WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – With well over 100 post-season wins,13 national tournament appearances and five national championships, Eastern Connecticut State University baseball  has been one of the most prominent programs throughout the first 50 years of the NCAA Division III tournament.

And that tradition of excellence has been recognized by the selection of three former players – the most in New England and fourth-most nationally -- to D3baseball.com's 50th Anniversary Golden Team, released in late July.

Notable among the elite 68 players representing 45 different institutions are three players from Eastern who were named to American Baseball Coaches' Association (ABCA) Division III All-America lists a total of seven times: three-time All-America utility player Shawn Gilblair (2006-09), two-time All-America centerfielder Basilio Ortiz (1989-91) and two-time All-America left-handed pitcher Ryan DiPietro (2003-05). Gilblair was named to the All-America first team all three years, Ortiz in both years and DiPietro once.

DiPietro was one of five pitchers named to the D3baseball.com 50th Anniversary first team (the only New Englander on the 16-player team), while the left-handed Gilblair was voted as the second team's utility player and Ortiz was one of three third-team outfielders. (A fourth team was also selected.)

All three of Eastern's representatives are Alumni Hall of Famers and each was named a national Player or Pitcher-of-the-Year at least once. As selected by the ABCA, Gilblair was a two-time (2007, '09) Player-of-the-Year pick and Ortiz a one-time (1991) Player-of-the-Year, while DiPietro was selected as national Pitcher-of-the-Year by the National College Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA)  in 2004. Ortiz and DiPietro both helped the Warriors to an appearance in a national championship game, with Ortiz' 1990 team winning the second of the program's five national titles.

Ortiz and DiPietro each opted to forego their senior seasons at Eastern after they were taken in the major league baseball amateur draft by the Baltimore Orioles and Kansas City Royals, respectively.
 
In four years, Gilblair was 28-7 with a 2.31 ERA and 281 strikeouts on the mound and batted .373 with 236 hits, 29 home runs and 194 RBI as an outfielder/first baseman; in three years, Ortiz batted .415 with 29 home runs, 204 hits, 134 RBI and 180 runs, while DiPietro was 29-3 with a 1.50 ERA and 336 strikeouts.

A total of ten players were named to the Golden Team from New England institutions. In addition to Eastern's three picks, Trinity College and the University of Southern Maine each had a third and fourth-teamer, while Worcester State University and Framingham State University were each represented with a second-teamer and Amherst College with a third-teamer.

Only three institutions – all former national champions – garnered more than Eastern's three selections. The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh led all institutions with six players voted to the Golden Team, with Marietta College and Chapman University each represented by four. Marietta is a seven-time national champion (most recently in 2012) while Oshkosh (most recently in 1994) and Chapman (most recently in 2019) each winning two. Eastern's 2022 championship is the most recent among the four.