May 21, 2023

Super-regional tickets punched

More news about: Aurora | Baldwin Wallace | East Texas Baptist | Endicott | Ithaca | Johns Hopkins | La Verne | Lynchburg | Marietta | Misericordia | Rowan | Salisbury | Shenandoah | UW-La Crosse | UW-Stevens Point | Wheaton (Mass.)
 
Senior Mike Shannon earned the victory and Dylan Maria drove in two runs to help No. 23 Rowan to the championship in the NCAA Ambler Regional today at Arcadia's Skip Wilson Field. It marks the third consecutive Regional title for the Profs as they will move on to face No. 3 Salisbury in next weekend's NCAA Super Regional, with more information to come.
Rowan athletics photo

 

After Monday, the playoff field will be down to just 16 teams. Sixteeen, who eight will move on the the D-III World Series in Cedar Rapids starting on the first weekend in June, culmulating in the crowning of a national champion.

Day two of the Aurora Regional at Jim Schmid Field saw the host Spartans win game two of the series and game oe of the day 9-6 and then captured game two of the day and game three of the series 4-3 in exciting fashion. After winning the opener 9-6, the Spartans were on the verge of eliminating the visitors from John Carroll in the third game of the series but needed some last at bat heroics and got them from the bat of Brenden Naylor who delivered a two-out, two-run single to win the game and begin the celebration at the Stu. Aurora was playing in one of two two-team regionals and swept the series. They opened on Friday with a 3-2 win over John Carroll. Two of the three wins were decided by one run.

Salisbury wrapped up its best-of-five regional as well, with a Game 4 win to advance to the Super Regional round, as Salisbury defeated Penn State-Harrisburg 10-5. The Sea Gulls knocked Christian Lubic out of the game as they greeted the Penn State-Harrisburg starter with five runs in the top of the first. But Nick Fitzgerald came out of the bullpen and quieted things down, going six and one-third scoreless innings and allowing his teammates to tie the game before the Sea Gulls scratched out two runs in the eighth on a high chopper to first and a single through the hole into right by Kavi Caster, making it 7-5. Jacob Ference added a sac fly to make it 8-5, and Salisbury (34-6) tacked on two more in the ninth for the final.

Salisbury will take on Rowan in the Super Regionals, as the Profs won the Arcadia Regional, defeating Susquehanna 4-3. After losing to the Profs by a 20-0 score on Saturday, Susquehanna held the Profs bats in check, although it didn't look that way when Rowan scored three in the first. Dillan Wiekel settled down, however, and followed that with five shutout innings, allowing Michael Bius to bring in Dylan Heyduk withn an RBI double and seeing Tony Rossi score on a pickoff play. Rowan added another run in the bottom of the seventh and took a 4-2 lead and held on to win 4-3.

La Verne became NCAA Regional Champions after defeating the Birmingham Southern College Panthers today, 15-10. They needed two games on Sunday as Birmingham Southern took the erly game 12-10 in 10 innings. The Leopards dominated the first 4 innings, scoring 12 unanswered runs. The Leopards walked 7 times, got 19 hits, and Nathan Perry and Matthew Diaz both had home runs in the win. The Panthers rallied in the final innings, but Garret Halbeisen answered the call to the mound and delivered an important 9th inning outing, striking out his first batter and forcing two final ground outs to end the inning and the game.

Johns Hopkins made the if-game completely unnecessary on Sunday, as the Blue Jays downed the Cardinals of St. John Fisher, 8-2. Matthew Cooper got the offense rolling with a three-run home in the third and JHU added four more runs in the fourth to put the game away. Dylan Whitney and Dillon Souvignier had two hits and one RBI apiece, while Kieren Collins improved to 6-0 on the season, allowing two runs in five ane one-third innings of work. JHU awaits the Mitchell Regional's winner next weekend.

Marietta finished its sweep through its home regional, as Brett Carson threw seven shutout innings, allowing three hits and two walks in shutting down Adrian 2-0. Carson and reliever Gabe Torres outdueled Don Goodes and Jaxon Clark, who combined to allow just five hits and one earned run. Pioneers third baseman Nick Bonnizzio went 2-for-3, scoring one run and knocking in the other.

Misericordia swept two games from top-seeded Salve Regina to capture the NCAA Regional title, Sunday at Tambur Field. The Cougars were just one of two teams that won twice on Sunday to capture their regional title with Shenandoah the other. The Cougars built a 12-4 lead in the opener and held on for a 12-9 win. Misericordia took a 7-0 lead after one inning in the nightcap and cruised to a 19-6 win.

