UWW 2, UWSP 1: Warhawks move on to Midwest Region championship game

The UW-Whitewater baseball team is heading to Saturday’s championship game of the NCAA Division III Midwest Region on the heels of Friday’s thrilling 2-1 win over WIAC rival UW-Stevens Point.

Jeff Donovan went the distance on the mound on just two day’s rest to run his season record to 10 & 0 on the season.

The senior from Wauwatosa East High School scattered 9 hits, struck out four without giving up a walk in “willing” his team past the Pointers.

The game didn’t start that well for Donovan.

The Pointers got on the board first. Cody Koback, the winning pitcher and provider of the game winning home run in the win over Saint Scholastica earlier Friday, doubled with one out in the first and scored on Justin Jirschele's single.

Whitewater had its chances in the early innings stranding five runners through two innings.

In the bottom of the sixth Rob Coe was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and moved to second on a ground ball. UWSP head coach quickly was out to the mound to lift his freshman starting pitcher Zach Wendorf in favor of the Pointer’s top reliever, Ryan Iverson.

Coe greeted Iverson by attempting to steal third base. The throw from Point catcher Steve Considine short hopped third baseman Justin Jirschele ending up in short left field allowing Coe to score the game tying run. The Hawks weren’t finished in the inning. With two outs UW-W freshman Jared Fon doubled, advanced to third on a passed ball, and scored the what proved to be the game-winning run on Matt Beyer's single to right.

With the help of a couple sensational plays by 3rd baseman Jared Fon, Donovan allowed only two hits over the final three innings in shutting down a very potent UWSP offense.

The Hawks are now just one win from earning its first trip to
Iverson,’s record falls to 4 and 1, suffering his first loss of the season in relief.

UW-Whitewater, 35-11 and 3-0 in the regional, will play Saint Scholastica, 37-6 and 2-1 in the regional, at 12:00 Saturday.

If the Saints win the 12:00 game the teams would play again at 3:00 in the double elimination format.

The winner will advance to the NCAA III World Series at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, Wisconsin May 27-31.

Much more will be posted here on voiceseyeonbaseball.blogspot.com later on this evening.
- Voice