Niagara’s Record-Breaking Baseball Season Ends at NCAA Regional Championship

Niagara’s Nick Groves (5) celebrates as Nebraska’s Joshua Overbeek looks on during an NCAA Regional baseball game, Saturday, June 1, 2024, in Stillwater, Okla. (AP Photo/Garett Fisbeck)

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — A historic run for the Niagara University baseball team ended Saturday in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where the Purple Eagles took an early lead and held on against the Nebraska Cornhuskers before being eliminated from the NCAA baseball regional competition.

Niagara opened an early lead and held the lead until the fifth inning of its 7-5 loss to Nebraska, following Friday night’s 19-7 loss to No. 11 Oklahoma State, the regional host.

“I’m proud of our guys,” Niagara coach Rob McCoy said. “They showed a ton of fight, a ton of courage.”

Debuting in the NCAA tournament as the first Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion, Niagara finished with a 38–17 record after never winning more than 30 games before in a season. That included a program-best 20 MAAC wins and a share of the regular season title for the first time, a non-conference win at Michigan State and a 7-0 mark against Little 3 rivals Canisius and St. Bonaventure.

“It’s more than just a team,” senior receiver Matt Ward said. “It’s a brotherhood. This goes beyond baseball and what happens between the lines.

“It says a lot about a program when no one really wants to leave it,” Ward added. “Guys are ready to put their heads down, noses to the grindstone and wait their turn to play for a great coach in Rob McCoy and Matt Spatafora.

In Friday night’s opener, Oklahoma State scored seven runs in the first inning and took an 11-1 lead before Niagara rallied in the bottom of the inning. Against Nebraska, it was the Purple Eagles who scored the first four points of the game.

“If you take the first two or three rounds from yesterday, once we got our maritime leagues down and today, I thought we competed really well,” McCoy said. “And I don’t think we have much to think about.”

The Purple Eagles held off Power Conference pitching, with 18 hits and 12 runs scored in their two NCAA Regional games.