It may have taken two games on Saturday, but that was fine with head coach
John Vodenlich and the rest of Warhawks as they defeated UW-Stevens Point 5-3 in the first game and 6-2 in the second game to capture the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament title for the first time since 2004. With the tournament title, the Warhawks earn an automatic berth in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III baseball tournament beginning next week. The Warhawks lost a game in the double-elimination tournament that began on Friday while the Pointers did not, thus the teams had to play two games on Saturday since Whitewater won the first.
Whitewater's WIAC Tournament web site
Game one box score
Game two box score
WIAC Tournament Website
The Warhawks earned the number one seed in the tournament and the right to host by winning the WIAC regular season title. UW-W will be making their third straight trip to the NCAA tournament and could potentially play at home since UW-Whitewater is hosting a regional. The announcement of the 54-team field will be released on Monday, May 17.
The Warhawks had to come from behind in the first game to force a final, winner-take-all championship game. The Pointers leadoff batter, Brad Archambeau, homered in the bottom of the first for the first run of the game. Stevens Point proceeded to load the bases with just one out, but starting pitcher
Jason Hooper (Lake Mills/Lake Mills) retired the final two batters to escape with minimal damage. UW-SP added one more in the bottom of the second on an RBI double by Eric Fritz.
The 'Hawks cut into the Pointer lead with a run in the top of the fifth on a sacrifice bunt by
Jordan Stine (Merrill/Merrill ) that scored
Matt Beyer (Janesville/Parker).
The pitching duel between Hooper and Tyler Lorenz continued until the top of the eighth when UW-W took a 5-2 lead.
Daniel Putnam (Ashland /Ashland) hit a two-RBI single and
Ben Kuhlmann (Minneapolis, MN/Southwest) hit a two-run homer to account for the four runs.
The Pointers looked to mount a rally in the top of the eighth and win their sixth straight WIAC tournament title, but Warhawk relief pitcher
Ben Versnik (West Allis/Hale) had something to say about it. UW-SP started the inning with an out but followed with a single and walk and soon after both runners advanced to second and third on a
Jason Hooper (Lake Mills/Lake Mills) wild pitch. The next batter, Sam Spurney, singled through the left side to score a run. That's when Versnik stepped in. With runners at the corners he walked the first batter he faced to load the bases, but got the next batter to ground into a double play to end the inning.
After the Warhawks couldn't pad their lead in the top of the ninth, Versnik stayed on to finish the game getting the Pointers to go 1-2-3 to earn his seventh save of the season.
The second game started in favor of the host school with UW-W taking a 1-0 lead after one scoring an unearned run on a Putnam single. The Warhawks added two more in the bottom of the second to stretch their lead to 3-0. The first run was scored on a balk and the second was scored on another Putnam single.
The Pointers slashed the Warhawk lead to one after the top of the fifth inning scoring one run on a balk and another on a single.
Stine doubled in
Nick Rechlitz (Milwaukee/Marquette) after his leadoff bunt in the bottom of the seventh to give UW-W a 4-2 lead. Putnam followed with another bunt that was intended to move Stine to third, but he executed it so well he got a hit out of it.
Jeff Donovan (Wauwatosa/East) followed with a single through the right side to drive in Stine and give UW-W a three-run lead. The inning continued with another bunt, this time a sacrifice by Kuhlmann, to advance the runners to second and third.
Rob Coe (Appleton/North), who was hit by a pitch twice earlier in the game, was intentionally walked to load the bases and set-up the double play.
Mike Kenseth (Milwaukee/West Allis Hale) played into the Pointer's hands by hitting to the shortstop to start what should have been a 6-4-3 double play, but the second baseman couldn't make the turn quick enough and another run scored. The inning ended with the Warhawks holding a 6-2 advantage.
The Pointers threatened in the top of the eighth with runners on second and third and one out, but Donovan retired the final two batters with a strikeout and a foul out to preserve the four run lead.
Riley Tincher (Oregon/Oregon), who pitched UW-W's first game against UW-Stevens Point on Friday, came on in relief to snuff out any sign of a Pointer comeback and earned the save.
Donovan pitched eight and a third innings to earn the victory and improves to 4-0 this season. He also went 1-for-3 at the plate with one RBI.
This was the fifth time in the last six seasons that Point and Whitewater faced off in the championship game of the WIAC tournament. Point was the reigning WIAC tournament champion for five years in a row and is now 29-15. The Warhawks are now 38-5 heading into the NCAA tournament.
