WHITEWATER, Wis. -- UW-Whitewater scratched out a run in the first, and did not trail the rest of the way, beating St. Scholastica (Minn.) 6-5 in a NCAA Division 3 regional baseball elimination game on Saturday.
Saint Scholastica tied the game in the bottom of the first inning, but doubles by Ryan Leavitt and David Cladis, sandwiched around a hit batsman, upped UW-W's lead to 3-1 in the fourth.
A Warhawks error contributed to a run for CSS in the fourth, closing to 3-2. Jared Fon and Andrew Bauer drove in one run each in the fifth for a 5-2 lead.
With runners on second and third and two outs in the seventh, Bauer's bunt pushed in one run in the top of the seventh to increase Whitewater's lead to 6-2.
CSS added two runs, on three hits and a walk, in the bottom of the seventh and another tally in the last half of the eighth to shrink Whitewater's lead to 6-5.
CSS put runners on first and second in the bottom of the eighth, but Eric Schmitz, who went ten innings in Whitewater's win over Concordia-College Wednesday, came on to strike out the final batter.
UW-W, 33-16 overall and 4-1 in the double elimination regional tourney, will play again Saturday, facing the University of Saint Thomas, 37-8 and 3-0, at 3:00. If Whitewater wins the 3:00 game the same two teams will play Sunday at 12:00. Saint Scholastica winds up the season with a 35-11 mark.
Wednesday's Results
UW-Whitewater 2, Concordia University-Chicago 1 in ten innings
Saint Thomas 5, Saint Norbert 1
Saint Scholastica 8, North Park 7
Aurora 2, UW-La Crosse 1
Thursday's Results
10:00 Saint Norbert (27-12) 5, Concordia 0 (33-14) … Concordia eliminated
12:40 UW-La Crosse (34-10) 4 vs. North Park (32-14) 2 … North Park eliminated
4:00 Saint Thomas (36-8) 5, UW-Whitewater (30-16) 3
7:00 Saint Scholastica (35-9) 8, Aurora (37-9) 4
Friday's Results
10:00 UW-Whitewater (31-16) 10, UW-La Crosse (34-11) 7 … La Crosse eliminated
1:00 Aurora (37-9) 11, St. Norbert 5 … St. Norbert eliminated
4:00 Saint Thomas (36-8) 22, Saint Scholastica (35-9) 2
7:00 UW-Whitewater (32-16) 6, Aurora (38-11)
Saturday's Schedule
12:00 UW-Whitewater (33-16) 6, St. Scholastica 5 (35-11)
3:00 St. Thomas (37-8) vs. UW-Whitewater (33-16)
Sunday's Schedule
12:00 if necessary in the double elimination format
