May 25, 2024

Eight punch their tickets to Ohio

More news about: Birmingham-Southern | Endicott | Lynchburg | Misericordia | Pomona-Pitzer | Randolph-Macon | Salve Regina | UW-Whitewater
The Panthers of Birmingham-Southern will continue to represent the college even after the college closes its doors this week, as the ultimate Cinderella team won is Super Regional in two games at Denison..
Birmingham-Southern athletics photo
 

Birmingham-Southern defeated second ranked Denison 7-6 to win their first Super Regional title and Division III College World Series bid since 2019. Just like game one yesterday, the Panthers brought the bats early. Ian Hancock brought home the first run of the afternoon on an RBI single before Jakob Zito tripled to right center field to give BSC a 3-0 lead early. Panther starter Josh Leerssen was efective and managed only one run through his first four innings on the mound. In the fifth with the bases loaded, Ty Truett was hit by a pitch to give BSC a three-run lead. Shane Nelson then followed with a single to left center field to give BSC a 5-1 lead with half a game to go. Denison closed the gap to cut the deficit to one after eight innings. Heading into the ninth, 'Southern led 5-4 and needed only three outs to clinch a Super Regional title. However, the offense came up clutch when freshman Charlie Banks crushed a double on a line to left field to bring home Jackson Webster and Andrew Dutton. Heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Panthers led 7-4 with history on the line. The celebrations stalled as Denison brought two runs across the plate, but Charlie Horne came on to get the final out as BSC went on to win game two, 7-6 and solidify their spot in the College World Series.

  • World Series pairings: Misericordia vs. Pomona-Pitzer, Endicott vs. Lynchburg, Birmingham-Southern vs. Salve Regina, UW-Whitewater vs. Randolph-Macon

UW-Whitewater is heading to the World Series for the first time since 2016 after overcoming yesterday's loss to UW-La Crosse to win its Super Regional in three games. The Warhawks battled back with a 8-0 first game before a 8-2 victory in the second game punched the Warhawks ticket to Eastlake, Ohio. In the first game, the Warhawks opened up the scoring right in the bottom of the first to take a 1-0 lead. That was all they needed with Cade Berendt doing his work on the mound, the Warhawks held the Eagles off the base path for much of the game. The Eagles did not have a runner past second the entire game. Berendt picked up the win, pitching one of his career best games in the battle. Berendt pitched all 9 innings, recording a career-high 13 strikeouts as well as his first career complete game shutout. The Warhawks carried the momentum forward into the second game of the day. UWW struck first once again, with Eli Frank blasting a two-run homer in the bottom of the third to go up 2-0. The next inning, the Warhawks added two more to their lead, going up 4-0. The Warhawk lead was closed to just three runs in the top of the sixth as UW-La Crosse added another run to make it 5-2. But in the bottom of the eighth, Matt Scolan all but sealed the game with a three-run homer to put the Warhawks up 8-2. The freshman pitcher Jack Hagen only needed three outs and the Warhawks sealed their spot in the 2024 NCAA D-III World Series. Hagen picked up his ninth win of the season, pitching the whole game. Hagen allowed only 8 hits, with no runs earned on the game.

One of the first teams to punch their ticket to the DIII World Series in Eastlake, Ohio was No. 1 ranked Endicott. The Gulls defeated No. 6 Johns Hopkins University, 5-2, to complete a two-game sweep of the Blue Jays and earn its second straight NCAA Super Regional crown this afternoon at North Field. Endicott took its first lead of the game in the bottom of the fifth when Nicolas Notarangelo drove in Dylan Pacheco for a 3-2 edge. Dylan Pacheco drilled a one-out triple to right center to set up the RBI opportunity for Notarangelo. In the very next at-bat, MacDougall belted his second home run in as many days to left field extending Endicott's advantage to 5-2. The game was then in the hands of Brady Stuart. Stuart came out of the pen in the fourth inning after starter Nicholas Cannata lasted 3.1 innings on the bump for the Gulls. Stuart was dominant for Endicott as he pitched five shutout innings, scattered three hits, and walked three against one of the most potent offenses in the nation and got the Gulls into the ninth inning. Evan Scully entered the game in relief of Stuart with the bases loaded later in the frame and retired the final two batters of the game to secure the save and to send Endicott back to the College World Series. Endicott pitchers held Johns Hopkins to just two runs this afternoon and seven total runs in the series. The Blue Jays entered the weekend having scored 105 runs in six postseason games, but had its second-lowest run output of the season today – the lowest since scoring just one run against No. 3 ranked Baldwin Wallace on February 24.

