The 1988 baseball team won the second national title for the program and fourth for Ithaca College. The Bombers posted a 36-11-1 overall record and went 7-1 during the postseason. IC's 36 victories during the season stand as the third-most in the program's 90-year history. Ithaca hit .341 as a team and scored more than 400 runs, while the pitching staff held opponents to a .253 average.
Ithaca faced Wisconsin-Oshkosh in the title game and trailed, 5-2, heading to the bottom of the seventh inning. The Bombers would score twice in the seventh and three more times in the eighth inning to capture a 7-5 victory.
Joe Sottolano pitched on one day's rest in relief of starter Brian DeLola and went 2.1 innings without yielding a run. With two outs in the ninth inning, Carl Graetz retired the final batter for his third save of the week.
Ithaca opened World Series play with a 6-4 victory over Methodist. DeLola yielded only two earned runs, and Graetz picked up the save. Sottolano then pitched the Bombers past Wisconsin-Oshkosh, 3-2, on a complete-game seven-hitter.
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The Bombers then fell to Wisconsin-Oshkosh, 11-3. Facing elimination, Ithaca overcame a 2-0 Marietta lead to beat the Pioneers, 7-3. Graetz got the save in relief of winner Doug Duell, and Tim Wilson drove in four runs.
Earning all-tournament honors along with Sottolano and Vince Roman were Steve Graham, a .364 hitter during the series, and Wilson, who drove in seven runs in the tournament.
