WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team opens play in its 13^th NCAA Division III national tournament Friday at 5:30 p.m. ET against Baldwin Wallace University (OH) at Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids, IA.

Ranked No. 1 in Division III and No. 1 in New England, second-seeded Eastern (44-3) qualified for the five-day, eight-team, double-elimination tournament by winning the Little East Conference tournament, sweeping the Rochester, NY Regional in three straight and winning the first two games of the best-of-three Mansfield, CT Super Regional against No. 10 Rowan University. The Warriors have set a program season record for wins and bring an 18-game winning streak into the national tournament, equaling the third-longest streak in program history.

Making its second national tournament appearance in nine years, Baldwin Wallace (37-11) will be looking for its fifth straight post-season win over a New England team. The unranked and seventh-seeded Yellow Jackets defeated Johnson & Wales University and Wheaton College among its three wins in the Brockport, NY Regional, then swept Endicott College in the Beverly, MA Super Regional. Four of the team's losses this year -- two in the regular season and two in the conference tournament -- have come against Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) rival Marietta College, the No. 2 ranked team in Division III and top seed in this week's tournament.

Wheaton is ranked third in New England and Endicott second, with a win over Eastern giving the Yellow Jackets a sweep of the three top-ranked teams in New England. It will be the first meeting between Eastern and Baldwin Wallace. The teams are a combined 22-2 at neutral sites this year, Eastern losing only to Bethel University March 19 at Fort Myers and Baldwin losing only to Babson College, ranked seventh in New England, March 13 in Port Charlotte.

Like Eastern, Baldwin Wallace is a veteran team. The Yellow Jackets have won five straight since losing to Marietta, 16-6, in the championship game of the Ohio Athletic Conference tournament. BW is returning to the national tournament for the first time since 2014, when it went 1-2 at Grand Chute, WI.

The teams have roughly the same batting average and fielding percentage (with a .971 fielding average, Eastern is on pace to set a season record), and have roughly the same number of hits and runs, but the Warriors feature the top team ERA (2.90) in the country, with the Yellow Jackets at 4.42.
 

While Eastern has three players with at least ten home runs, three with at least 60 hits, three with over 100 total bases, and four with at least 50 runs scored, Baldwin Wallace has out-homered the Warriors by 25 (73-48) and has recorded more than 100 more total bases. The Yellow Jackets rank fifth nationally in home runs and fourth in slugging (.560). Fourteen different BW players have at least one home run as opposed to Eastern's eight.

Eastern features the two-time ABCA Region 2 Position Player-of-the-Year and 2021 All-America in senior third baseman Luke Broadhurst (Stafford), who was joined by seven teammates on this year's All-Region 2 Team. Additional first-teamers were senior catcher Matt Malcom (East Lyme), junior shortstop Zach Donahue (South Windsor) and senior right-hander Bryan Albee (Killingly). Graduate leftfielder and returning All-America John Mesagno (Tappan, NY) and junior righty pitcher Billy Oldham (Brookfield) were second-team all-region picks and senior centerfielder Ryan Bagdasarian (Glastonbury) and senior lefty pitcher Aidan Dunn (Westfield, MA) were third-teamers. Fourth-year head coach Brian Hamm repeated as regional Coach-of-the-Year after leading the team to the No. 1 ranking in New England throughout the season.

Three BW players were named to this week's ABCA Region 7 team: first-team junior first baseman Luke Vonderhaar and senior shortstop Alex Ludwick and third-team senior outfielder/pitcher Drew Wilson. The No. 3 hitter in the lineup, Vonderhaar has 138 total bases and 34 extra-base hits, is tied for fifth nationally with a program-record 19 home runs and has also driven in a program-record 68 runs. A three-time All-OAC selection, Ludwick is one of two players on the team with more than 70 hits, leading the team with 76, ten of them home runs. The team's leadoff hitter, junior centerfielder Vincent Capolupo leads the club in batting (.381) and stolen bases (16) and is second to Ludwick with 74 hits.

Twenty-two different pitchers have thrown at least one inning this year for BW. Junior righty Dawson Gabe leads the staff with 13 starts and 70.2 innings and is 4-3-0 with a 3.57 ERA. Six-foot-six inch junior righty Aidan Bennett has started eight games with a 3-1-0 record and 4.60 ERA. Wilson is one of the staff's top relievers. In 19 appearances, he is 9-2 with four saves and a 2.96 ERA.

The winner of the game advances in the four-team, double-elimination bracket to play Saturday at 8:45 p.m. ET against the winner of the LaGrange College-Trinity University (TX) while the loser plays Saturday at 5:30 p.m. ET against the loser of the LaGrange-Trinity game.

A four-time national champion, Eastern is shooting for a fifth national championship at a fifth different location. The Warriors won their first title in 1982 at Marietta College, which won its first three national titles on its home field and its last three (most recently in 2012) at Grand Chute, WI.

The Warriors defeated Marietta College, 4-0, at Marietta College in the second round of the 1982 national tournament, lost to the Pioneers on Marietta's home field, 12-6, in an elimination game of the 1983 national tournament, and beat Marietta twice, 4-2 and 8-0 (in the title game) in the 2002 national tournament at Grand Chute for its most recent national championship.  Marietta is the only one of the other seven competing teams that Eastern has faced in the national tournament. Located in different brackets, Eastern and Marietta could only meet this year in the best-of-three championship series. Seeded fourth overall and located in Marietta's bracket is 2021 national champion Salisbury University.
   

1. Marietta College (43-5); 2. EASTERN CONN. (44-3); 3. LaGrange College (42-7); 4. Salisbury U. (36-10); 5. Wis.-Stevens Point (40-8); 6. Trinity (TX) U. (37-11); 7. Baldwin Wallace U. (37-11); 8. Catholic U. (34-14).

 
Note: Winner of Bracket One meets the winner of Bracket Two in best-of-three championship series beginning either Monday or Tuesday.

All times are EDT
 
Friday, June 3
 
Bracket One
Game 1: Marietta College vs. Catholic U., 11 a.m.
Game 2: Salisbury U. vs. Wis.-Stevens Point, 2:15 p.m.
 
Bracket Two
Game 3: EASTERN CONN. vs. Baldwin Wallace U., 5:30 p.m.
Game 4: LaGrange College vs. Trinity U., 8:45 p.m.
 
Saturday, June 4
 
Bracket One
Game 5: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 11 a.m.
Game 6: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 2:15 p.m.
 
Bracket Two
Game 7: Loser Game 3 vs. Loser, Game 4, 5:30 p.m.
Game 8: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 8:45 p.m.
 
Sunday, June 5
 
Game 9: Loser Game 6 vs. Winner Game 5, 11 a.m.
Game 10: Loser Game 8 vs. Winner Game 7, 2:15 p.m.
Game 11: Winner Game 6 vs. Winner Game 9, 5:30 p.m.
Game 12: Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 10, 8:45 p.m.
 
Monday, June 6
Game 13: 1 p.m.
Game 14: 4:30 p.m.

Tuesday, June 7 -- TBA