Misericordia University is returning to the DIII World Series for the second staright year. The Cougar baseball team clinched its second consecutive trip to the NCAA D-III World Series with a 2-1 win over Christopher Newport to sweep the Super Regional, Saturday. Jack Regenye had two hits and accounted for both MU runs and Connor Maryniak and Matt Lanzendorfer combined for 14 strikeouts as the Cougars won their 11th straight game to improve to 38-9. Misericordia scored both of its runs in the bottom of the first inning and Maryniak and Lanzendorfer made them stand up. Maryniak struck out nine over seven innings to improve to 10-2 and Lanzendorfer fanned five in two innings to notch his seventh save of the year.

No 8 Salve Regina advanced to the NCAA D-III College World Series for the first time in program history after defeating Salisbury 14-12 in game two of the best-of-three Super Regional. Salisbury was looking to be the first team to make four straight appearances in the World Series since UW-Oshkosh did the feat in 1996. Similar to yesterday, Salve Regina got out to an early 5-0 lead after just one inning. By the top of the fourth inning Salve Regina led 12-4. Sea Gulls' were dominant in the fifth to tie the game, making up eight runs in one inning. In the bottom of the ninth inning Matt D'Amato came up as the cleanup hitter, singled up the middle, and Brandon Grover scored the go-ahead run for the Seahawks. The next at-bat brought Tyler Cannoe to the plate, who reached first on a fielding error. D'Amato advanced to third and Christian Homa made it to the dish to put Salve Regina ahead 14-12. "I don't know anybody here that wanted to play a third game," stated skipper Eric Cirella. "I think that we showed a lot of resilience bouncing back from the eighth spot in the fifth inning and, you know, had a freshman go out there and put up a few zeros and kind of settle the game down. And fortunately, we got some guys on in the ninth, and you know, Grover scored the go ahead run on a D'Amato single and I think we pushed the next one across on and error. But just a great team, great atmosphere. They're very talented so it's, I would say, fun to watch, but you know, I wanted to throw up seven or eight times today. So besides that, it was a lot of fun to watch."

Pomona-Pitzer punched its first-ever ticket to the NCAA World Series with their 8-7 win over East Texas Baptist on Saturday afternoon at Woods Field. The Sagehens took the three-game Super Regional Series 2-0 over the Tigers. The Sagehens were led by Isaac Kim who became the first SCIAC player to hit for the cycle in an NCAA Tournament game. Kim went 5-5 with two singles, a home run, a double, and a triple in the win. JC Ng and William Kinney both had two hits with Kinney and Peter Savas hitting their first career home runs as well. Greg Pierantoni, Jack Gold, Jimmy Legg, and Cooper Berry, had one hit as well. Hanoh Seo got the start and came away with his 10th win over the season to tie the program record for wins in a single season with five innings, five runs off six hits, and eight strikeouts. Wade Lawson came in out of the pen and threw three scoreless frames with one of the most spectacular double plays you'll ever see with Eric Prough coming in an locking down the save.

The University of Lynchburg will be back in the 2024 DIII World Series to defend their 2023 title. The Hornets earned a spot in the NCAA 2024 Division III baseball championship after defeating La Verne 6-4 in Game 2 of the super regional. Mason McDowell recorded a save after entering in the ninth with the bases loaded and no outs. Quinn Madden made a sliding, game-saving catch in right field to secure the win. Benton Jones went 3-5 with a double and RBI, O'Kelly McWilliams IV drove in two runs, and Nick Mattfield earned the win after pitching 6 2/3 innings. The Hornets are 10-0 in the postseason winning eight of 10 away from their home diamond, Fox Field. The Hornets will be seeking their second national championship in program history and aiming to be the first team since 2011-12 (Marietta) to win back-to-back titles.

Joining the Hornets is a familiar foe, ODAC conference rival Randolph Macon. It was a long day for the Yellow Jackets who needed a third game to lock up their second trip to the World Series. In the clinching game, senior Grayson Bush reached base five times and knocked in two in a five-run second as the 24th ranked Yellow Jackets outscored Adrian 9-6 to win game three of the Ashland, Va. Super Regional and advance to the NCAA Division III World Series. Randolph-Macon had game two won with vision of a two game sweep when the right fielder muffed the final out. With the bases loaded, the tieing and winning runs crossed the plate giving Adrian a suprising 5-4 walkoff win after RMC had provided what they thought would be the winning runs in top of the inning. RMC is the only Division III program to win NCAA playoff games in football, men's basketball and baseball this academic year.