JOHNSTOWN, Pa. - After his team had collected yet another championship, West Virginia State baseball coach Cal Bailey gathered his players on Sunday for some postgame conversation.

"I told them I've never been prouder of a team because of all the adversity we've been through,'' said Bailey, a 31-year coaching veteran at the school. "That's exactly what I told them.''

Pounding out 21 hits, the Yellow Jackets picked up the 16th West Virginia Conference baseball title in school history with a 14-2 victory over Alderson-Broaddus in Sunday's tournament finals.

The victory qualifies State (36-12) for the six-team NCAA Division II North Atlantic regional tournament scheduled for May 14-17, probably in Johnstown. Pairings and the tournament site are expected to be announced later this week. The regional winner earns a berth in the Division II championship.

"This is a wonderful team,'' Bailey added. "It's hard to believe the stuff we've gone through. We've had injuries and illnesses, flu, strep throat, broken bones and operations. We had 16 or 17 games either rained out or snowed out, but we hung right in there. We all struggled - the players, the coaches. We took some beatings early. I was concerned. We didn't know how it would fit together, but this has been one of those years when everything finally fell into place.''

In Sunday's victory, J.D. Broderick and Chad Chambers collected four hits each as the Jackets scored at least once in every inning, scoring single runs in the first two innings, adding two runs in the third and four more in the fourth for an 8-0 lead.

Josh Kuykendall threw five innings of scoreless relief to pick up the victory. C.J. Meadows started and allowed two runs and fanned six batters before leaving after four innings.

Eric Workman and Michael Deleeuw had three hits each for State. Broderick and Ryne Holstine homered.

After opening the double-elimination tournament with a 13-5 loss to Shepherd on Friday, the Yellow Jackets bounced back with a 10-1 victory over Pitt-Johnstown later in the day and defeated Shepherd 7-2 on Saturday. State eliminated West Virginia Wesleyan 10-1 on Sunday to reach the title game.

The tournament success continued State's late-season surge.

"In the past three weeks, we've been almost unstoppable,'' said the Jackets coach. "We scored in double digits in a lot of games. Once we got rolling, it really felt good to see it.''

In Sunday's earlier victory over the Bobcats, Josh Bower collected four hits, and Bo Darby blasted his third home run of the tournament.

Darby, Holstine, and Chase Day each added two hits in the Jackets' 14-hit attack. Shane Long tossed seven shutout innings to pick up the win, allowing a pair of hits and fanning five.

"The thing now is not to let them get too satisfied,'' said Bailey.

"I told them I've never been prouder of a team because of all the adversity we've been through,'' said Bailey, a 31-year coaching veteran at the school. "That's exactly what I told them.''

Pounding out 21 hits, the Yellow Jackets picked up the 16th West Virginia Conference baseball title in school history with a 14-2 victory over Alderson-Broaddus in Sunday's tournament finals.

The victory qualifies State (36-12) for the six-team NCAA Division II North Atlantic regional tournament scheduled for May 14-17, probably in Johnstown. Pairings and the tournament site are expected to be announced later this week. The regional winner earns a berth in the Division II championship.

"This is a wonderful team,'' Bailey added. "It's hard to believe the stuff we've gone through. We've had injuries and illnesses, flu, strep throat, broken bones and operations. We had 16 or 17 games either rained out or snowed out, but we hung right in there. We all struggled - the players, the coaches. We took some beatings early. I was concerned. We didn't know how it would fit together, but this has been one of those years when everything finally fell into place.''

In Sunday's victory, J.D. Broderick and Chad Chambers collected four hits each as the Jackets scored at least once in every inning, scoring single runs in the first two innings, adding two runs in the third and four more in the fourth for an 8-0 lead.

Josh Kuykendall threw five innings of scoreless relief to pick up the victory. C.J. Meadows started and allowed two runs and fanned six batters before leaving after four innings.

Eric Workman and Michael Deleeuw had three hits each for State. Broderick and Ryne Holstine homered.

After opening the double-elimination tournament with a 13-5 loss to Shepherd on Friday, the Yellow Jackets bounced back with a 10-1 victory over Pitt-Johnstown later in the day and defeated Shepherd 7-2 on Saturday. State eliminated West Virginia Wesleyan 10-1 on Sunday to reach the title game.

The tournament success continued State's late-season surge.

"In the past three weeks, we've been almost unstoppable,'' said the Jackets coach. "We scored in double digits in a lot of games. Once we got rolling, it really felt good to see it.''

In Sunday's earlier victory over the Bobcats, Josh Bower collected four hits, and Bo Darby blasted his third home run of the tournament.

Darby, Holstine, and Chase Day each added two hits in the Jackets' 14-hit attack. Shane Long tossed seven shutout innings to pick up the win, allowing a pair of hits and fanning five.

"The thing now is not to let them get too satisfied,'' said Bailey.