Little Falls, NJ – Euphoria spilled all over the field in a flash. A Kodak moment taking place amid a sea of flailing arms, bounding legs and giddy grins.

Within a one-week span, Montclair State's baseball team ran the gauntlet of emotions, from feeling invincible to fearing Mother Nature would wash out the Red Hawks' chance to earn their way into the Division III College World Series.

Somehow, the Red Hawks fought their way back from a 10-0 deficit against Allentown within a 64-hour span. Then they beat Rowan Monday afternoon, putting them within a winner-take-all game against The College of New Jersey.

Three outs remained, the scoreboard by a 5-3 margin and GEORGE GALLAGHER kept anticipating a celebration. He paced nervously back and forth by the tarp along the third-base line, waiting for it all to become final so he could storm the field the way rains had throughout this year's Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament.

Then it happened. SCOTT ALLAN leaped high for a chopper, threw to shortstop BRIAN ELLERSON, who relayed to first baseman FRANK FRANCIA, completing the twin killing that gave more life to MSU's national championship dream.

"I just had chills," said Allan, a junior lefty who went the distance with his most determined outing of the season. "I threw my arms up in the air, dropped my glove and let me emotions take over."
From there, he did a mad dash to join his teammates in a big embrace after the Red Hawks' 5-3 victory gave just cause for this outpouring of emotions, not to mention to book a trip to the Series in Appleton, Wisc., where they will play SUNY Cortland Friday at 1:15 p.m. This will be their 11^th trip to the Division III baseball Elite Eight.

"From the beginning, we had one goal: To get to the Series," said junior second baseman DAVE WURST, who played for the 1998 team that finished second in the nation. "Everyone knew that this was a national championship caliber team."

"Going on from this point is just outstanding," said coach Norm Schoenig, who team tied a shool record for wins while improving to 37-6-1. "These kids just have a lot of heart."

"This is great, I just want to keep playing forever," said Gallagher, a senior designated hitter who went 3-for-4 with two RBI against TCNJ. "This is definitely great, especially being my senior year. After this, there's not more college baseball. It's great to go to another state, stay in hotels and play some more."

Yet on Monday evening, joy replaced fear within the Red Hawk ranks. Only days earlier, players and coaches alike found themselves glued to the Weather Channel, hoping for the kind of forecast that would enable them to play on toward a national championship."

Then heavy rains halted their comeback Thursday, then ruined any hopes of resuming play Friday or Saturday. This left Allan and his teammates looking out their hotel room windows and generally "just being miserable" as the wet stuff kept their hopes of continuing onward on hold."

Some solid work by the grounds crew – not to mention a more fortunate forecast – enabled their road to resume. Stretched over a 30-hour span, the Red Hawks capped an unprecedented comeback against Allentown, outlasted Rowan by a 12-6 score and found themselves nine frames away from either ending their season or going to the Series.

"There's so much heart on this team," junior third baseman CRAIG CONWAY said. "Everybody wants to win."

Some sloppy play deadlocked things at 3-all heading into the bottom of the seventh inning leaving Montclair to show a little more of its heart. Sophomore right fielder CHRIS BARAN stroked a run-scoring single to center that scored junior catcher JEFF SCHRIBER with the winning run, followed by an insurance RBI single by Gallagher off TCNJ ace Chris Buglovsky (9-3) that made the score 5-3 MSU.

This left Allan to negotiate his way through the final two innings. Despite leading the bullpen with what he called "nothing", he was crafty enough to keep the Lions (32-7-1) in check. After setting them down 1-2-3 in the eighth, he had a runner on first when he faced off against his buddy, TCNJ second baseman Brian Lemke.

He stood on the hill, stared down his friend and tried to fire some heat past him. A few seconds later, a high chopper hopped off Lemke's bat. Time seemed to slow as Allan made a desperate jump for the bounding ball. At third base, Conway "just put my hands on my knees and prayed."

Then everything went full speed. Allan turned and threw to Ellerson, who fired over to Francis. Once the umpire punched a hole in the air calling the third out, the Red Hawks had punched their ticket to the Series despite Mother Nature making for a tough road through the regional.

"I didn't figure it to be as nail-biting and as hard as this," Gallagher said, "but I'll take it anyway it comes."

Yet , when it was all said and done, the Red Hawks had all spilled out onto the center of the Yogi Berra Stadium turf all joining in one big championship embrace their roller-coaster ride through this past week complete.

NOTES: Allan, Wurst, Conway, Baran, MARC HOUSER and Gallgher were all named to the Mid-Atlantic Regional Team.