Top-ranked Eastern Connecticut State University leads a powerful group into the Brian F. Prince Athletic Complex at the University of Rochester this weekend for the opening rounds of the NCAA Division III Baseball Championships. The games will be played on Towers Field on the Rochester campus. Action starts on Friday with games at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
 
The tournament is scheduled to run from Friday to Sunday. It features three automatic qualifiers and one at-large team. The Pool A (automatic qualifiers) are Eastern Connecticut State (champion of the Little East Conference), Middlebury College (champion of the New England Small College Athletic Conference), and Swarthmore College (champion of the Centennial Conference). The at-large team (Pool C) is the University of Rochester. The Yellowjackets secured one of 18 at-large bids after finishing second in the Liberty League playoffs a week ago.
 
This is the game schedule for the three-day period:
Friday, May 20:
11 a.m.
Gm. #1 - #1 E. Connecticut St. (39-3) vs. #4 Swarthmore College (22-17)
 
2:30 p.m.
Gm. #2 - #2 Univ. of Rochester (31-11) vs. #3 Middlebury College (29-12)
 
Saturday, May 21:
11 a.m.
Gm. #3 – Loser Gm. #1 vs. Loser Gm. #2
 
2:30 p.m.
Gm. #4 – Winner Gm. #1 vs. Winner Gm. #2
 
6 p.m.
Gm. #5 – Winner of Gm. #3 vs. Loser of Gm. #4
 
Sunday, May 22:
11 a.m. – Winner of Game #4 vs. Winner Gm. #5
If each team has one loss after this game, the teams will play again.
 
The NCAA announced a playoff field of 60 teams. This is one of 14 four-team pods playing a double elimination format. There are two two-team pods who will play a best three of five series. The survivors from this week will be placed into eight super-regionals (best two of three) next week.  The winners of the super regionals will play in the NCAA finals at Perfect Game Field in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
 
This will be Rochester's sixth appearance in the NCAA Division III playoffs and its third straight in full seasons. The Yellowjackets competed in 2019 at the College of Wooster and in the 2021 playoffs at Marietta College. The pandemic curtailed the 2020 season to five games.
 
Here's a capsule look at the four teams:
 
Eastern Connecticut State (#1 seed):

The Warriors (39-3) head into the playoffs riding a 13-game winning streak. ECSU finished 15-1 in the Little East Conference and secured the Pool A bid by defeating Massachuetts-Dartmouth, 16-1, in the championship game of the Little East Conference Tournament. It was ECSU's 10^th LEC title. This is the 36^th NCAA playoff bid for ECSU. Four regulars are hitting .340 or better, led by Luke Broadhurst. He is hitting .432 (54-125) with 47 runs scored. He leads the Warriors in home runs (10) and is second in RBIs with 42.  Ryan Bagdasarian is hitting .381 (61-160) with 46 runs scored, 12 doubles, four triples, and three HRs. Matt Malcolm and John Mesagno have nine HRs apiece. Malcom's driven in a team-high 51 runs. Mesagno has scored 50 runs.
 
On the mound, Bryan Albee is 10-0 with four saves and a 1.23 ERA in 65.2 innings pitched. Albee has started eight games. Billy Oldham is 9-2 in 11 starts with a 2.27 ERA. He has 95 strikeouts in 71.1 innings pitched. Three other pitchers are 5-0: Aidan Dunn (1.63 ERA), Tommy Benincaso (2.25 ERA), and Nolan Lincoln (2.93 ERA).
 
Rochester (#2 seed):

The Yellowjackets played 15 games against teams selected for the NCAA tournament. Rochester won a Liberty League crossover series with RPI. The first three games of the Liberty League playoffs at Ithaca were all walk-offs: UR over RIT, Ithaca over Rochester, UR over Clarkson. Ithaca won in the championship round to claim the automatic bid. Rochester has relied on a wide-ranging attack. The current batting leader is Luke Piontek at .398 (37-93) with eight doubles and 17 RBIs. Harper Sy is hitting .377 (49-130) with a team-high six home runs and 37 RBIs. Josh Leadem is hitting .342 (39-114), Jackson Reed hits .333 (37-111). Aaron Whitley is hitting .331. He has 43 runs scored and is 23-28 on stolen base attempts.
 
Trevor Van Allen was 7-0 this season with two complete games and a 3.57 ERA. Nolan Sparks was 6-1 (3.20 ERA) and a team-high 59 strikeouts. Thomas Karpishin has five saves, a 4-1 record (1.69 ERA) in 19 apearances.
 
Middlebury (#3 seed):

The Panthers scored seven runs in the top of the ninth to rally past Hamilton College and win the NESCAC Championship. Middlebury won a best-two-of-three in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs (won 4-3, lost 22-9, won 13-1). In the semifinals, Middlebury defeated Amherst, 14-8, then topped Colby, 16-14. Hamilton won the first game of the finals, 17-3, but Middlebury won game two, 12-8. That provided the Pool A bid. Offense carries the day. Middlebury has scored 400 runs in 41 games with a .564 slugging pct., 104 doubles, 22 triples, and 59 home runs. John Collins has 13 HRs and 43 RBIs. Alec Ritch has 50 RBIs. The lineup has three men hitting over .400: Mitchell Schroeder (.483, 42-87), Sawyer Duarte (.414, 29-70), and Beau Root (.412, 49-119).
 
Alex Price and Alex Rosario have started 10 games apiece for the Panthers. Price is 4-2 with a 3.67 ERA. Rosario is 6-4 (7.30 ERA). George Goldstein is tough out of the pen: 23 appearances, 31.0 innings pitched 45 strikeouts, five saves, a 4-1 record, and a 2.61 ERA.  Price has 75 strikeouts.
 
Swarthmore (#4 seed):

The Garnet won its Centennial Conference tournament opener, 8-1, over Johns Hopkins (SC was the top seed with a 14-4 record). The tournament was halted when heavy rains deluged the area. Swarthmore takes a 22-17 record into its NCAA opener on Friday. Luke Mutz, the Centennial Conference Player of the Year after hitting .434 (69-159) with 52 runs scored, 12 doubles, six triples, one HR, and 27 RBIs. He gets help from Paul Cooke (.383, 51-133) with 13 doubles, one triple, and six HRs. Austin Burgess shares the home run lead with Cooke (he has six plus a team-high 44 RBIs and 17 doubles). The top three in average also top the stolen base charts – a combined 68 of 72 on the basepaths (Mutz 26-27, Cooke 22-24, Burgess (20-21). Swarthmore has 120 stolen bases in 134 attempts.
 
Zach Camp has 65 Ks on the mound in 53.2 innings pitched. He is 1-2 in 18 appearances, four of which are starts. He has five saves. Matteo Collecito is 4-1 in seven starts (nine appearances) with a 3.74 ERA in 21.2 innings. Edward Berry has fanned 49 in 53.1 innings (3-3 record, 3.04 ERA).