Hawks drop heartbreaker in the bottom of 9th

It has been said before and it will be said again – a game is never over till its over.

Buena Vista University appeared on the way to a first round win by forging out to a 4-2 lead heading into the UW-Whitewater ninth inning. In Friday’s opening round NCAA Division III

The Hawks would not say die.

UWW loaded the bases with nobody out. Brent Young grounded into a double play that scored Drew Eichstaedt to pull the Warhawks within one at 4-3. That set up Jared Fon’s dramatic two-out RBI single to center field to score Rob Coe with the game-tying score to send the game to the bottom of the ninth.

The Whitewater momentum would not last long.

Buena Vista left fielder Michael Hoffman broke UW-Whitewater hearts by lining a two-out single to center to score Tyler Case and give the Beavers a 5-4, bottom of the ninth inning victory.

(In the adjacent photo – UWW centerfielder walks dejectedly off the field Friday night while Buena Vista players celebrate in the background follow the Beavers’ 5-4, bottom of the 9th victory in the first round of the NCAA Division III World Series at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton – photo courtesy of Jeff Siesser, Daily Jefferson County Union)

The Beavers excelled at playing “small-ball” by executing numerous bunt situations flawlessly. BVU also put its leadoff batter on base in six of the nine innings.

Whitewater left 12 runners on base including the bases loaded twice.

Final Line Score
Buena Vista: 5 runs, 9 hits, 2 errors, 9 LOB
UW-Whitwater: 4 runs, 13 hits, 2 errors, 13 LOB

Much more on today’s game will be coming up this evening here on Voiceseyeonbaseball.blogspot.com including quotes from the postgame press conference.

I’ll be talking to you later tonight here on the blog.

- Voice