No. 12 nationally-ranked and second-seeded Baldwin Wallace punched their ticket to the Super Regional with a 17-2 victory over No. 9 nationally-ranked and top-seeded Denison at the Big Red Baseball Field. BW (33-10) was led at the plate by senior All-American Luke Vonderhaar who went 4-for-5 with five runs scored and three runs batted in. Senior All-Ohio Athletic Conference first baseman Alexis Castillo added three runs scored and four RBIs.

Ithaca claimed its second consecutive regional title as the Bombers left no doubt at Cortland on Sunday by defeating the top seed and No. 22 Red Dragons, 15-0. All nine batters, including a pinch hit single by Matt Curtis, recorded a hit as IC produced 17 in the win and seven went for extra bases. MVP honors went to Ethan Rothstein with five hits and two RBIs on the weekend.

East Texas Baptist edged Trinity, 2-1, to capture the 2023 NCAA Division III Marshall, Texas Regional Tournament. After falling 8-6 in the first game, a must-win for both Tiger squads was necessary to advance to the Super Regionals. ETBU (38-12) broke through with a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth to change a 1-0 deficit. Brett Wagner singled to right field for an RBI that scored Carson Wilson. Jase Jones followed with a base knock to score Jordan Hara and the Tigers were ahead with three outs to go. Trent Clark worked his second scoreless inning and got his lone strikeout to clinch the program’s first regional win in just as many appearances.

Lynchburg dropped the first championship game of the day 8-4 to Lebanon Valley and turned to the 2023 Old Dominion Athletic Conference pitcher of the year, Jack Bachmore.In his first start of the year, Bachmore delivered a 5-3 win over Lebanon Valley in the final regional championship game. With a career-high nine strikeouts was lifted for Baylor Cumbea who was was tasked with protecting the lead in the 7th. Cumbea pitched into the ninth when an injury forced him out and Lynchburg's ace Zack Potts came in to retired the final two batters with harmless flyouts, earning the save and starting the celebration.

No. 3 Shenandoah lost the ODAC tournament to Lynchburg and will get a rematch. The Hornets will face Lynchburg after a 5-3 win over Christopher Newport to win the regional hosted on their home field. The win represented the first regional title since 2019 and their 42 wins is a program record. The Hornets forced the 'if necessary' game Sunday with a 14-5 victory over No. 10 Christopher Newport. In the first meeting since May 9, 2012 between the two former conference rivals, the Hornets (41-8) chased CNU starter Jack Anderson four batters into the game while opening up an 8-0 lead over the Captains (33-10).

UW-La Crosse clinched a berth in the super regionals with a 16-3 victory over Bethel (Minn.) Sunday afternoon at Copeland Park. A second championship game was needed as Bethel pinch hitter Andrew Cardenas hit a two-run home run to right center field in the ninth to give the Royals a 4-3 win. In the championship game, UWL made sure there would be no comeback with a nine run second to open a 10-0 lead that the Royals could not overcome. UW-Stevens Point, UWL's upcoming opponent followed the same script, needing a second game after Webster defeated the Pointers 10-4 to force the if-necessary game. In the deciding game, senior Payton Nelson belted two home runs in the decisive game 7. Trent Van Ess also homered twice as UWSP scored in all but the fifth and ninth innings.

No. 4 nationally ranked Endicott overcame a first game loss to claim the regional played on the campus of Bridgewater state. The Gulls defeated Johnson & Wales, 7-1, in the championship game of the NCAA Tournament. The Gulls scored at least one run in the first five innings and then handed the ball to the bullpen as they won their second straight NCAA Tournament Regional Championship. To get to this game, they first needed to hand Johnson & Wales their first loss of the tournament. They did so with a 10-4 win over the Wildcats in a game that started at noon.

Sophomore left fielder Kevin Matos homered in the bottom of the sixth to give No. 8 and top-seeded Wheaton (Mass.) the lead for good in a 5-3 victory over third-seeded and host Mitchell this afternoon at Alumni Field in New London, Conn. Both teams scored single runs in the first inning, before the Lyons scored twice in the bottom of the third, only to be matched by two Mitchell runs in the fourth to tie the game at 3-3. Wheaton took a 4-3 edge with a run in the sixth and added an insurance run in the seventh. Wheaton will take on No. 1 Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Md. In the first championship game, senior shortstop Cavan Brady hit a two-run home run and led Wheaton to a 6-5 victory over Mitchell to force the if necessary contest.