Nick Kuhlmann found a pitch he liked and lashed it into left field, scoring two and giving his Warhawks the lead for good. Photo by Steve Frommell, d3photography.com

By Pat Coleman
D3sports.com

GRAND CHUTE, Wis. – In a game that featured two Division III baseball heavyweights, it was UW-Whitewater that struck the final blow, as Nick Kuhlmann broke an eighth-inning tie with a two-run single to lift the Warhawks to a 9-6 win.

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The victory puts Whitewater (42-7) into the winners’ bracket championship game on Sunday night vs. St. Thomas. The Tommies qualified by defeating Baldwin Wallace 5-4. The winner of Sunday night’s game gets a day off on Monday and will play for the national championship on Tuesday.

"What a game. An emotional roller coaster, for sure," said Warhawks coach John Vodenlich. "A lot of interesting baseball played tonight. I know it was a hard-fought battle on both sides."

Kuhlmann, who had struggled at the plate in the first seven innings, found himself at the plate in a key situation and saw what he wanted to see on the first pitch of the at-bat: "Coach called me down there and said ‘if he gives you that first pitch, go get it.’ He threw me a fastball right where I like it. I just put a barrel on it and good things happened."

"It was just a fastball trying to get ahead," said Cortland starter Brandon McClain. "I tried to get the outside corner but I put it right over the middle."

Kuhlmann’s hit chased McClain, who gave up 11 hits and nine runs, eight of them earned, in 7.2 innings pitched. McClain, who came into the game sporting a 1.50 ERA and having committed zero errors all season, struggled on both accounts. His two throwing errors on pickoff attempts had allowed Whitewater to tie the game in the sixth.

The rally made a winner out of reliever Colin Grove, who started the seventh inning and stopped the bleeding after Cortland had scored in five of the first six innings. The junior left-hander retired the first seven batters he faced, three by strikeout and three on pop-ups, and pitched a scoreless ninth after the Warhawks took the lead.

"Throwing strikes is what works for me, getting ahead of hitters right away," said Grove, who improved to 5-0 on the season. "Mainly I was working with my fastball tonight. Guys weren’t really getting a good read on it, weren’t swinging at it too much." 

Mark DeMilio got the Red Dragons on the board early, lacing a double off the left-field wall to start the game before moving to third on an infield grounder and scoring on a sacrifice fly by Anthony Iacomini. Cortland added a single run in the second when Vinny Bomasuto reached on a throwing error by Jared Fon, moved to third on a single and scored on a slow infield roller by Michael DeCarr.

Casey Power busted out the big bat in the second inning, launching a three-run homer over the left field wall to give the Warhawks a 3-2 lead. The blast plated Michael Gonzalez, who had opened the inning with a single, and Jared Fon, who was hit by a pitch.

Chris Jackson chased Whitewater starter Curtis Morgan with a booming, 400-foot triple to right-center field, scoring two runs and giving Cortland a 4-3 lead. But the Warhawks answered in the bottom half once again, with Mike Mierow coming up with a clutch two-out single to give Whitewater a 5-4 edge. DeMilio led off the following inning with a double, however, and came around to score when Iacomini hit an infield grounder.

Cortland retook the lead with three consecutive bunts in the top of the sixth inning, as Danny Jackson bunted successfully for a base hit, Michael DeCarr reached on an error on the second bunt attempt and catcher Tim Panetta squeezed home pinch-runner Danny Castaldo. But that was the last of the scoring for the Red Dragons (36-8), who will play Emory in an elimination game at 3:30 p.m. CT on Sunday.