June 17, 2015

Coach of the Year
honors for Brown

SUNY Cortland baseball head coach Joe Brown has been named the 2015 D3baseball.com Division III National Coach of the Year.
That honor makes the Red Dragons boss one of eight finalists for the 2015 Skip Bertman National Coach of the Year Award after guiding Cortland to the national title back in May.
The Bertman Award is being presented by the National College Baseball Hall of Fame for the third time this season. The award, sponsored by Easton Sports, honors the nation’s top collegiate coach from any level and is named for Louisiana State University’s former head coach from 1984-2001 who led the Tigers to five Div. I national titles.
The winner will be announced June 29.
Joining Brown as Bertman Award finalists are: Dan Hartleb (Illinois); Paul Mainieri (LSU); Doug Martin (NJCAA Division I national champion Northwest Florida State); Jeremiah Robbins (NAIA national champion Lewis-Clark State); Joe Urso (NCAA Division II champion Tampa); Jeff Willis (NJCAA Division II national champion LSU Eunice); and Doug Wren (NJCAA Division III national champion Tyler Junior College).
Brown led Cortland to a school-best 45-4 season and the program’s first national baseball title. The Red Dragons made their 23rd straight NCAA tournament appearance — the longest active streak in Division III and the fourth-longest run among all NCAA schools behind Division I programs Miami (Fla.), Florida State and Cal State Fullerton.
Cortland advanced to their 13th World Series with a 4-0 record at the NCAA Division III New York Regional, then won the national title with five consecutive wins in Grand Chute, Wis.
Brown’s overall head coaching record in 16 seasons, all at Cortland, is 598-156-3 (.792). He has the best winning percentage of any active coach nationally in NCAA Division I, II or III with at least 10 years experience and the third-best winning percentage among all Division III coaches with 10 years experience.
Cortland junior outfielder Conrad Ziemendorf was named the ECAC Division III Upstate Player of the Year, and was a first-team selection along with junior pitcher Brandon Serio.
Ziemendorf batted .345 this season with a pair of homers while driving in 38 runs. He was named the Most Outstanding Player at the World Series.
Serio finished 7-0 with a 1.98 earned run average in his nine mound appearances, striking out 44 and walking only seven in 54 and two-thirds innings.

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