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Salisbury secured its first-ever Division III baseball national championship on Tuesday by way of a 4-2 Game 2 win over St. Thomas (Minn.) in Canton, Ohio.
The sixth-ranked Seagulls were coming off a dominant 6-1 victory against the No. 19 Tommies in Game 1 of the best-of-three championship series, and made sure to hold on to the decisive win just a day later.
It didn’t start without a setback, however, as St. Thomas gained a 1-0 advantage in the bottom of the third via four consecutive singles.
The following inning, Cullen McAuliffe crushed an RBI single to left center field before Kavi Caster blasted a single for two more runs just two batters later to give Salisbury a 3-1 lead. Three innings later, catcher Jacob Ference drove home Stephen Rice for the cushion the Seagulls would coast home to the eventual 4-2 victory.
In their 24th NCAA Tournament appearance, Salisbury finally got over the hump after finishing as runner-up during its previous five World Series appearances (2001, 2004, 2011, 2014, and 2015).
