There was only one brand-new, never-before champion crowned in the 2025 DII spring season. That could lead you to believe, with so many familiar faces, that it was a rather drab finale to the 2024-25 season. It was hardly that: records were broken, thrilling finishes happened at the wire again and again, and new tournament rivalries were formed.
As we head into the summer and ready for the start of a new 草莓网站在线看 DII year, let's take a quick look back at the spring that was.
馃弳 RECAPS: Baseball; Golf M | W; LAX M | W; Rowing; Softball; Tennis M | W; T&F M | W
A classic from Cary
No. 1 Tampa and No. 2 Central Missouri faced off in the first-ever three-game championship series. However, despite the top two seeds facing off for the national title, it was anything but predictable. In fact, it may have been the most exciting DII baseball championship finals in history, or at least the 2000s. A record was broken in the fifth inning of the first game, and the week closed with yet another record-setting performance. Every team, minus Felician, battled on every pitch, and it seemed like nearly every game came down to the final pitch.
Five teams made their finals debut, allowing us to expect the unexpected. Lenoir-Rhyne was one of those first timers, and while the Bears were in Cary, they set the single-season home run record for DII, and their star leadoff hitter, Mackenzie Wainwright, broke the single-season hits record with his 121st hit on a four-hit day. East Stroudsburg was the first team to send someone home, and it came on a walk-off grand slam, which is believed to be the first in Cary's 15 years as host of the finals. Tampa erupted for 20 runs, setting the Cary record for most runs scored in the finals. Both of the semifinal matchups, Tampa vs. Northwest Nazarene and Central Missouri vs. Lenoir-Rhyne, went the distance, showing just how evenly matched these teams all were.
It was also the first time the finals featured a three-game championship series, and good thing they did as it went the distance with three memorable games. Central Missouri and Tampa put on a show. The Mules used a four-run eighth inning to come from behind and win Game 1 9-8, while Tampa had to come back multiple times to win Game 2 10-8. Ultimately, it was the Spartans, who raked 17 home runs in the cavernous confines of the USA Baseball National Training Complex that walked away with the national championship 鈥 a DII record 10th all time.
It was a Spartan Spring
The 2024-25 season concluded my 10th year covering DII sports. What Tampa did this spring was simply the most dominant performance by a single program in one season during that decade of watching DII sports. The Spartans women's lacrosse team utterly dominated Adelphi to win their second-straight national championship. On the men's side, the lacrosse team lost in the championship game by a mere goal. It didn't stop there, as the softball team not only won their first South Region title, but made it all the way to the championship series, where they finished national runner-up. And of course, there was baseball, which once again made it to Cary, where they repeated as national champions. It will not be hard to draw recruits after a season like that.
A repeat champion nearly three decades in the making
I don't want to call it a no-brainer, but the UT Tyler Patriots looked like they were going to repeat right off the bat 鈥 so much so, we laid out a path to why they would way back in February. The Patriots were dominant in every aspect of the game 鈥 they had a top 5 batting average and OPS, a top 5 ERA and WHIP, and were No. 2 in fielding percentage. They reeled off 62 wins and didn't allow a run in the semifinals or championship series, fueling the Patriots to become the first repeat national champion of the 2000s. Don't be surprised if a third is on the way in 2026.
9 is just fine
Ho hum, 2025 saw another DII men's lacrosse national championship for the Adelphi Panthers. The Panthers are the benchmark for the sport 鈥 now with nine national championships in DII men's lacrosse. Winners of the 2024 championship as well, it was the third time in program history that Adelphi went back-to-back. Here's the big what if: DII men's lacrosse went away from 1982-1992. Adelphi won the last title before the sport temporarily folded in 1981 and then won the first national championship when it restarted in 1993. How many more titles would Adelphi have? While that is an unanswerable question, what can be answered is yes, Adelphi will be looking for No. 3 in a row in 2026.
Thrilling finishes and familiar faces
West Florida won its third title in DII men's golf history, with its first since 2008 coming in exciting fashion. The Argos walked away victorious in a playoff hole, the first DII men's golf title decided by a playoff since 2013.
It wasn't as close on the women's golf side as DBU rose victorious over Central Missouri 4-1. The Patriots have become the DII women's golf power of the post-pandemic era, winning three of the five championships (2021, 2023, 2025) since that canceled 2020 season.
There may be a new dynasty forming in Titletown USA. Valdosta State won its second consecutive DII men's tennis title and fourth in program history. Head coach John Hansen has won all four titles and not only celebrated No. 4 but was enshrined in the GSC Hall of Fame a week later.
Barry won the DII women's tennis championship because, well, because that is what Barry does. The Bucs have won seven of the last eight national championships, and the one year they didn't win? That was 2024, when they finished as national runners-up. That ninth title gives Barry the most all time (by a technicality. Armstrong State has 10, but two were vacated by the 草莓网站在线看).
Speaking of not knowing how to lose, Pittsburg State won its fourth DII men's track and field title in a row. On the flip side, West Texas A&M finished as national runners-up for the fifth year in a row. The Gorillas won seven individual championships in a dominating performance.
Head coach Jerry Baltes has a lot of titles, doesn't he? Grand Valley State won the DII women's outdoor track and field title, giving Baltes his third women's outdoor title to go with one men's outdoor, one men's indoor, three women's indoor, and nine combined men's and women's cross country titles.
In a spring full of familiar faces, Embry-Riddle shone as a first timer, winning the DII rowing national championship over Humboldt. It was the first DII national championship in any sport for the Eagles. ERAU was the first school from the South Region to win since 2016, which was the second of two-straight titles for fellow-SSC foe Barry.
