A year ago, the Pittsburgh Pandas were within a game of a National Amateur Baseball Federation College Division World Series championship.

This season, the Pandas -- a wooden-bat summer-league team for college players -- proclaimed themselves better.

Then, they went out and proved it.

The Pandas carried a 25-game winning streak into their World Series this year and won the championship Aug. 6 in Toledo, Ohio, by beating the Long Island Astros.

"After our regular season, we definitely felt like we had a good chance to win it," said outfielder John Selby, an all-tournament selection and New Brighton native. "We were told our team was head and shoulders above last year's team, so we went in pretty confident."

The Pandas, who play their home games at La Roche College, feature a roster of players from around the region and/or who attend local colleges, including Pitt and West Virginia.

The team, which Frank Gilbert founded six years ago, was 28-3 in winning the Tri-State Collegiate League title. The Pandas won the Youngstown regional tournament to qualify for the 16-team World Series, where they won five of six contests.

"Each and every one of these guys deserves this," said Pandas manager John Bellaver, a Mt. Lebanon native and former coach of the Penn State Beaver baseball team. "It was an honor to coach these guys. To go 36-4 is quite an accomplishment."

It almost didn't happen. The Pandas were beaten, 10-0, by the Crystal Lake (Ill.) Cardinals in their first game in Toledo.

Recovering to advance in round-robin pool play, the Pandas faced the defending champion Michigan Bulls in the quarterfinals. The Bulls had dominated Pittsburgh, 17-3, in the championship game last season, had outscored their opponents, 27-3, in three first-round contests, and held a 3-2 lead heading into the Pandas' final at-bat.

The Pandas rallied for a 4-3 victory.

"One through nine in the lineup and one through 21 on the roster," Bellaver said, "everybody believed. We believed we'd win every game we played."

The Pandas almost did that. Pitcher Nate McCollough was perfect through the regular season as the La Roche junior allowed no earned runs.

McCollough was the tournament's most valuable player and was joined on the all-tournament team by Selby -- a California University of Pennsylvania player who hit .321 with 19 RBIs and 11 steals in the regular season and led the team with a .400 average in the World Series -- catcher Mike Schmidt, shortstop Lucas McCoy and third baseman Justin Gregula.

Bethel Park's Schmidt, a freshman at West Virginia, hit .291 with 13 RBIs in the regular season.

Gregula, a Washington, Pa., native who plays at Old Dominion, hit .375 in the regular season and .348 in the World Series.

McCoy hit .345 with 18 RBIs in the regular season, but his glove was even more valuable than his bat.

"He's without a doubt the best fielding shortstop I have seen in any [college] league," Bellaver said of the La Roche junior.

Said Selby: "He has to be the best fielding shortstop I have ever played with."

The Pandas have accomplished more than winning their first NABF World Series. The program already has had 20 "alumni" play for pro teams, including current Pirates pitcher Josh Sharpless.

"The wooden bats change the game so much, and the players who succeed in our league are most likely to succeed at the next level," said Gilbert, who formerly worked in the Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox and San Francisco Giants organizations.

"You'll find there are a lot of [major-league] scouts at these games."