Today is Wednesday, October 7, 2026
UWW Finishes 2026 Season 43-6
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater baseball team fell in extra innings to Bethany Lutheran College in the Regional Final of the NCAA Tournament. The heartbreaker came to an end in the bottom of the 11th, with the Vikings hitting a walk-off sacrifice fly to score the winning run.
The Warhawks struck first in the game, scoring at the top of the first as the designated away team. Andy Thies (Tallahassee, Fla./Lawton Chiles) scored the first run of the game off a single from Jackson Spring (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North).
From there, it was the Vikings quieting the Warhawks’ offense, keeping UWW at just one run until the 8th inning. On the offensive end, Bethany Lutheran piled on some runs to take the lead. A 2-run homer in the third put a crooked number on the board. The Vikings added one run in the fifth, and a solo home run plus an RBI double in the 7th to build a 6-1 lead.
Entering the last two down by five, the Warhawks’ time was running out. Leyten Bowers (Mineral Point, Wis./Mineral Point) was able to spark some momentum with a solo home run over the right field scoreboard to get the first run on the board since the first inning.
The four-bagger from Bowers kick-started the Warhawks’ offense. Dominik McVay (Mineral Point, Wis./Mineral Point) got a hold of one for his own three-run homer with Wyatt Jensen (Luck, Wis./Luck) following up McVay’s at bat with another solo shot to tie the game up at 6-6.
Still in the top of the 8th, the Warhawks kept the inning going with a single from Danny Hopper (Palatine, Ill./Palatine). Hopper moved up 180 feet, getting second on a wild pitch & third from an errant throw down by the catcher. Hopper came in for the go-ahead run off a deep double by Aaron Holland (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton North). With just one inning, the Warhawks had flipped the script & took a one-run lead heading into the bottom of the 8th.
Bethany Lutheran was able to tie up the game from a wild pitch in the 8th, but no scores in the ninth sent the game to extras. In the 10th, the Warhawks had just a single base runner, but couldn’t move him past second. The Vikings were able to get runners on second & third, but the UW-Whitewater defense escaped the frame to send it into the 11th.
UW-Whitewater was retired in order on the 11th as the side flipped back to the Vikings. A single, sacrifice bunt, and a single put runners on the corners with just one out. A fly ball to right field did the job for the Vikings, as they scored the winning run after 3-hours & 40-minutes of game time.
The Warhawks 2026 campaign came to a close with a 43-6 record, the second-highest winning percentage in Warhawk history. The 2026 season included a school-record 36-game win streak as well as a perfect 28-0 record in conference play, the first time a team has done so in WIAC history.
Editor’s note: The above is from the UW-W Athletics website. Attendance was 632.
By Lynn Binnie
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com
CORRECTION 5/17 @ 7:15 a.m. – Sunday’s first game begins at 11 a.m. [The Banner previously stated noon.] If the Warhawks win the first game, the “if necessary game” will begin 45 minutes after the conclusion of the first. Our apologies for the error.
After midnight on Saturday UW-W published stories on both of Saturday’s games.
Bethany Lutheran [unranked on the d3baseball.com poll and #32 on NCAA] snuck past Whitewater [#2 and #3 on the same polls] by a score of 8-7 on Saturday, May 16 in the NCAA DIII regional. The box score may be viewed here. A rather respectable crowd of 743 people was reported to be on hand for the contest. That game was played at 2:30.
The Warhawks didn’t get much rest, as their next contest was scheduled for 6 p.m. on Saturday but actually started at 6:25. They shook off the earlier loss and snuck past Macalester by a score of 9-8. The box score may be viewed here. Attendance was reported to be 651. Macalester was their opening opponent on Friday, and they beat them 13-4 then.
The only teams that haven’t been eliminated by two losses are now UW-W and Bethany Lutheran. The latter hasn’t lost a contest. Those two teams will face off on Sunday at 11 a.m. If UW-W wins, they will face Bethany Lutheran once again, beginning 45 minutes after the first game.
The Warhawks could sure use a strong cheering section on Sunday. Most everything you need to know may be found on UW-W’s Regional Tournament page. That includes admission costs, parking info (remember, Saturday is commencement, so parking arrangements will change), and the schedule for the tournament. Also see the Gameday Central page for further information.
UW-W baseball kicks off the regional competition on Friday, May 14 at 11 a.m. at Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium. Their first opponent is Macalester College of St. Paul, MN. Most everything you need to know may be found on UW-W’s Regional Tournament page. That includes admission costs, parking info (remember, Saturday is commencement, so parking arrangements will change), and the schedule for the tournament.
The information below was previously printed on The Whitewater Banner.
INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA Division III Baseball Committee has announced the 64 teams that will compete in the 2026 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship.
Four teams will compete at each of the 16 regional sites from Friday-Sunday, May 15-17. Regionals will use a double-elimination format. Forty-one conference champions qualified automatically.
Winners of the sixteen regional tournaments will qualify for eight, best-of-three series at the super regionals, Friday-Saturday, May 22-23. The eight super regional winners will then qualify for the pool play double-elimination championship at Classic Auto Group Park in Eastlake, Ohio, Friday-Thursday, May 29-June 4, 2026.
UW-W is an automatic qualifier after having clinched the WIAC Championship last weekend over La Crosse. That team will be the only other WIAC competitor in the 64-team field. Wisconsin-Whitewater is the reigning DIII baseball champion, after beating Messiah 21-5 in 2025.
UW-Whitewater will host the first round of the competition beginning this Friday, May 15. In the first game UW-W (41-4) will face Macalester (29-15) at 11 a.m. at Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium.
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