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The No. 2/3 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater was unable to extend its fantastic 2017 campaign Saturday afternoon in a 7-2 setback against St. Thomas (Minn.) on the third day of the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship Midwest Regional at Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium in Whitewater.
The Warhawks wrap up their season with a 36-9 record, including a 17-3 mark in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play. The team swept the WIAC regular season and tournament titles and reached the NCAA Tournament for the 20th time in program history, hosting the Midwest Regional for the first time since 2014.
In Saturday's game, UW-Whitewater finished with seven hits but committed three costly errors and left 10 runners on base, including seven in the last three frames.
Junior first baseman
Blake Fleischman (Germantown, Wis./Germantown) and sophomore catcher
Mike Aiello (Racine, Wis./Horlick) posted two hits apiece to lead the offense. Fleischman knocked in a run with a sharp single to right in the top of the ninth, and junior right fielder
Will Helbing (Waunakee, Wis./Waunakee) registered one RBI on a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
The Tommies (28-17) tallied three unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and plated two more in the sixth and seventh frames.
During that span, UW-Whitewater had opportunities with two on and one out in both the sixth and seventh, but St. Thomas never relinquished its lead.
Sophomore right-hander
Michael Kaska (Spring Grove, Ill./Richmond-Burton Community) took the tough luck loss, falling to 2-3 on the year after allowing only four hits and two earned runs in 5 1/3 frames. Seniors
Ankur Shah (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North),
Matt Langlie (Mundelein, IL/Mundelein),
James Georgakas (Ellsworth, Wis./Ellsworth) and
Austin Finn (Oconomowoc/Kettle Moraine) each tallied relief stints in relief of Kaska.
Along with those four pitchers, seniors
Dylan Bersch (Pulaski/Pulaski),
Jordan Kuczynski (Germantown/Germantown),
Mike Nompleggi (Oconto Falls/Oconto Falls),
Steve Chamberlain (Rockford, IL/Guilford) and
Westin Wuethrich (Greenwood, Wis./Greenwood) each played in their final games as Warhawks.
UW-Whitewater's talented senior class claimed three WIAC regular season championships, two conference tournament titles and four NCAA Tournament appearances, including two trips to the NCAA Championship round and a national title in 2014.
