Warhawks and Pointers will play for berth in Division III World Series Saturday afternoon

Tell me if this scenario sounds familiar? The Warhawk baseball team loses big to Stevens Point. Wins an elimination game, and then must beat their WIAC archrivals for the tournament championship?

In the words of Yogi Berra, “its déjà vu all over again!”

The Warhawks face the identical task Saturday against Stevens Point. This time in NCAA Division III Midwest Regional play.

After losing 12-4 to the Pointers Friday morning, the Warhawks “circled the wagons” and defeating the University of St. Thomas (Minn), the defending Division III national champions to advance to Saturday’s championship round.

The buzz word in elimination games is to do whatever it takes to survive and advance and that is what the Warhawks did by knocking off the Tommies.

After using both Jeff Donovan and Aaron Leitner on the mound in the loss to the Pointers, Coach Vodenlich elected to start middle relief specialist, Kyle Lee against St. Thomas.

Lee pitched 3.1 solid innings. Next up was three innings from the WIAC’s leading closer, Ben Versnik And in crunch time Vodenlich called for his No. 1 pitcher on short rest to get the game’s final eight outs.

“He did a great job going two-plus innings,” Vodenlich told Voice’s Eye on Baseball Blog following the game. “That was a very good team and our pitchers really pitched well. Riley will be ready to go again Saturday.”

With the win over the Tommies the Warhawks will now play Stevens Point for a ninth, and possibly 10th time this season.
To advance to the Division III World Series Whitewater must win two games Saturday. For Vodenlich the mission is pretty “cut and dried.”

"We've got to do the same thing," Vodenlich said. "We have to show up, get two (good) pitching performances, swing the bats and we've got to play defense."

Saturday’s first Point-Whitewater championship bracket game is set for 12-Noon On Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium. A second game, if needed, is scheduled for 4 p.m.

Both teams will be looking to “stamp its ticket” to the NCAA Division III World Series, set for next week at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute.