For the first time in the program's history and just its fifth appearance in the national tournament, the Kean Cougars (43-8) took home the biggest prize in Division III baseball with a 5-4, 10-inning victory over Emory University (43-10) on Tuesday afternoon at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. It's the second NCAA national title in any sport for Kean. "No matter how much money you make, what position you're in in life, you can't buy these things," said Kean coach Neil Ioviero. "You have to earn these. And no matter what they do for the rest of their lives, the memories they've created and garnered here will be with them the rest of their lives. No one could ever take this away."

From throwing baby powder into the air on the first Cougar at-bat of each game in the tournament to good-luck statues and superstitions, the team played with a loose, devil-may-care attitude throughout the weekend. Of course, Ioviero wouldn't call his team's attitude this weekend "loose."

"If you asked the question to them (the players), how do we practice, you'll see that it's not loose when we practice. We get on them like crazy. We create crazy, pressure situations. We make the biggest deal out of the littlest things," Ioviero said. "We describe it to them like you study for a test. The teacher can throw whatever she wants at you, and you're prepared. These guys play as if they're prepared, and that creates that looseness, because they know they're ready to go, they know those little things are going to matter."

Tuesday's championship game was played before 1,158 spectators, and the 24,872 in attendance throughout the weekend was the second-largest paid attendance in the 32-year history of the championship finals.