EMMITSBURG, Md. — Alone on top!

On the final day of the regular season, the LIU baseball team claimed the Northeast Conference title outright with a 13-7 win against host Mount St. Mary's on a scorching, 92 degree day.

The Sharks (18-9 NEC), who had secured the conference tournament's No. 1 seed a day earlier, needed the victory to avoid sharing the title with Bryant and Central Connecticut State (17-10 apiece).

LIU ended Bryant's nine-year reign as regular-season champion.

The Sharks will face fourth-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson on Thursday at noon at Dodd Stadium in Norwich, Conn., in the tourney opener.

LIU completed the regular season with a 34-18 overall record — the most wins in Division I program history, topping the 31 produced by the 2018 squad that reached the NCAA Tournament in coach Dan Pirillo's second season at the helm.

On Saturday, EJ Exposito belted his fourth homer of the three-game series and 13th of the season. That's now tied for third in a single season in D-I program history, trailing only Lou Deman's 18 in 1995 and Joe Zeccardi's 15 in 1998.

Colin Adams also went deep in the regular-season finale — his fourth long ball in the final six conference games.

Exposito drove in four runs, while Michael Edelman was 3-for-4 with four runs scored.

The Sharks jumped on Mount St. Mary's for three first-inning runs, highlighted by Giovanni Ciaccio's two-run single, and never trailed.

LIU starter Ryan Neuweiler handed an 8-2 lead over to Nick DeSalvo for the fifth inning.

"To win the conference title outright, it's unbelievable," Exposito said. "We've been talking about this since the first game, since fall ball ... since everything. This is definitely the best feeling ever."