Box Score
Box Score
GRAND CHUTE, Wis. – The best season in the history of Western New England baseball is over.
Wisconsin-Whitewater eliminated the Golden Bears from the NCAA Division III Championship after posting an 8-2 victory in an elimination game Saturday afternoon (May 28) at Fox Cities Stadium.
WNE, which was making its eighth appearance in the national tournament and first in the Division III College World Series, ends the year with a 42-11 record.
“For us, we're definitely going to walk away feeling like this is step one, that we can get back here, that we can compete, and that we can win a national championship someday," said WNE coach
Matt LaBranche.
The Warhawks, now 37-12, advance to meet either Chapman or Marietta on Sunday (May 29).
Whitewater started strong by scoring three runs in the first off senior pitcher
Zach Cloft (Glastonbury, CT). Senior right-fielder
Daniel Putnam (Ashland, WI) led-off with a walk, senior catcher
Rob Cole (Appleton, WI) singled with one-out, and both came around on a triple by senior first baseman
Jeff Donovan (Wauwautosa, WI) who then scored on a passed ball.
Western New England got within 3-2 following a pair of runs in the fourth inning. Sophomore second baseman
Tim Clark (West Springfield, MA) was hit by a pitch to lead-off the inning and senior left-fielder
Ryan Dudzinski (Bristol, CT) followed with a walk. Senior catcher
Jason Leclerc (Chicopee, MA) then delivered a two-run double to right-center.
The Warhawks pushed their lead to 5-2 when Cole led off the sixth with a walk and scored on a double by Donovan off the bottom of the 405-foot sign in right-center. Donovan (the starting quarterback on Whitewater's national champion 2009 football squad) came around on a double to left-center off sophomore reliever
Mike Lospinuso (Islip, NY).
Whitewater tallied their final runs in the seventh with RBI singles by Coe and senior designated hitter
Brent Young (Brisbane, Australia) the key hits.
The Golden Bears added their final run of the year in the ninth when senior first baseman
Tony Trubia (Tolland, CT) was hit by a pitch with two outs. He scored on a long double to left-center by sophomore third baseman
Mike Rubino (Northford, CT).
Sophomore pitcher
Justin Lambert (Mt. Horeb, WI) went seven innings giving up two runs and three hits with three strikeouts and two walks to raise his record to 6-4. Freshman third baseman
Jared Fon (Germantown, WI) added a single and double while Coe scored three times.
Leclerc had two of WNE's five hits and threw out a runner attempting to steal second in the seventh.
Cloft (8-3) settled down after his shaky first and pitched well into the sixth retiring nine batters in a row at one point.
Jim Dixon of d3baseball.com contributed to this article.
