NCAA DII 

The 2024 NCAA DII championship game came down to the top two teams from the preseason batting it out. Angelo State, the 2023 winners, powered through the postseason after an uneven regular season for the opportunity to take home the trophy once again. Tampa, the holders of eight national championships headed into the finale, were their opposition. The Spartans’ success during the regular season was unrivaled with only five losses leading into their final weekend.

The Rams jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead after two innings, and held a two run lead headed into the sixth inning. It appeared ASU was going to force the “if necessary” game to decide the champion.  However the UT offense erupted with six runs in the top of the inning which included a run-scoring single by EJ Cumbo, the DII all-time leader in hits. J.P. Gates went 3-4 in the game with a double and a home run at the plate, and threw four shutout innings to close the game. Gates was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player as he had eight hits in Cary and threw 8 ⅔ innings of shutout baseball in which he only allowed four hits.

After the game Spartans’ Head Coach Joe Urso, who earned his 1,000 career win in 2024, announced, “These guys are all going to be part of my family for the rest of my life. They are going to go down in my heart as one of the greatest teams of all time.” 

With their ninth national baseball championship, Tampa tied fellow Sunshine State Conference member Florida Southern for the most titles in DII. The Spartans six national titles in the 2000’s are more than any other school at any level in the NCAA.

Final Rank	NCAA DII	State	Final Record	Post Season Record	Preseason Rank
1	Tampa Spartans	FL	52-8	9-1	2
2	Angelo State Rams	TX	44-21	8-3	1
3	Point Loma Sea Lions	CA	46-13-1	6-3	11
4	Catawba Indians	NC	46-17	6-3	NR
5	Central Missouri Mules	MO	52-10	5-2	8
6	Young Harris Mountain Lions	GA	41-15	2-2	21
7	Missouri Southern St. Lions	MO	44-15	2-2	24
8	Lubbock Christian Chaparrals	TX	45-16	4-2	NR
9	UNC Pembroke Braves	NC	43-14	1-2	17
10	IUP Crimson Hawks	PA	41-18	8-3	NR
11	North Greenville Crusaders	SC	41-14	0-2	3
12	Seton Hill Griffins	PA	41-17	5-3	6
13	West Chester Golden Rams	PA	43-9	0-2	NR
14	Augustana Vikings	SD	47-10	2-2	10
15	Mount Olive Trojans	NC	39-18	2-2	9
16	East Stroudsburg Warriors	PA	43-14	2-2	NR
17	Colorado Mesa Mavericks	CO	38-18	0-2	4
18	Embry-Riddle Eagles	FL	35-22	4-3	NR
19	UIndy Greyhounds	IN	41-21	6-3	NR
20	Georgia College Bobcats	GA	37-22	3-2	NR
21	Millersville Marauders	PA	38-16	1-2	12
22	St. Leo Lions	FL	38-13	0-2	NR
23	Ashland Eagles	OH	42-15	2-2	NR
24	Cal State Monterey Bay Otters	CA	39-21	4-3	5
25*	Lee Flames	TN	39-18	2-2	NR
25*	Southern New Hampshire Penmen	NH	37-19	6-2	NR
DROP	Lander Bearcats
DROP	Charleston Golden Eagles
DROP	Georgia Southwestern Hurricanes
DROP	West Texas A&M Buffs

NAIA

Despite a prolific regular season in 2023, the Hope International baseball team struggled in the postseason going 2-2 in their conference tournament and lost both their NAIA Opening Round games by a total of 35 runs. The Royals had a number of new faces headed into 2024, especially on the mound, which made them a bit of a question mark headed into the season, but unquestionably had the talent for another strong season. HIU went 2-2 once again in the GSAC Championship, but had little problem earning additional wins in the national tournament. The Royals were shipped to Fayette, Missouri where they earned their second trip ever to the NAIA World Series with wins over host Central Methodist and Tabor. They lost a lead late in their opener in Idaho, but won four elimination games, scoring an average of 11 ½ runs to reach the national title game against Tennessee Wesleyan.

The Bulldogs scored twice in the top of the first and were leading 6-4 headed into the fourth inning when HIU recaptured the lead. They took advantage of an error to score three runs and another in the fifth to widen the game margin to 8-6. In the bottom of the seventh they put the game nearly out of reach with five runs, punctuated by a home run by David Riveria. JJ Cruz was named the MVP of the World Series after batting .577 with five home runs and a remarkable 15 RBI in six games. The final score was 14-6 as HIU won their first ever national title and became just the fifth team to lose their first game of the NAIA World Series and then go on to win the championship.

“I feel like we still have another game to play, we’ve played so many games this week,” Head Coach Larry Mahoney joked after the game when asked if the win had sunk in yet, “It’s special. It’s a special moment for this program, for the university, for these players, my coaches who’ve put so many hours in day after day. I’m just so happy for everyone.”    

