Party like it’s 1999: William Paterson baseball gets back to NCAA Division III World Series

WAYNE – The fundamental entry outside the show off at Jeff Albies Field perceives the rich custom and history behind the William Paterson University baseball program.

Two particular flags swing from a steel structure that references every year the Pioneers have won the New Jersey Athletic Conference title and have showed up in the NCAA Division III World Series Tournament.

It’s an inviting sight for all guests to the Wayne-based grounds.

However most players on the ebb and flow list weren’t even conceived the last time William Paterson qualified for the postseason, they’re continually helped to remember the program’s celebrated past and achievement.

Presently the Pioneers are celebrating like it’s 1999.

Without precedent for 23 years, William Paterson is back in the public spotlight and will play in the NCAA Division III Regional Tournament for the eighteenth time by and large and first starting around 1999.

The third-cultivated Pioneers (30-13) face safeguarding public heroes and second-cultivated Salisbury (30-8) in the primary round Friday at 2:30 p.m. at Denison University in Granville, Ohio.

For mentor Mike Lauterhahn, who is in his fifteenth season in Wayne, being back in the competition works up feelings and reviews affectionate recollections. His underlying foundations and binds with the program run profound, having played two seasons with the Pioneers from 1993-94, driving WPU to the 1993 NJAC title and a compartment in the NCAA Tournament.

His dad, Bob, resigned in 2019 after 39 seasons as an associate mentor, and his sibling, Dan was an All-American at the school and a 1997 draft determination of the Detroit Tigers.

“Getting back to the public competition feels equivalent to when I played here, and yet it’s likewise unique as a mentor. I get to see it from the two points,” said Lauterhahn, the NJAC Coach of the Year.

“I have another appreciation for what my school mentor [Jeff] Albies achieved during his celebrated vocation here and it causes me to understand that arriving at this competition is no simple undertaking. The program and school make a big difference to me. It takes a whole group, mentors, organization and grounds to get it going. It feels perfect to be a piece of it once more.”
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On Wednesday morning, Lauterhahn and the Pioneers boarded a transport for the eight=plus hour drive to Granville. The group spent Thursday evening at a training in anticipation of Salisbury and the end of the week series.

“They’re [Salisbury] the public heroes. That is the main thing that rings a bell,” Lauterhahn said. “They play major areas of strength for an and have one of the country’s top pitching pivots. We’re going into the end of the week with the very mindset and move toward that we had in the gathering competition. It will be intriguing to watch our arrangement fight against their pitching.”