UW-Whitewater can keep its dancing shoes (okay, spikes) unpacked for at least another day thanks to a 7-4 win over number one ranked Chapman College Sunday in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III World Series in Grand Chute, Wisconsin. UW-Whitewater, 41-9 overall, will play Adrian College at noon Monday in the next round. The double elimination series ends with the championship game Tuesday. UW-Whitewater's post-season site
box score
photo gallery
post-game interview
all games Monday and Tuesday are being videocast live
(look for the link in orange/red on the upper right side of the page)
Just when it looked like both pitchers would sail through the first two innings a lug nut came loose. Chapman's Jordan Sigman retired the first two Warhawks in the bottom of the second, then hit rightfielder Joe Munn (Pleasanton, CA/Pleasanton) with a pitch. Catcher Billy Johnson (Kenosha/Kenosha Tremper) followed with a single, and shortstop Greg Harder (Waukesha/Waukesha West), one of nine Warhawk seniors that played on the 2005 national championship team, singled up the middle to give UW-W a 1-0 lead.
Chapman came back with a run in the top of the third against Warhawk freshman starter Aaron Dott (Green Lake/Green Lake), sandwiching a pair of singles around a sacrifice bunt to tie the game 1-1.
Munn was in the middle of things again in the fourth, leading off with a walk. He was erased on a fielder's choice, which put Johnson on first. Sigman hit the next batter, Harder, but one batter later, with two outs, first baseman Jeff Donovan (Wauwatosa/Wauwatosa East) hit his eleventh home run of the season to give Whitewater what seemed to be a comfortable 4-1 lead after four innings.
The Warhawk defense had a lapse in the fifth, with two errors and a passed ball which allowed Chapman to cut the margin to 4-2. But UW-W came back in their half of the inning, with left fielder Ben Prather (Chicago, IL/James B. Conant) hitting a one out double, advancing to third on a wild pitch, and Munn brought Prather in with a two out single to push the margin back to three, 5-2 Whitewater.
Prather's run proved to be crucial, because Chapman went back on the attack in the top of the eighth. The first two batters singled and doubled, then one scored on a Warhawk error and a runner advanced on a wild pitch. Designated hitter Stuart Hyman bunted in the second run of the inning, and one more walk signaled the end of the line for Dott. Jason Hooper (Lake Mills/Lake Mills) came on in relief and made Warhawk fans hold their breath, throwing a wild pitch to advance the tying run to third, but Hooper got the third out on a popup to second.
Whitewater wasn't content to rest on a 5-4 lead. Munn (again) led off the bottom of the eighth with his fourth home run of the season, and Johnson (again) followed with a double. Johnson advanced on a wild pitch, and second baseman Ben Kuhlmann (Minneapolis, MN/Southwest) brought in the final tally of the game with a sacrifice fly.
Hooper gave up a lead off single in the ninth, but the next three batters didn't get the ball out of the infield.
With eleven hits today the 2008 Warhawks, who moved in to second place in the school record book for hits in a season in the tourney opener against Linfield, upped their total to 570. (The school record is 631 in 2005.)
Dott, who upped his record to 7-1, gave up five hits and three earned runs, striking out three and walking three. The three K's give him 91 for the season, one behind teammate Adam Dominick (Waukesha/Waukesha West) in the Warhawk record book. Dominick is fourth, Dott fifth. Hooper picked up his first save of the season.
Designated hitter Tom Corcoran (Rochester, MN/Rochester), Prather, Munn and Johnson contributed two hits apiece to the Warhawk attack, which scored five of its seven runs with two outs. Munn also scored twice and drove in a pair.
Centerfielder Ryan Prechtl was 2x4 with two RBI's and a run scored for Chapman. Sigman, 10-2, took the loss for the Panthers. Chapman had been ranked number one in the Division III polls the last ten weeks of the season.
UW-W opened the World Series with a 5-1 loss to Linfield Friday. The Warhawks came back Saturday to knock New York-Cortland out of the tourney with a 10-2 win, and today's win sent Chapman packing with a final mark of 40-5. The Division III World Series uses a double elimination format.
Ironically, the Warhawk softball team followed this same patch a week ago in their Division III World Series. UW-W lost its first game, then won four in a row before losing in the championship game to finish second in the national tournament.
For additional information: John Vodenlich, UW-W coach
