For the third time in program history, the Salisbury University baseball team is heading to the World Series.  The 29th-ranked Sea Gulls needed two wins against the third-ranked team in the nation, Shenandoah University, on Saturday to win the NCAA South Regional and earn the berth into the Division III championship series. As it turns out, Salisbury did just that with 9-8 and 8-7 wins Saturday.

Salisbury's last trip to the World Series came in 2004. The Sea Gulls will look to survive the eight-team tournament, which begins on Friday in Appleton, Wisc., and earn what would be the program's first national championship.

On Saturday, Salisbury (33-12) needed late rallies to win each game against Shenandoah. In the opener, the teams were tied 3-3 through six innings before the Sea Gull bats came to life. Salisbury scored a run in the seventh, added three runs in the eighth and brought home a pair in the ninth to stretch its lead to 9-3, and each run proved to be critical.

The Hornets came back with five runs in the bottom of the ninth inning, to cut the lead to 9-8, before senior Drew Baldwin closed out the game, stranding the potential tying run at third base. Baldwin's save made starter Chris Greiner a winner. The senior worked eight-plus innings, scattering seven hits and seven runs (four earned) while striking out five.

The Salisbury offense put up 19 hits in the contest, led by junior Chris Connor, who was 4-for-5 in the game. Connor drove in four runs and scored two, including Salisbury's final run of the game. Senior Devon Quaglietta and sophomore Nick Gentry each had three hits in the game.

In the championship game, Salisbury jumped out to a 5-0 lead after just two innings. The Gulls scored two in the first, on a Quaglietta bases-loaded walk and a Connor single, and put up three in the second (on four hits) while taking advantage of one Hornet error.

The lead grew to six in the bottom of the fourth inning when freshman Ken O'Neill came home on a wild pitch. But again, Shenandoah would not go quietly.

The Hornets scored two runs in the fifth, another in the sixth and exploded for four runs in the seventh to take a 7-6 lead.

This time it would be Salisbury's chance to come from behind as the Gulls put together a two-out rally in the seventh to tie things up before scoring the winning run in the eighth.

Sophomore Matt Beck got the seventh-inning rally started with a single to right field and advanced to third on John Schiotis' single to right. Senior Fred Kreiger pinch ran for Beck at that point and came home on a single up the middle by freshman Bill Root to tie the game at 7-7.

Senior Brian Green sparked the eighth-inning score with a one-out single and after a fly out, the Gulls again came up with the key two-out hits to win the game. Junior Tyler Bennett singled to left, allowing Green to move up to second and after a pitching change, Connor drove home his eighth run of the regional, tied for the most of any player in the tournament. Connor singled to left allowing Green to come home with the go-ahead run, and then it was up to Baldwin to close things out.

The Winston-Salem, N.C., native retired the first two batters he faced before allowing a single. The potential tying run never advanced as Baldwin got a groundout to second base to collect his third save in two days.

For his efforts, Baldwin was named the regional's Most Outstanding Player. He was one of four Salisbury players named to the All-Tournament team, joined by Connor, Root and O'Neill.

Salisbury will open play in the World Series against Marietta College on Friday, May 27, at 2:15 p.m. It will mark Marietta's 21st appearance in the World Series. Marietta was the first team Salisbury ever faced in the World Series, meeting in the opening game of the event in 2001. Marietta won that game 1-0; Salisbury has won two subsequent regular-season meetings, 3-2 and 10-2, in 2006.