Thanks to another, actually three more, clutch pitching performances UW-Whitewater advanced to the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III regional final with a 10-4 win over Millsaps College Sunday afternoon in the regional hosted by Augustana College at Swanson/Brunner Field in Moline, Illinois. UW-Whitewater, 29-18 overall and 3-1 in the regional, will face top-seeded Carthage College, 34-6 overall and 2-0 in the regional, at 11:00 Monday. In the regional's double elimination format, if UW-W wins the game at 11:00 the teams will meet again at 2:00 for the right to advance to the NCAA III World Series May 22-26 in Grand Chute, Wisconsin. UW-Whitewater's Tournament Central web site
box score/plays
Warhawk starter Ben Versnik (West Allis/Hale), who came in to the game with a 2-4 record, started and gave up just one run in his four innings. Freshman Kyle Lee (Beaver Dam/Beaver Dam) came on to take over for the next four innings, his longest stint of the year, and pick up his second victory of the year against no defeats. Junior lefty Riley Tincher (Oregon/Oregon) pitched a scoreless ninth in just his tenth appearance of the season. The trio's efforts follow a complete game win by Doug Hanson (Grayslake, IL/Grayslake) in the 8-3 win over Wartburg earlier Sunday.
Senior outfielder Hayes Brian opened the bottom of the third with a double, moved to third on a ground out and gave Millsaps first blood on a Tait Hendrix sacrifice fly.
After having a man in scoring position in each of the first four innings, UW-W finally broke through with four runs in the fifth. Travis Wessels (Tomah/Tomah) led off with a single and advanced to second on a Tony Wong (Appleton/West) walk. Ben Kuhlmann (Minneapolis, MN/Southwest)'s sacrifice bunt was misplayed, with Kuhlman and Wong ending up at second and third, respectively, and Wessels bringing in the tying run. Rob Coe (Appleton/North) was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and first baseman Matt Millar (Stoughton/Stoughton) doubled to clear the bases and give UW-W a 4-1 lead.
The Warhawks tacked on two runs in each of the next three innings. Matt Beyer (Janesville/Parker) led off the sixth with a walk and took second with a steal. Wessels singled him in, then moved to third when Wong singled down the right field line. Kuhlmann brought another run in with a bunt. Millsaps got one back in the bottom half of the inning on a Todd Barnthouse RBI double.
In the seventh Millar opened the frame with a single and moved to second on Sam Petrasko (Appleton/East)'s single. Both moved up one base on Beyer's sacrifice bunt. Third baseman Nick Rechlitz (Milwaukee/Marquette), who also drove in two runs in the win over Wartburg earlier Sunday, brought Millar and Petrasko home with a double to give UW-W an 8-2 lead. Again Millsaps answered, also scoring a pair of runs, with junior third baseman Josh Ordenaux doubling in both runs with the Majors' fourth hit of the inning.
Whitewater came back with two runs, the last scoring of the game, in the eighth. Kuhlmann and Coe hit back-to-back singles to start the inning, and both advanced on a balk, just the third by an opposing pitcher this year. Millar reached on a fielder's choice with Coe out at second, and Millar advanced to second on a wild pitch. Beyer picked up both runners with a single to center.
After stroking fourteen hits in the opener Sunday, UW-W came back with fifteen against Millsaps. Wong and Millar had three hits each, with Wong also contributing two walks from his leadoff position. Millar led UW-W with three runs batted in. Millsaps had three players with two hits each, led by Ordenaux's two hits and two RBI's. Ordenaux also reached on a walk. Senior righthander Drew Maddox, 7-2, went six innings and took the loss for the Majors.
Whitewater avenged a 12-4 Saturday loss to Millsaps, ending the Majors' season at 34-9.
Whitewater and Carthage met earlier this year, with Whitewater winning 9-0 and Carthage winning 6-2 in March when both teams were in Florida. In sixteen doubleheaders this season UW-W has swept five, gone 1-1 nine times, and been swept twice.
