By Chris Lindeke, Assistant Athletic Director, Strategic Communications and Branding, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Saturday, May 21, 2022
NCAA Whitewater Regional Web Page
The No. 9 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater baseball team used a timely offense and strong pitching Saturday to defeat No. 20 Aurora (Ill.) 8-4 on the second day of the NCAA Whitewater Regional at Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium.
The Warhawks (35-8 overall) will play in Sunday’s regional championship game against the winner of tonight’s Aurora/Augustana game. First pitch of the contest is scheduled for 11 a.m.
UW-Whitewater smashed three homers and totaled 13 hits in Saturday’s game. Kade Lancour allowed two runs over seven innings to improve to 9-0 on the year. Cade Berendt tossed the final two frames in relief.
Left fielder Matt Scolan tallied three hits, including a solo home run, a triple and a bunt single, and knocked in a pair of runs. Third baseman Matt Korman tallied two hits, including a two-run homer, and designated hitter Sam Paden registered two hits, including a two-run homer and a run-scoring double.
Catcher Ryan Norton posted two hits, two runs scored and one RBI and second baseman David Rubin collected a pair of hits.
The Warhawks were first on the board thanks to Scolan’s solo homer with two outs in the bottom of the third, his sixth of the year and second of the regional tournament.
After the Spartans (34-10) took the lead in the top of the fourth, UW-Whitewater responded in the fifth on Paden’s go-ahead, two-run homer to make it 3-2.
The Warhawks turned the game in the sixth. Following a 1-2-3 top half by Lancour, Korman hit a two-run homer the opposite way to right field, his fourth of the season, to increase the advantage to three runs. Norton and Paden hit RBI doubles later in the frame to make it 7-2.
UW-W added an insurance run in the eighth on a bases-loaded walk by Scolan.
Aurora tallied twice with two outs in the top of the ninth, but Berendt induced a pop-up with the tying run in the on-deck circle.
A UW-W loss Sunday would force a decisive seventh game of the regional to start approximately 45 minutes following the completion of Sunday’s first game.
