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| Susquehanna will need two wins today to knock out the Cortland Red Dragons from a spot in next week's D-III World Series. Susquehanna athletics file photo |
Regional titles will be earned today with St. John Fisher the first to book their ticket to Appleton with a 8-2 win over Kean. UW-Whitewater, Cortland, and Keystone all followed with tickets of their own, leaving half the field to be determined.
UW-La Crosse was the fifth team to punch their ticket to the D-III World Series. They have unfinished business with a second place trophy in 2015. Joining the Eagles in a return trip is their first round opponent the Trinity (Texas) Tigers. Both teams will benefit with the experience of having made the trp in 2015.
Cortland had the first shot at winning a regional championship but fell 8-6 to Susquehanna as the Crusaders forced a winner-take-all game for the Auburn Regional crown. The result would be in favor of the Red Dragons as they held on to a 10-9 win to continue the defense of their 2015 national championship. In the early game, Susquehanna was firing on all phases. They came up with some early runs, knocking out Cortland starter Ben Moxley in the second inning and continuing to add runs. The early story was Nathan Madden as he no-hit the number one team in the nation through seven innings. With their backs to the wall, Cortland scratched and had the winning run on base when the Liam Conboy, the Susquehanna closer, got Paul Dondero to end the inning with a groundout to third base.
Fifth ranked Rose-Hulman started the day without a loss but faced the top ranked UW-Whitewater Warhawks. Cal Aldridge homered to lead off the second inning and the rout was on as UW-Whitewater pounded the Engineers for a 11-0 win to force a second championship game. In the night cap, UW-Whitewater's Blake Fleischman hit two home runs and Daytona Bryden added a solo shot as the Warhaks finished the sweep and snatched the regional crown from the Rose-Hulman Engineers.
| The Trinity (Texas) Tigers are making their second consecutive trip to the Division III World Series. Trinity (Texas) athletics file photo |
The top-seeded Trinity (Texas) overcame an early deficit, a long rain delay, and a change of venue to defeat sixth seed Pacific Lutheran 12-7, and capture the NCAA Division III West Region Championship. With the region title comes a second straight trip for the Tigers to the D-III World Series.
Kean and Tufts accomplished task one with early wins on Saturday. They both come out of the elimination round with two more wins needed to make the trip to Appleton. Kean defeated UMass-Boston 5-1 and Tufts was a 7-1 winner over Oswego State. Neither would win again on Saturday as St, John Fisher and Keystone closed out their regionals undefeated. St. John Fisher was an 8-2 winner over Kean and Keystone defeated Tufts 7-5. This will be the first appearance for the Cardinals and the second for the Giants.
UW-La Crosse earned its second consecutive trip to the D-III World Series with a 5-3 victory over St. John's (Minn.). The Eagles started the same way they did in every regional game, with a first inning lead and then used quality pitching to hold down their opponent while they piled on more runs. With a first inning single, Taylor Kohlwey extended his hitting streak to 49 games, second all-time in Division III history.
The Mount Berry Regional got rebooted this morning and will be playing in between rain drops. Shenandoah took an early 6-0 lead through two innings only to see Emory take it back with seven in the third. The Eagles added seven more in the last five innings for a 14-7 win and are in line for another shot at the elusive national title as they earned one of two tickets to the championship round. The final round will take place on Sunday as Emory will take on Shenandoah who emerged out of the elimination round.
Wooster started the Washington Regional today, dropping TCNJ 5-3 but ran into a determined La Roche team. The Red Hawks defeated the Scots 13-0 and will made their second straight Mideast Regional championship game. The Red Hawks forced a winner-take-all game on Sunday with a 7-2 extra inning win over previously undefeated Randolph-Macon Yellow Jackets.