Mistakes costly for UWW in 6-5 loss to Point

Heading into this weekend’s WIAC Tournament UW-Whitewater head coach John Vodenlich indicated that he wanted to play solid, error-free baseball with a likely berth into next week’s NCAA Division III Midwest Regional at Jim Miller Stadium in Whitewater.

After playing inspired ball in its 21-2 win over UW-Oshkosh earlier in the day, the Wahawks were not error-free in its 6 to 5 round-two loss to No. 1 seed UW-Stevens Point.

UWW scored a run but left the bases loaded in the 1st inning. Then in the 3rd inning the Hawks scored two runs before there was an out and appeared on the way to having a big inning.

It didn’t happen as poor base running resulted in an inning ending double play on a single.

Those two events weren’t the only miscues for the Warhawks early in the game.

“To add to that list you got to get an out when a batter hits a ball to first base and we have to be in a position to cover” Vodenlich told voiceseyeonbaseball.blogspot.com. “The disappointing thing is that our mistakes were the result of being too tentative. We talked about that after the game. We talked about being more aggressive and if you make a mistake it’s going to be one of aggression as opposed to being too tentative and being afraid of making a mistake.”

(In the above photo - the Hawks hold an extended postgame huddle to refocus after 6-5 loss to Stevens Poin - Tom Pattison photo)

On a positive note, Coach Vo liked the way his team battled back after falling behind 6-3 early in the game.

“Our guys battled back and nearly pulled it (the game) out,” Vodenlich said. “After the 3rd inning Justin (Lambert) held them to just two hits and no runs. We played better and that’s good.”

The Warhawks must now win three games Saturday if it is to win the conference’s automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.

“If you ask me what I’d rather have – would I rather play well for the NCAA Regional or would I rather have us come up here and play well for two days, I think you know what the answer is,” Vodenlich explained in his postgame media conference.

The Warhawks will play UW-Oshkosh Saturday at 10 am with the loser bowing out of the tournament.