2015 La Crosse Regional preview


UW-La Crosse was safely in the field, but will the home field be enough to help the Eagles move on?
Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com

Follow this regional

May 13: All times Eastern

Final
Coe 4, at St. John's 2
Video | Box Score | Recap
Final
Ripon 15, at UW-Whitewater 7
Box Score
Final
at Washington U. 2, Concordia-Chicago 0
Video | Box Score | Recap | Photos
Final
at UW-La Crosse 10, St. Scholastica 3
Box Score | Recap
May 14: All times Eastern

Final
UW-Whitewater 2, at St. John's 0
Box Score
Final
at Concordia-Chicago 7, St. Scholastica 4
Video | Box Score
Final
at Coe 5, Ripon 4
Box Score
May 15: All times Eastern

Final - 13 innings
UW-La Crosse 8, at Washington U. 6
Video | Box Score | Recap | Recap | Live stats | Photos
Final
Concordia-Chicago 6, at Ripon 5
Video | Box Score
Final
at UW-Whitewater 3, Washington U. 0
Video | Box Score | Photos
Final
Coe 11, at UW-La Crosse 5
Box Score | Recap | Recap
May 16: All times Eastern

Final
at Concordia-Chicago 8, UW-Whitewater 7
Video | Box Score
Final
at UW-La Crosse 10, Concordia-Chicago 3
Box Score | Recap | Recap
May 17: All times Eastern

Final
UW-La Crosse 5, at Coe 4
Video | Box Score | Photos
Final
UW-La Crosse 15, at Coe 4
Video | Box Score | Photos

By Erik Buchinger
for D3baseball.com
 

Top-seeded UW-Whitewater headlines a competitive Midwest regional, but several quality teams have the opportunity to emerge and make their way to the 2015 World Series.

Whitewater and No. 2 seed UW-La Crosse earned at-large bids, as did third-seeded Washington U., which made the field as one of the two Pool B selections. The rest of the teams in the region needed a conference title to earn their way in.

No. 4 seed St. John’s beat two-time defending MIAC champion St. Thomas twice on Sunday to advance to the regionals. Fifth-seeded Coe used a six-run sixth inning against Wartburg to win the IIAC.           

Sixth-seeded Concordia-Chicago scored the winning run in the top of the ninth with a hit-by-pitch to win the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference tournament and earn its fourth consecutive NCAA appearance. No. 7 seed St. Scholastica won its eighth consecutive UMAC title, and eighth-seeded Ripon played four games in two days in the Midwest Conference to earn its spot.

La Crosse Regional schedule

All times Central

Wednesday, May 13
Game 1 - No. 4 St. John's (26-14) vs. No. 5 Coe (31-12), 10 a.m.
Game 2 - No. 1 UW-Whitewater (33-9) vs. No. 8 Ripon (23-14), 1:15 p.m.
Game 3 - No. 3 Washington U. (33-14) vs. No. 6 Concordia-Chicago (30-13), 4:30 p.m.
Game 4 - No. 2 UW-La Crosse (28-12) vs. No. 7 St. Scholastica (32-11), 7:45 p.m.

Thursday, May 14
Game 5 - St. John's vs. UW-Whitewater - 10 a.m.
Game 6 - Concordia-Chicago vs. St. Scholastica - 1:15 p.m.
Game 7 - Coe vs. Ripon - 4:30 p.m.

Meet the teams


 




Friday, May 15
Game 8 - Washington U. vs. UW-La Crosse - 10 am.
Game 9 -  Concordia-Chicago vs. Ripon, 1:15 pm.
Game 10 - Washington U. vs. UW-Whitewater, 4:30 pm.
Game 11 - Coe vs. UW-La Crosse, 7:45 pm.

Saturday, May 16
Game 12 - Concordia-Chicago vs. UW-Whitewater, 10 am.
Game 13 - UW-La Crosse vs Concordia-Chicago, 1:30 pm

Sunday, May 17
Game 14 - Coe vs. UW-La Crosse, Noon.
Game 15 - Coe vs. UW-La Crosse, 3:30 pm (if necessary) 

Favorite

The favorite has to be the defending champions from UW-Whitewater. The Warhawks came into the season ranked No. 1 to begin the season and remained in the top three throughout. The target will be once again will be on the back of the Warhawks, who look to advance to Appleton for another shot at a national title and become the fourth team to win back-to-back.

Most likely to disappoint

St. Scholastica came one win away from going undefeated in the UMAC, but the Saints have struggled against quality opponents. St. Scholastica finished with a 2-8 record against teams in the playoff field, including 1-4 against teams in the Midwest regional.

Cinderella

UW-La Crosse earned its third trip to the playoffs in the past four years, but the Eagles have never advanced past the regionals. La Crosse beat Whitewater twice this season and took three games against UW-Stevens Point, the No. 1 seed in the Central. It also doesn’t hurt that La Crosse will have the home field advantage as the host of the regional.

Players to Watch

Ben Morgan, UW-La Crosse (.324, 28 R, 47 H, 11 2B, 5 HR, 32 RBI)
1B  Zack Kessinger, Washington U. (.387, 44 R, 67 H, 16 2B, 48 RBI)
2B  CJ Price, Washington U. (.364, 52 R, 64 H, 14 2B, 41 RBI, 15 SB)
SS  Mikole Pierce, UW-Whitewater (.390, 43 R, 60 H, 15 2B, 9 HR, 45 RBI, 16 SB)
3B  Derek Schiebel, St. John’s (.374, 39 R, 61 H, 16 2B, 24 RBI)
OF  Chris Lowery, Washington U. (.424, 55 R, 81 H, 5 HR, 66 RBI, 25 SB)
OF  Trevor Bernsdorf, St. Scholastica (.408, 41 R, 62 H, 14 2B, 49 RBI)
OF  Aaron Pfaff, St. John’s  (.386, 40 R, 64 H, 35 RBI, 13 SB)
OF  Carlos Olavarria, Concordia-Chicago (.380, 48 R, 65 H, 11 2B, 48 RBI, 24 SB)
SP  Daniel Wood, St. Scholastica (9-0, 1.12, 4 CG, 28 K, 6 BB)


SP  Collin Grove, UW-Whitewater (8-2, 2.26, 4 CG, 49 K, 10 BB)
SP/RP  Jack Hoffmann, Coe (8-1, 1.35, 1 CG, 2 SV, 36 K, 8 BB)
RP  Jameson Sadowske, UW-La Crosse (2-0, 0.63, 9 SV, 26 K, 8 BB)
UTL Nick Kita, Ripon (.359, 23 R, 46 H, 7 2B, 23 RBI)