#16 Iowa State Cyclones (40-26)vs. #8 Penn State Nittany Lions (41-24)
Game 1 starters Josh Harrison and Keith Meacham went the distance in an extra-inning affair. An inside-the-park homer by Penn State freshman first baseman Taylor Hessler in the 4th put the Nittany Lions up 1-0. But a wild pitch by Meacham in the top of the 5th allowed the Cyclones to tie the game up. The contest remained 1-1 going into the 11th inning until Iowa State committed back-to-back errors to give the game away 2-1.
Penn State pitched freshman T.J. Donnelly in Game 2 against Iowa State junior Dave Young. The Cyclones were the first on the board behind back-to-back RBI singles in the 2nd inning. Penn State committed an error in the 4th inning that allowed a run to score to go down 3-0. In the 6th inning, Penn State freshman right fielder Ryan Brown smashed a 2-RBI single to left to get the Nittany Lions to within a run. The hot hitting would continue in the 7th for Penn State as they scored three times on three base hits to take a 5-3 lead. Iowa State got a run back in the bottom half of the 7th to pull to within one. But Donnelly was just too much for the Cyclones as Penn State held on to win the game 5-4 and sweep the series two games to none.
#12 Lafayette Leopards (40-26) vs. #9 Cornell Big Red (41-24)
Game 1 of this series went into extras as well. Cornell took the early lead in the 2nd behind freshman second baseman Carlos Valdez's inside-the-park home run. The Big Red would hold that lead until the 9th when Lafayette was able to scrape together a run on an infield single with two outs. The game remained tied until the 12th when freshman first baseman Matt Lencioni delivered a liner into right-center to put the Leopards on top. Cornell went down in order and Lafayette won 2-1.
Cornell smashed a pair of triples and scored a run to lead off Game 2. The Big Red tacked on two more runs in the 6th to give themselves a 3-0 lead. Lafayette plated a run in the 8th, but couldn't do more as Cornell won the game 3-1 and tied the series.
Cornell got off to another hot start in Game 3, stroking three base hits and scoring one in the 1st for the early lead. Lafayette got the run back in the 2nd thanks to a Big Red fielding error. Cornell broke the tie with a sacrifice fly in the 3rd inning to regain the lead. The Big Red scored again in the 4th to increase their lead to 3-1. Senior third baseman J.D. Pierce stroked an RBI single to left to bring the Leopards to within a run in the 6th. Cornell junior center fielder Warren Herring, son of CBA Commissioner Ephraim Herring, led off the bottom of the 6th with a triple to spark the Big Red. Cornell would score twice to extend their lead to 5-2. A Big Red error in the 7th allowed Lafayette to get a run back, but the Leopards couldn't capitalize on opportunities in the final two innings. Cornell holds on to win 5-3 and takes the series two games to one.
#9 Cornell Big Red (43-25) vs. #8 Penn State Nittany Lions (43-24)
Cornell senior Harrison Parrott outpitched Penn State pitcher Keith Meacham in Game 1, handing Meacham his first loss of the postseason. The Big Red scored on a throwing error in the 1st inning for an early 1-0 lead. In the 6th inning, Warren Herring hit an RBI single to make it 2-0. Then sophomore left fielder Justin Gearhart smashed a 2-RBI triple to break the game open and give Cornell a 4-0 advantage. Cornell tacked on a run in the 9th for good measure and cruised to a 5-0 win. Parrott held the Nittany Lions to only six hits while striking out five in the complete-game victory.
Starting pitcher T.J. Donnelly used his bat in the 3rd inning of Game 2 to start the inning with a leadoff triple. Donnelly would score on the next at-bat to give Penn State the early 1-0 lead. But Cornell evened things up in the bottom half of the inning with their own RBI base hit. Carlos Valdez kept the hits coming for the Big Red with an RBI triple in the 4th to give Cornell the lead, 2-1. They extended their lead to 5-1 in the 5th behind four hits to score three more times. Penn State scored a run in the 6th to make it 5-2. The score remained the same until the 9th when the Nittany Lions rallied late. Penn State scored a run with two outs to pull within two. Then they smashed a single and double to put the tying run in scoring position. But the rally fell short, as a fly out ended the late scoring attempt. Cornell held on to win it 5-3 and take the series in a sweep two games to none. The Big Red are the National Champions for the 4th time in their program's history!