Whitewater, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team advanced to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Midwest Regional Championship game with a 8-3 victory over the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) Sunday night at UW-Whitewater's Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium.  The Eagles improve to 31-18 on the season and will face Concordia University Chicago (Ill.) in the regional title game Monday, May 22 at 10 a.m.  UWL will need to defeat Concordia Chicago (Ill.) twice to capture its third straight regional crown.  The second championship game would start approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game.

St. Thomas (Minn.) finishes its season at 29-18. The Tommies earned a 10-5 victory over College of St. Scholastica (Minn.) Sunday afternoon to advance to face UWL.

Concordia Chicago (Ill.) improved to 3-0 in the regional with a 14-0 victory over UWL Sunday afternoon. The Cougars are the second seed in this year's NCAA III Midwest Regional. The winner of the Midwest Regional earns one of eight berths to the NCAA III Championships at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, Wisconsin scheduled for May 26-31.

UWL, seeded fifth in this year's regional, improved to 3-1 in the tournament with Sunday night's win over St. Thomas (Minn.). The Eagles opened with a 11-2 victory over fourth-seeded and 23rd-ranked College of St. Scholastica (Minn.) May 18 and earned a 5-2 win over the regional's top-seed and third-ranked UW-Whitewater May 19 before Sunday's 14-0 loss to Concordia Chicago (Ill.).

The Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first in their win over the Tommies Sunday. Nate Heili singled with one out and advanced to second on Carter Hoffman's single. Both runners stole a base to move into scoring position and Nick Pescheck's RBI groundout scored Heili with the game's first run.

St. Thomas (Minn.) tied the game in the bottom of the inning with Jake Smith scoring on Joe Burnley's sacrifice fly. The Tommies left the bases-loaded in the inning after getting three walks.  

UWL scored five runs on three hits and the help of three walks and two hit-by-pitches in the top of the second inning. Sam Prissel singled to start the inning and advanced to second after Nate Roethle was hit-by-pitch. After a pop-out for the first out of the inning, Brennan Schmitt's sacrifice bunt moved runners to second and third. Joel Zyhowski followed with a two-run double to score Prissel and Roethle to give UWL a 3-1 lead. Heili was then hit-by-pitch and Hoffman's RBI single scored Zyhowski for a 4-1 lead. Pescheck, Brady Stolzman and Prissel drew three straight walks to force in two runs to make it 6-1.

The Tommies cut the lead to 6-2 in the bottom of the fourth as Anthony Winters scored on Sam Cobbs' two-out infield single. Charlie Callahan's pinch-hit two-out RBI single scored Smith in the bottom of the sixth to make it 6-3.

UWL added a pair of runs in the top of the eighth with Heili scoring on Mitch Sutton's RBI bunt single and Pescheck scoring on Roethle's bases-loaded walk.

Cook (2-1) earned the win for UWL, pitching 5.0 innings, allowing six hits, two runs and six walks while striking out a career-high eight. Caleb Willems picked up his team-leading eighth save of the season, going 4.0 innings, allowing five hits and one run with four strikeouts. His eight saves are now tied for second in single-season school history with Cory Anderson in 1997. Jameson Sadowske recorded a school record nine saves in 2015.

The Eagles finished with 12 hits as Heili went 3-for-4 with three runs scored. Hoffman and Prissel each had two hits as seven starters recorded at least one. Six different players scored a run for UWL.

Caleb Fernholz (1-6) suffered the loss for St. Thomas (Minn.), going 1.2 innings, allowing five hits, six runs and two walks. The Tommies totaled 11 hits in the game with Smith finishing 3-for-5 with two runs.