpter's third of the game and made it 12-4 RC.
Trying to chip away late in the game, Salisbury got one back in the eighth, but Roanoke put down any thoughts of a comeback with a sac fly to left by Guida to plate Black for the game's 18th and final run. RC's defense ended the contest in style with a 6-4-3 double play.