Warhawks receive NCAA tourney berth

By GAZETTE STAFF Tuesday, May 12, 2009

A loss to UW-Stevens Point in the championship game of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament couldn’t keep UW-Whitewater’s baseball team out of the postseason.

The Warhawks (26-17), who shared the WIAC regular-season title with Stevens Point and UW-Oshkosh, have received an NCAA Division III tournament berth and will be in a six-team regional hosted by Augustana at Moline, Ill.

Whitewater, the No. 3 seed, plays fourth-seeded Washington University (25-10) of

St. Louis at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the first round of the double-elimination tournament.

Carthage (32-6) and Millsaps (32-8) of Jackson, Miss., are the No. 1 and 2 seeds, respectively. Wartburg (27-18) of Waverly, Iowa, and Fontbonne (25-17) of St. Louis are seeded behind Washington as the No. 5 and 6 positions.

The 54-team Division III tournament also includes Stevens Point (29-14), which received the WIAC’s automatic bid, and Beloit (28-7), which will be making its first NCCA postseason appearance after winning the Midwest Conference tournament. Both have been assigned to a regional at E.J. Schneider Field in Oshkosh.

Beloit, the No. 6 seed, plays top-seeded St. Olaf (29-13) of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Stevens Point, the No. 5 seed, goes against second-seeded St. Thomas (31-10) of St. Paul, Minn., at 1 p.m.

A Beloit win would have the Buccaneers playing at 1 p.m. Thursday against the loser between third-seeded St. Scholastica (35-5) and fourth-seeded St. Norbert (23-13), which lost the Midwest Conference tournament title game to Beloit. If the Bucs lose to St. Olaf, they’ll play the Stevens Point/St. Thomas loser at 10 a.m. Thursday.

Champions of the eight regionals advance to the May 22-26 national finals at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute.

Whitewater won the 2005 national championship. The Warhawks, who gained one of the 13 at-large berths, will be making their second straight NCAA appearance in 12th overall.

Stevens Point will be making its fifth straight appearance and 11th overall.

It’s the third straight year that the WIAC has had at least two teams reach the NCAA field.

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