APPLETON, Wis. -- The seventh-ranked Ithaca College baseball team saw its record-setting season come to an end with a 5-4, 13-inning loss to No. 14 Southern Maine on the final day of the NCAA Division III Baseball World Series at Fox Cities Stadium. The Bombers rallied from a ninth-inning deficit to force extra innings, before the Huskies pulled out the victory in the 13th. Ithaca (41-8) finished its season with a school-record 41 wins, and returned to the championship weekend for the first time since 1994. Southern Maine (46-9) advanced to the national championship game Tuesday evening against No. 1 Linfield, and Linfield defeated Southern Maine 4-1 to claim the national title.

The winning blow appeared to be a two-run homer in the top of the 13th by Southern Maine, but the batter never touched home plate and was ruled out on appeal. The runner scored ahead of the batter to give the Huskies a 5-4 lead. Ithaca loaded the bases in the bottom of the 13th inning with one out but the final two batters were retired by strikeout and a flyout to right.

In the early going, Ithaca held the lead. The Bombers scored a run in the first on a leadoff single from Christian Brown, followed by a double from Tim Locastro. Brown scored on a Colby Gee single, but Locastro was thrown out at the plate trying to follow Brown home.

Ithaca added a run in the second on back-to-back singles from Matt Connolly and Luke Stark, followed by a sacrifice fly from Andrew Turner. The Huskies tied it with two runs in the third, but Ithaca regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI double from Stark to bring home Connolly, who walked to start off the inning. The Bombers led 4-3. Southern Maine tied it at 4-4 in the top of the sixth inning to set up the exciting conclusion.

Southern Maine took the lead in the top of the ninth after back-to-back one-out singles put runners on first and second. A wild pitch allowed the runners to move to second and third. The Bombers got a second out on a weak ground ball in front of the plate, but another ground ball in the infield was mishandled to allow the runner to score from third. Ithaca got out of the inning by catching a runner stealing second base.

The Bombers answered in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to extra innings. Ithaca was down to its last strike as Stark was behind 0-2 in the count but fouled a pair of pitches off down the first base line, then flared a single into right center field to bring home Corey Caswell from second base.

In the top of the 11th a pair of two-out singles put runners on first and second for Southern Maine. Another single to right followed, but Christian Brown charged in to field and threw the runner out at the plate with a tag by Caswell on the Southern Maine runner.

Sophomore all-American pitcher John Prendergast got the start and worked eight innings. He allowed seven hits, three runs (two earned) with one walk and five strikeouts. Jimmy Wagner took the loss in relief. He pitched five innings, allowing eight hits and two earned runs with two strikeouts.

Stark led the Bomber offense by going 4-for-6 and he also made nine putouts in center field. Gee was 4-for-7, while Brown and Caswell were each 3-for-7. Tim Locastro was 2-for-4 and was also walked three times intentionally by Southern Maine. Connolly went 2-for-5 and scored twice.

Gee, Locastro and Stark were named to the all-tournament team.

Ithaca had its leadoff batter reach base in six of the first eight innings, but only scored that runner three times. Ithaca stranded 17 runners in the contest and totaled 18 hits. The game was delayed one hour due to rainy weather overnight and on Tuesday morning.

This was Ithaca's 12th trip to the Division III World Series and the Bombers finished third for the third time in program history. Ithaca won national titles in 1980 and 1988 and the program's all-time record in the Division III World Series is 24-22.

It was the fourth meeting all-time between Ithaca and Southern Maine, with all of those coming in NCAA Tournament play. Southern Maine won two of the previous three meetings in NCAA Northeast Region play in the 1987, 1989 and 1990 tournaments, and added to that total with Tuesday's win.

Post-game news conference video

Game highlights from NCAA.com (available soon)

Photo Gallery (available soon)

Box Score and Play-by-Play

D3baseball.com game story