BB: WIAC: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

cubs · May 13, 2017, 02:02:04 PM

La Crosse puts up a five spot in the second inning to take a 5-0 lead over Point. Would think if they hang on for the victory, they have shown they were the second best team in the WIAC this season and would be at the front of the line among WIAC schools for a Pool C bid.

Something to keep in mind, St. Thomas is now in the Pool C group as well, as they were eliminated from the MIAC Tournament. St. Thomas was ranked ahead of La Crosse on Thursday in the Midwest Regional rankings. Will be interesting to see if reaching the WIAC Tournament Championship game will be enough to get La Crosse ahead of St. Thomas when the Pool C bids are awarded.

cubs · May 14, 2017, 09:55:26 AM

Quote from: cubs on May 13, 2017, 02:02:04 PM
La Crosse puts up a five spot in the second inning to take a 5-0 lead over Point. Would think if they hang on for the victory, they have shown they were the second best team in the WIAC this season and would be at the front of the line among WIAC schools for a Pool C bid.

Something to keep in mind, St. Thomas is now in the Pool C group as well, as they were eliminated from the MIAC Tournament. St. Thomas was ranked ahead of La Crosse on Thursday in the Midwest Regional rankings. Will be interesting to see if reaching the WIAC Tournament Championship game will be enough to get La Crosse ahead of St. Thomas when the Pool C bids are awarded.

Well La Crosse probably helped their case even more, as after knocking off Point earlier in the day, the Eagles scored five runs in the bottom of the 8th inning of the first championship to come back and defeat Whitewater 9-8. James Witt pitched 4.2 innings of one hit relief giving the Eagles bats a chance to rally. They were able to do just that off Nompleggi who came on in relief of Wuethrich.

Ankur Shah got the surprise start in the "if necessary" game for Whitewater and had arguably his best start in over a month, coincidentally which was also against La Crosse when he allowed two runs in a complete game 6-2 victory. (Maybe it shouldn't have been a surprise that he started!!) He stopped any momentum La Crosse might have generated in the first championship game and then Kaska came on in relief to seal the deal striking out six in three innings of work. La Crosse had cut Whitewater lead to 5-3 in the 6th inning, but Warhawk bats figured out Witt this time and scored three in 7th inning to make it 8-3, and that is how it ended.

Was surprised to see La Crosse's best relief pitcher Caleb Willems never step foot on the mound this weekend. Anyone happen to know why?

badgerwarhawk · May 14, 2017, 10:10:22 AM

La Crosse: 9
WARHAWKS: 8

A two run home run off the bat of Chamberlain in the first gave the WARHAWKS the early lead. But the Eagles matched those runs when a bloop single just out of the reach of three WARHAWKS fielders matched that and tied the game in the second. The tie didn't last long however as the WARHAWKS put a three spot on the board in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single by Aiello, a balk and Fleischman's fielders choice ground ball. The Eagles cut the lead to 5-3 with a run in the third but Fleischman's monster home run which cleared the scoreboard in right field pushed the WARHAWKS lead to 7-3 after four innings of play. Each team scored single runs in the fifth. The Eagles on an RBI triple by Brown and the WARHAWKS on Aiello's single making it an 8-4 game. That lead stood to the ninth before the Eagles put a five spot on the board with two outs which included a home run by Brown. Twice in the inning the Eagles were down to their last strike but clutched up to pull out the win. Wuerthrich started and went 7 innings allowing 4 runs (all earned) on 8 hits with a walk and 9 strikeouts. Nompleggi was tagged with his first loss when he allowed 5 earned runs on 6 hits, walked 1 and struck out a pair in two innings. Krause (2x5, RS, 2 2B), Chamberlain (2x5, RS, 2 RBI, HR), Aiello (2x4, RS, 2 RBI) and Szubert (2x3, RS, 2 RBI, 2 2B)recorded multiple hits.

La Crosse: 3
WARHAWKS: 8

Ankur Shah who hadn't gotten to the third inning in his last thee starts broke out of his funk picking up his fifth win of the season in the championship game. The senior lefty allowed 6 hits and 3 earned runs walked a pair and struck out 3 in six innings before Kaska relieved allowing a pair of hits with a single walk and striking out 6 Eagle batters in three scoreless innings. After three scoreless innings the WARHAWKS broke the ice with five runs in the fourth Krause, Wary (2) and Aiello had RBI singles and for the second time in the day the WARHAWKS scored a run due to a balk. The Eagles cut the deficit to three with a pair in the fifth and to two runs with another run in the sixth. But the WARHAWKS got two of those runs back in the seventh on Wary's second RBI single and an RBI single by Aldridge. Like game one the Eagle's final at bats were not without drama as they stranded a runner on third in the eighth and left the bases loaded in the ninth. Wary (2x5, RS, 4 RBI), Krause (3x4, 2 RS, RBI), Aiello (2x4, RBI), Chamberlain (2x4, 1 RS) and Kuczynski (2x5, RS) recorded multiple hits.

badgerwarhawk · May 14, 2017, 10:16:39 AM

Cubs, unfortunately I will miss the regional tournament as I foolishly scheduled a baseball trip to Texas next week. Posting on my IPad is a pain in the butt so I'll be relying on you to keep me up to date on developments. GO HAWKs

cubs · May 14, 2017, 11:01:28 AM

No problem BW!!!

I will do my best!!!

