Kingsmen, Presidents Move To 2-0 In Pool Play
California Lutheran University and Washington & Jefferson College (Pa.) are the lone unbeaten teams after the second day of the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, Wis.
California Lutheran secured a 14-5 victory over North Central College (Ill.) in the final game on Saturday (May 24) while Washington & Jefferson clubbed a pair of home runs and four doubles on the way to an 11-1 triumph over Roanoke College (Va.).
In Saturday’s elimination contests, Concordia University Chicago (Ill.) ousted State University of New York at Oswego, 9-4, and University of Massachusetts Boston slipped past Wheaton College (Mass.), 3-2.
Sunday’s (May 25) action opens with a pair of elimination contests as Concordia Chicago (34-12) takes on Roanoke (34-18) at 10 a.m. and UMass Boston (38-11) faces North Central (30-17) at 1:15 p.m.
Play on Sunday concludes with Washington & Jefferson (40-11) opposing the winner of Concordia Chicago and Roanoke at 4:30 p.m. before California Lutheran (37-10) battles the winner of UMass Boston and North Central at 7:45 p.m.
California Lutheran built a 5-0 lead after three innings en route to its win over North Central.
The Kingsmen broke the game open with a four-run third inning that included run-scoring hits from Gabe Gunter, Jimmy Jauregui and Brad Fullerton. A two-run homer by Max Weinstein extended the California Lutheran lead to 7-1 in the top of the fourth inning.
The Cardinals pulled within 7-4 with a three-run home half of the fourth inning, but California Lutheran tacked on four insurance runs in the seventh for an 11-4 advantage.
Fullerton had three runs batted in and three of California Lutheran’s 14 hits while Gunter, Weinstein and Cheynne Giles each added two hits.
Kingsmen starting pitcher Nate Wehner picked up the victory, allowing five runs on eight hits in 7.1 innings. He struck out seven and walked two.
Nick Sotiros and Colin Weilbacher both collected two of North Central’s 10 hits, and the Cardinals’ Michael Mateja drove in a pair of runs.
Cardinals starting pitcher Evan Blunk was charged with the loss after ceding five runs on six hits across the first three innings.
Derek Helbing and Mark Merlino hit home runs in the fourth inning as Washington & Jefferson pulled away for a victory over Roanoke. Helbing hit a solo home run to tie the score at 1 and Merlino’s two-out, two-run shot gave the Presidents the lead for good.
The Presidents pulled away with two runs in both the second and sixth innings, three runs in the seventh and one in the eighth.
Helbing went 3-for-3 with a double and a home run while Kevin Begley, Dante Dalesandro and Jake Gordon each collected two of Washington & Jefferson’s 14 hits.
Riley Groves earned the win for the Presidents, limiting Roanoke to one run on just two hits over the first seven innings.
Scott Ellis and Sam Watson accounted for Roanoke’s two hits – both singles – in the second and sixth inning, respectively.
Roanoke starting pitcher Steven Loney suffered the loss after ceding five runs on five hits in 4.1 innings.
Concordia Chicago never trailed after scoring two runs in the bottom of the first inning during its win over top-seeded Oswego State.
Brent Spohr and Mitch Wilson both went 3-for-5 with three runs batted in to pace Concordia Chicago. Brendan Klein added three of the Cougars’ 14 hits while Doug Matthews chipped in two hits.
Cougars starting pitcher Cody Caballero earned the win, allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits in six innings of work. He had four strikeouts and issued seven walks.
Trailing 3-1 in the top of fourth inning, Oswego State left the bases loaded before Concordia Chicago scored four runs on five hits in the home half of the fourth frame to extend its lead to 7-1. Spohr and Wilson punctuated the rally with consecutive two-out, run-scoring singles.
Eli Holton, Zach Kollar and Zach Whelan each collected two of Oswego State’s 11 hits. The Lakers left 15 runners on base.
Oswego State starting pitcher Robert Donnelly was charged with the loss, yielding seven runs in 3.2 innings.
UMass Boston staved off elimination as Nick Herzog drove in the game-winning run with a two-out single in the top of the eighth inning against Wheaton.
Chris Fowler, who hit a game-tying solo home run in the fourth frame, was intentionally walked to put runners at the corners for Herzog, who laced a single to left field that plated Josh Lopez with the decisive run.
Wheaton took a 1-0 lead in the first inning and a 2-1 advantage in the third frame, but Fowler knotted the score at 2 with a one-out homer to left field.
Sal Frosceno had two of UMass Boston’s seven hits while Chris Ruocco and Tyler Walsh both collected two of Wheaton's seven hits.
Walsh narrowly missed a game-tying home run in the ninth inning as his deep fly ball was a mere 2 feet from crossing the left field wall in fair territory. Walsh eventually hit a leadoff single, but the potential tying run was stranded at second base.
Dan Mantoni was credited with the win for the Beacons after allowing two runs (one earned) and scattering eight hits across the first eight innings.
Brian Kaufman notched the save, retiring all three batters he faced after relieving Mantoni with a runner at first base and no outs in the ninth.
Wheaton starting pitcher Brady Furdon held the Beacons two runs on five hits in seven innings.
Joe Bongiovanni suffered the loss for the Lyons, yielding one run on two hits and three walks in 1.1 innings in relief of Furdon.