Whitewater, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team fell 14-0 to Concordia University Chicago (Ill.) in the semifinals of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Midwest Regional Sunday afternoon at UW-Whitewater's Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium. The Eagles drop to 30-18 on the season and will play in an elimination game Sunday at 6 p.m. UWL will face the winner of the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) versus The College of St. Scholastica (Minn.) game scheduled to start at 2:50 p.m. Sunday.
With the win, Concordia Chicago (Ill.) advances to the regional championship game Monday, May 22. The Cougars would need to be defeated twice Monday. The winner of the Midwest Regional earns one of eight berths to the NCAA Championships at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, Wisconsin scheduled for May 26-31.
UWL, seeded fifth in this year's regional, opened the tournament with a 11-2 victory over fourth-seeded and 23rd-ranked St. Scholastica (Minn.) May 18. The Eagles then earned a 5-2 win over the region's top-seed and third-ranked UW-Whitewater May 19 before Sunday's regional semifinal against the Cougars.
Second-seeded Concordia Chicago (Ill.) took a 1-0 lead Sunday as Joe Silva scored on Brent Spohr's RBI double. The Cougars scored four times in the top of the second for a 5-0 lead highlighted by Silva's two-run double.
Concordia Chicago (Ill.) added single runs in the fourth and fifth innings before tallying seven runs in the seventh. Silva hit an RBI double in the fourth and Bryan VanDuser a run-scoring single in the fifth. The Cougars had six hits in their seven-run seventh inning. Silva had a two-run single in the inning.
Jameson Lavery (5-4) took the loss for UWL, pitching 3.2 innings, allowing seven hits, six runs (four earned) and three walks while striking out two. The Eagles walked 10 batters in the game. UWL finished with eight hits as
Joel Zyhowski and
Carter Hoffman each had two.
Brian Musielak (9-1) earned the victory for Concordia Chicago (Ill.), going 6.0 innings, allowing six hits and three walks with four strikeouts. The Cougars totaled 15 hits with five players finishing with at least two. Silva went 3-for-5 with three runs, two doubles and five RBI while VanDuser, Spohr, Doug Matthews and Brendan Klein each had two hits. Eight different players scored a run for Concordia Chicago (Ill.).
The Cougars earned an 8-3 victory over seventh-seeded Macalester College (Minn.) May 18 in the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional and a 7-2 win over third-seeded Adrian College (Mich.) May 19 before advancing to Sunday's semifinal.
