The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater baseball team survived Grinnell College with a walk-off from Andy Thies (Tallahassee, Fla./Lawton Chiles) in the bottom of the ninth. The Warhawks (4-0) open up the Studer's Blue Wahoo Challenge with a 9-8 win over the Pioneers (4-4).

Grinnell started out hot, adding the first run of the game in the top of the first. After stealing third, the Pioneers reached the plate on an overthrow to stop the steal. The Warhawks looked to answer back, but Eli Frank (Bayport, Wis./Bay Port) was stranded after a two-out double.

Jack Hagen (San Clemente, Cal./San Clemente) started to take control, with two strikeouts in the 2nd frame. The offense followed suit, with Sam Paden (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) blasting a solo shot fown the left field line to tie the game.

Grinnell broke the tie after a two-run double, but the Warhawks put together a great 3rd inning. Daryl Jackson started off with a lead-off double, setting things in motion for a 3-run inning. 

The Grinnell offense was kept quiet for a stretch, but the Pioneers tied it up with a solo homer in the top of the 6th to knot things back up at 4. The Warhawks answered back with another 3-run inning in the bottom of the frame. Adam Cootway (DePere, Wis./Fox Valley Lutheran) connected on a 2-run homer with Dominic McVay timing a perfect steal at home plate to put the Warhawks up 7-4.

Grinnell kept fighting, closing the gap to just one run in the 7th. Jackson added an insurance run on a RBI double in the bottom of the 8th to give the Warhawks an 8-6 lead.

Grinnell kept the game alive in the 9th, picking up the typing run on an RBI single. But the Warhawks closed things off in regulation, as Andy Thies (Tallahassee, Fla./Lawton Chiles) sent Matt Scolan (Downers Grove, Ill./South) in for the walk-off win.

Jackson Koenig (Blaine, Minn./Blaine) picked up the win as the pitcher of record, with Runkel from Grinnell taking the loss.

Jackson had three hits at four at bats. Cootway finished 2-4 at the plate with 3 RBIs.

The Warhawks are back tomorrow for their second game in the Studer's Blue Wahoo Challenge. UWW takes on Carroll University with the first pitch scheduled for 10 am.