Final Rank	NAIA	State	Final Record	Post Season Record	Preseason Rank
1	Hope International Royals	CA	45-16	8-2	14
2	Tennessee Wesleyan Bulldogs	TN	44-18	7-2	6
3	Southeastern Fire	FL	52-8	4-2	1
4	Georgia Gwinnett Grizzlies	GA	53-9	6-3	2
5	Cumberlands Patriots	KY	52-8	4-2	7
6	William Carey Crusaders	MS	37-16	3-2	4
7	Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes	KS	48-12	3-2	12
8	Reinhardt Eagles	GA	44-18	6-2	16
9	Missouri Baptist Spartans	MO	41-12-1	2-2	8
10	LSU Shreveport Pilots	LA	44-11	2-2	9
11	Webber International Warriors	FL	43-14	1-2	NR
12	Central Methodist Eagles	MO	44-11	1-2	21
13	William Jessup Warriors	CA	39-11	0-2
14	Arizona Christian Firestorm	AZ	38-21	5-2
15	Mid-America Christian Evangels	OK	41-13	1-2
16	Faulkner Eagles	AL	37-17	2-2	10
17	Indiana Southeast Grenadiers	IN	37-20	5-2
18	Taylor Trojans	IN	42-16	1-2	11
19	Lewis-Clark State Warriors	ID	38-13	1-2	3
20	Bellevue Bruins	NE	39-14	0-2	5
21	Loyola Wolf Pack	LA	37-19	1-2	24
22	Point Park Pioneers	PA	42-15	1-2	20
23	Concordia Bulldogs	NE	42-15	1-2	13
24	Oklahoma City Stars	OK	35-18	0-2
25	Doane Tigers	NE	39-15	1-2	22
DROP	Ottawa (OUAZ) Spirit	AZ	35-19	1-2
DROP	USAO Drovers	OK			25

NCAA DIII 

In 2023 Misericordia advanced to the DIII College World Series for the second time in school history and established a new school record with 40 wins. With a neatly intact pitching staff and the bulk of last year’s everyday roster back on campus, the prognosis for an even more successful season was predicted for this spring, and that forecast proved to be right on the mark. Not only did the Cougars capture both the MAC Freedom Conference regular and tournament titles, the team swept their way back into the final eight and won games over four different schools to capture the first national title in school history. 

Connor Maryniak, who was named the Perfect Game DIII MVP at the end of the regular season, struggled at the plate in the postseason as his season average dropped from .373 to .345. Nevertheless, the junior utility player continued to throw well on the mound. In the best-of-three title game, he threw 7 ⅓ innings against the extremely potent Wisconsin-Whitewater lineup which batted .347 as a team on the season, and held them to just four runs. Meanwhile Gabe Burn, pushed the team on offense in the finale. Despite being slotted at the tailend of the lineup, he went eight for 12 against the WarHawks and drove in three runs, while scoring one himself in the finale. 

“It’s just sinking in right now,” MU Head Coach Pete Egbert stated after the game, “I was thinking back to last night to early in the season we were 7-7 and not playing very good baseball. I was concerned we weren’t going to make our conference tournament, and here we are. It’s absolutely unbelievable. Just some  really gutty performances from all of our guys straight through and I was really proud of everything they were able to accomplish.”

Final Rank	NCAA DIII	State	Final Record	Post Season Record	Preseason Rank
1	Misericordia Cougars	PA	44-11	11-2	9
2	Endicott Gulls	MA	47-4	6-2	3
3	UW-Whitewater Warhawks	WI	45-12	10-3	18
4	Salve Regina Seahawks	RI	40-10	7-2	13
5	Lynchburg Hornets	VA	37-17	7-2
6	Denison Big Red	OH	42-8	3-2	15
7	Johns Hopkins Blue Jays	MD	35-11	3-2	1
8	East Texas Baptist Tigers	TX	39-10	3-2	2
9	Salisbury Seagulls	MD	32-12	4-3	12
10	Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens	CA	37-14	5-2
11	Case Western Reserve Spartans	OH	33-11	2-2	17
12	Birmingham-Southern Panthers	AL	33-16	6-2	19
13	Randolph-Macon Yellow Jackets	VA	33-16	5-3
14	Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets	OH	36-10	0-2	16
15	Christopher Newport Captains	VA	29-12	3-3	14
16	UW LaCrosse Eagles	WI	36-16	4-3	11
17	La Verne Leopards	CA	30-16-1	3-3	22
18	Cortland State Red Dragons	NY	31-14-1	1-2	10
19	Arcadia Knights	PA	33-14	2-2
20	Rowan Profs	NJ	29-15	2-2	7
21	Aurora Spartans	IL	34-11	0-0	20
22	Trinity Tigers	TX	32-15	1-3	NR
23	Penn State Harrisburg Lions	PA	35-11	1-2
24	Benedictine Eagles	IL	33-14	1-2	23
25	Babson Beavers	MA	30-13	0-2
DROP	Eastern Connecticut Warriors