La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team fell, 4-3, to Bethel University (Minn.) in the championship game of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Regional Sunday at Copeland Park. The win by the Royals forces a second championship game Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
UWL, ranked 13th on this week's D3baseball.com Top-25 Poll, falls to 33-10 on the season while Bethel (Minn.) improves to 32-11.
UWL took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second. Logan Pye doubled with one and went to third on a balk. Tim Urlaub followed with a double to left center field to score Pye with the game's first run.
After not getting a base runner in the first two innings, Bethel (Minn.) tied the game in the top of the third. Noah Wenberg, Marcus Krupke and Matthew Carlsen all singled with one out to load the bases. Tommy Friesen's sacrifice fly scored Wenberg with the tying run. Justin Winterfeldt followed with a single to load the bases, but UWL starter Owen Deprez retired Keenan Hodgkin on a flyball to center field to strand the bases loaded.
The Eagles regained the lead in the fourth. Urlaub walked with one out and went to second on a wild pitch. George Seaman's single moved Urlaub to third. Jordan Williams walked to load the bases and Jack Moran's sacrifice fly scored Urlaub to give UWL a 2-1 lead.
Bethel (Minn.) left the bases loaded in the fifth. Carlsen and Frisen singled with one out. Winterfeldt walked to load the bases, but Deprez struck out Hodgkin and Nick Kulseth to end the inning.
UWL extended its lead to 3-1 in its bottom half of the fifth. Jack Olver led-off with a double. He advanced to third on Ty Hamilton's one-out single, but Hamilton was thrown out on the play for the second out. After a Bethel (Minn.) pitching change, Pye delivered a two-out double to left center to knock in Olver to give the Eagles a two-run lead.
The Royals left the bases loaded for the third time in the top of the sixth. Jordan Krupke reached on an error to start the inning and went to second on Aidan Nelson's sacrifice bunt. Tucker Bouche came into the game to relief Deprez and walked Wenberg. Marcus Krupke flied out for the second out, but Carlsen walked to load the bases. Bouche then retired Ty Koehn on a groundout to end the inning.
Bethel (Minn.) cut it 3-2 in the seventh on Winterfeldt's home run. Hodgkin doubled and went to third on Nick Kulseth's sacrifice bunt with one out. Pinch hitter Nolan Jurgenson fouled out for the second out and pinch hitter Brody Schneider struck out swinging.
In the eighth, the Royals left two more runners after Winterfeldt pop-out to second to end the inning. Bethel (Minn.) rallied in the ninth off UWL's Caleb Matl. He retired Hodgkin and Kulseth to start the inning, but Jurgenson singled. Pinch hitter Andrew Cardenas followed with a two-run home run to right center field to give the Royals a 4-3 lead.
Michael Meadows retired the side in order in the bottom of the ninth to earn his first save of the season. Blake Williams earned the win in relief, pitching 2.0 innings with two strikeouts.
Matl (4-1) suffered the loss, pitching 1.0 inning, allowing two hits and two runs with one strikeout. Deprez went 5.1 innings, allowing seven hits, one run and one walk while striking out five. Bouche went 2.2 innings, allowing three hits, one run and three walks with one strikeout.
UWL finished with eight hits as Pye went 2-for-4 with a run and RBI. Six other players recorded a hit.
Bethel (Minn.) totaled 12 hits. Carlsen and Winterfeldt each went 2-for-4. The Royals left 13 runners on base.