The UW-Whitewater baseball erased a year of misery with Friday’s 2-1 victory to knock UW-Stevens Point out of the NCAA Division III Midwest Region at James B. Miller Stadium Friday afternoon on Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium.
Last year the Pointers scored on a suicide squeeze play to beat the Hawks and earn a trip to the 2010 NCAA Division III World Series in Appleton.
Wahawk relief pitcher Eric Schmitz has had the photo of the Pointers celebrating that victory on Whitewater’s field on his computer’s screen saver.
Jeff Donovan, who pitched his first complete game victory of his career, was asked after the game if memories of that Regional championship game loss to the Pointers in 2010 still lingered for his team.
“It lingered until today,” Donovan told reporters. “We remembered what happened last year. It just added to our hunger today.”
It was definitely one of those “red letter” wins, especially after last year’s result.
“It was a big game for a number of reasons,” UWW head coach John Vodenlich said following Friday’s Warhawk victory. “They (Stevens Point) was the No. 1 seed, they’re in our league, they’ve been a big opponent of ours for years. I don’t know if would have been bigger or smaller if it hadn’t been Point – the fact is it was Point and we beat ‘em - This was a huge game and we have to feel proud about it.”
As big of a win as it was for Whitewater there is still plenty of work needed to earn a berth in next week’s NCAA Division III World Series in Appleton.
UW-Whitewater heads into today’s 12-Noon game vs. St. Scholastica unbeaten in this week’s Midwest Regional. A UWW win in the 12-Noon contest punches the UWW ticket to the “World Series.” A CSS victory sets up a second game at 3 p.m. for “all the marbles.”
CLICK HERE to view WKOW TV-Channel 27’s video story of Friday’s win over UW-Stevens Point
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