UW-Whitewater defeated Wartburg College 8-6 Friday evening in a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III regional hosted by Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois.  UW-W, which opened regional play with a 9-1 win over Coe College Thursday, will face number one ranked DePauw University Saturday at 2:00.  The regional, a double elimination tournament, will end Sunday.  UW-Whitewater's post-season site

box score

Wartburg junior centerfielder Courtney Bain opened the scoring with a bases loaded single in the first, bringing in two runs.  Meghann Brennfleck (Fox River Grove, IL/Cary-Grove) (sr, 1B) cut the deficit in half with an RBI single in the top of the second. 
A run with the aid of an error, and a two-run homer by Ashley Rogers (sr, 1B) extended because of the miscue, upped the Wartburg lead to 5-1 after two.

Lauren Cruz (Des Plaines, IL/Maine West) (so, LF) led off the fourth with a home run for UW-W, her ninth of the season, to make it 5-3 Wartburg.  Whitewater pulled ahead, 6-5, with three runs in the fifth.  The rally was manufactured with just two hits, as the Warhawks drew two walks and Wartburg contributed three errors. 

Whitewater's Amanda LeBeau (Worth, IL/Richards) (SS, so) singled in two runs in the sixth to make it 8-5, and the Knights cut it to 8-6 with a runner on third and two outs in the final half inning, but the last hope grounded out to end the game.

Jessica Stang (Minnetonka, MN/Minnetonka), the winning pitcher for UW-W against Coe Thursday, picked up the win over Wartburg with five and a third innings of four-hit, one run relief.  Stang walked two and struck out seven while moving her season record to 10-3.  Angela Hartwig pitched a complete game for Wartburg and lost for just the second time to go along with 19 wins.

Amy Gahl (Beloit/Parkview) (jr, CF) and LeBeau had three hits apiece for UW-W.  Cruz added a double to her home run in a 2x3 outing.  Rogers went 3x3 for the Knights.

UW-Whitewater is 32-8.  Wartburg College is 30-7.

Whitewater and DePauw met twice earlier this season, when both schools were in Florida for their spring trips.  DePauw won 2-0 March 25 and 6-3 March 27.  DePauw has yielded three or more runs only five times in forty-one games, and won four of those.