BTW-What was the deal with all the balks in the second championship game? Was pitcher not pausing out of the stretch, starting, stopping and re-starting delievery, etc? Just found it weird that there were probably as many balks in that half inning as there was the rest of the tournament combined.

Baseball Geek · May 14, 2017, 11:09:56 AM

Warhawks continue to get media attention. This is a nice recap.

http://www.nbc15.com/content/sports/UW-Whitewater-Baseball-Clinches-WIAC-Championship-and-NCAA-Bid-422187444.html

Also saw Chambo and Shah interviewed by WKOW after the win.

cubs · May 14, 2017, 11:14:59 AM

On this date 22 years ago, UWO's Tim Jorgensen hit for the HR cycle. He had a Solo HR, 2-run HR, 3-run HR and Grand slam in an 18-7 win over Eau Claire at Tiedemann Field.

Doesn't seem like it was that long ago!!!

cubs · May 14, 2017, 03:00:22 PM

I know this is the WIAC baseball board, but congratulations to the Oshkosh Softball program on winning the La Crosse Regional today. After going 0-3 against La Crosse during the regular season/WIAC Tournament, the Titans were able to knock off La Crosse once yesterday and again today en route to a 3-0 record and a Regional Championship.

One thing that really caught my eye when looking at the box scores, Oshkosh pitchers struck out just four batters in three games (21 IP) at the Regional. It seems like sometimes a team can have a dominant strikeout pitcher carry them through a Regional, but that wasn't the case for Oshkosh.

Oshkosh moves on to face Trine University next weekend in the Super Regionals, after Trine knocked off Hope College yesterday to win the Whitewater Regional.

Pat Coleman · May 14, 2017, 09:55:37 PM

Here's our projected playoff field:
http://www.d3baseball.com/playoffs/2017/2017-playoff-projections

cubs · May 14, 2017, 10:53:20 PM

Awesome work Pat and crew!!!!

Will be interesting to see how close you and your crew gets to hitting on the 13 Pool C bids.

mr_b · May 15, 2017, 07:52:43 AM

Here are the teams that made the tournament

Midwest Region Hosted by Wisconsin-Whitewater, Whitewater, Wis.
1. UW-Whitewater
2. Concordia-Chicago
3. Adrian
4. St. Scholastica
5. UW-La Crosse
6. St. Thomas
7. Macalester
8. St. Norbert

Just the stats · May 15, 2017, 10:01:15 AM

Quote from: cubs on May 14, 2017, 11:14:59 AM
On this date 22 years ago, UWO's Tim Jorgensen hit for the HR cycle. He had a Solo HR, 2-run HR, 3-run HR and Grand slam in an 18-7 win over Eau Claire at Tiedemann Field.

Doesn't seem like it was that long ago!!!

What an incredible feat! Didn't he also hit three home runs in the second game, or is that just the legend growing?

cubs · May 15, 2017, 10:10:15 AM

Here's how I see the Midwest Regional shaping up:

Favorite: Whitewater-They have a deep pitching staff that will allow them to put a quality starter on the mound each time out. Add in the fact that they are playing at home, and I think is worth something as well. Vodenlich has also shown that he is willing to bring a guy back on short rest if needed (like he did with Bachar and Morgan last year at Regionals.)

Sleeper: St. Scholastica-I don't feel as good about this choice as I did before the bracket was released.... Drawing La Crosse, and more specifically Boushley, and then Whitewater (should they beat St. Norbert) with either Jones or Renz will be a tough task. I would have liked to see them in the other half of the bracket to really more confident about this pick, but CSS did beat both La Crosse and Whitewater in the regular season in games started by Boushley and Renz so it shouldn't be a huge surprise should they be able to do it again.

cubs · May 15, 2017, 10:12:13 AM

Quote from: Just the stats on May 15, 2017, 10:01:15 AM
Quote from: cubs on May 14, 2017, 11:14:59 AM
On this date 22 years ago, UWO's Tim Jorgensen hit for the HR cycle. He had a Solo HR, 2-run HR, 3-run HR and Grand slam in an 18-7 win over Eau Claire at Tiedemann Field.

Doesn't seem like it was that long ago!!!

What an incredible feat! Didn't he also hit three home runs in the second game, or is that just the legend growing?

He actually hit two HR's in Game #1 of the DH, and then hit for the "HR cycle" in Game #2 of the DH....

Baseball Geek · May 15, 2017, 10:36:10 AM

Quote from: cubs on May 15, 2017, 10:10:15 AM
Here's how I see the Midwest Regional shaping up:

Favorite: Whitewater-They have a deep pitching staff that will allow them to put a quality starter on the mound each time out. Add in the fact that they are playing at home, and I think is worth something as well. Vodenlich has also shown that he is willing to bring a guy back on short rest if needed (like he did with Bachar and Morgan last year at Regionals.)

Sleeper: St. Scholastica-I don't feel as good about this choice as I did before the bracket was released.... Drawing La Crosse, and more specifically Boushley, and then Whitewater (should they beat St. Norbert) with either Jones or Renz will be a tough task. I would have liked to see them in the other half of the bracket to really more confident about this pick, but CSS did beat both La Crosse and Whitewater in the regular season in games started by Boushley and Renz so it shouldn't be a huge surprise should they be able to do it again.

You raise excellent points across the board, and I cannot argue with any of them.

I do have a question for the group ... while I completely agree that depth of pitching is probably the primary factor at this stage of the season, should we also be considering who has the strongest 1-9 lineup and hottest bats? If so, does UWW get the edge?