Box Score Appleton, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team earned a 3-2 walk-off victory in 12 innings over Emory University (Ga.) Saturday night in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium.  The Eagles, making their first appearance in the NCAA III World Series, improve to 35-13 on the season.  UW-L's 35 wins is a single-season school record, breaking the record of 34 set in 2012.  With the victory, the Eagles advance to play Sunday, May 24 at 7:45 p.m. versus the winner of the Emory (Ga.)/Trinity University (Texas) contest scheduled for 1:15 p.m. Sunday.

UW-L will advance to the best-of-three championship series with a victory Sunday night.  If UW-L drops its contest Sunday night, a second game will be played Monday, May 25 at noon or 3:30 p.m. with the winner advancing to the championship series.

Emory (Ga.), the defending NCAA III runner-up, falls to 31-14 on the season with Saturday's loss.

"This team just refuses to lose," said UW-L head coach Chris Schwarz. "These guys have to much heart and passion. They find a way to make it happen."

In the fourth-ever meeting between the two teams and first since 2001, UW-L opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning.  Taylor Kohlwey singled up the middle with one out and scored after Justin Anderson's single to left center field was misplayed by Emory's (Ga.) left fielder giving UW-L a 1-0 lead.  Anderson advanced to second on the play and then moved to third on Ben Morgan's ground out.  Bryce Barsness followed with a single to left field to score Anderson to make it 2-0.

Emory (Ga.) tied the game with two runs in the top of the seventh.  Dylan Eisner started the inning with a single and advanced to second on pinch-hitter Brian Hernandez's single.  UW-L starting pitcher Joe Miller was replaced by Jameson Sadowske, who struck out Chris Young, but both runners moved to second and third on a wild pitch.  Sadowske then struck out lead-off hitter David Coble, but Wilson Morgan's two-out two-run single to right center scored Eisner and Hernandez to tie the game.  Brett Lake singled to put runners at first and second, but Sadowske recorded his third strikeout of the game inning getting Ben Vizvary to end the inning.

UW-L put the winning run on second with no outs in the bottom of the ninth, but failed to score.  Joel Zyhowski singled to start the inning and advanced to second on a passed ball.  Eric Vatch struck out for the first out of the inning.  After Emory (Ga.) starter Connor Dillman was replaced by Kyle Monk, Alex Cordova grounded out with Zyhowski moving to third.  Kohlwey was intentionally walked to put runners on the corners, but Anderson grounded out to end the inning.

Both teams had chances in extra-innings. Emory (Ga.) had runners on first and second in the top of the 10th, but Sadowske got Philip Maldari to hit into an inning ending double play.  UW-L put a pair of runners on base in the bottom of the 10th, but Zyhowski flied out to end the inning.

Eric Vatch had an infield single to start the bottom of the 11th and advanced to second on Cordova's sacrifice bunt.  Kohlwey was intentionally walked for the second straight time to put runners on first and second, but Anderson grounded into a double play to end the threat.  Kohlwey was called for interference at second on the play resulting in the double play.

Emory (Ga.) put runners on first and third with two outs in the top of the 12th, but Sadowske induced a ground out from Vizvary to end the inning.  Emory's (Ga.) Michael Byman came into pitch in the bottom of the 12th and got the first two batters before Shane Adler was hit-by-pitch.  He then stole second and scored the winning run on an Emory (Ga.) throwining error on Travis Buxton-Verstegen's ground ball to third.  The throw went over the first baseman's head as Adler scored.

"Coach gave me the green light to go ahead and steal," said Adler. "I knew if I got a good jump on the first pitch I knew there would be an opportunity to get to second base.  Once I saw the ball hit to third base, I just saw Gilly (third baseball coach Scott Gillitzer) waiving me home and I just put my head down and kept running and I wasn't stopping for anything."

"With the pitching that was going on both sides, I didn't think anybody wasn't going to string together five or six hits," said Schwarz. "We had to make something happen."

Miller went 6.0 innings for UW-L, allowing eight hits and two runs while striking out nine.  Sadowske (5-0) earned the win for the Eagles, pitching 6.0 innings, allowing four hits and one walk with six strikeouts.

UW-L finished with nine hits as Barsness went 3-for-5 with an RBI.  Six different players had a hit.

Connor Dillman started for Emory (Ga.), pitching 8.1 innings, allowing seven hits, two runs and three walks with eight strikeouts.  Kyle Monk went 2.2 innings, allowing two hits and two walks with two strikeouts while Byman went 0.2 of an inning, allowing one unearned run.

The Eagles totaled 12 hits as Lake went 4-for-6.  Morgan finished 3-for-6 with two RBI while David Coble went 2-for-6.