The UW-Whitewater baseball team staged a late inning comeback to defeat Adrian College 5-4 Saturday at the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional in Whitewater to advance to the World Series.  The Warhawks, 40-7, will be making their seventh appearance in the World Series in program history, fourth under Head Coach John Vodenlich.  Adrian finishes the season 33-15 with both losses in the regional coming at the hands of UW-Whitewater.

Photo gallery of game (courtesy of Alex Saager)
Photo gallery of celebration (courtesy of Alex Saager)

After scoring two in the bottom of the first after a walk and three consecutive singles many might have thought it was going to be an easy day for the Warhawks.  Mitch Stefanski made sure it was not.  Stefanski belted a solo homer in the second, another in the fourth and an RBI double in the sixth.  Add that to a solo homerun by Sam Fischer to lead off the fourth and the Bulldogs had a 4-2 lead after five and a half.

The Warhawks began to chip away as soon as they could.  With one out in the sixth Mikole Pierce (DePere/DePere) singled through the left side.  He stole second and was awarded third after the umpire called interference on the Bulldog second baseman.  A groundout by Michael Gonzalez (Delavan/Delavan-Darien) pushed Pierce across and the Bulldog lead shrunk to 4-3.

Adam Gregory (Edgerton/Edgerton) tied things up in the seventh on a single to right field that plated Trey Cannon (Palatine, IL/Palatine), and UW-W completed the comeback by taking a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Gonzalez.

Warhawk lefty Colin Grove (Beloit/Memorial) entered the game part way through the sixth and shutdown the Bulldogs.  He registered five strikeouts while allowing just two hits over three and two-thirds to earn the victory and improve to 4-0 this season.  Grove made three appearances in the regional totaling 6.2 innings pitched and did not allow a single run.  For his efforts he was named to the regional’s all-tournament team.

Pierce, named the regional’s Most Outstanding Player, was 2-for-3 in the game and scored two runs.  Gonzalez accounted for two RBIs and one run on a 1-for-3 performance, and Trey Cannon (Palatine, IL/Palatine) went 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI.  Cannon’s .462 average, five runs and three RBIs in the regional earned him a spot on the all-tournament team.

Dylan Friend (Burlington/Burlington) and Brock Liston (Darien, IL/Joliet Catholic) were also named to the all-tournament team.  Friend hit .417 in four games with three RBIs, two stolen bases and five walks.  Liston earned UW-W’s first victory in the tournament throwing seven innings, scattering five hits, two runs and seven strikeouts.

This is the fourth time in the last 11 years that UW-W has reached the 40-win mark.  Three of the four times the Warhawks advanced to the World Series.

UW-W will play the winner of the New England Regional next Friday, May 23, at 7:45 pm at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, Wisconsin.