UW-Whitewater’s Matt Scolan is hitting .404 with 17 home runs and 55 runs batted in for the Warhawks. Scolan and his teammates host WIAC rival UW-Oshkosh starting Friday.
UW-Whitewater softball coach Brenda Volk, center, back, celebrates with her team after the Warhawks won the NCAA Division III regional title Saturday to advance to this week's Super Regional series against St. Mary's University in Winona, Minnesota. The regional championship victory was Volk's 799th career win as the Warhawks' coach.
UW-Whitewater softball coach Brenda Volk, center, back, celebrates with her team after the Warhawks won the NCAA Division III regional title Saturday to advance to this week's Super Regional series against St. Mary's University in Winona, Minnesota. The regional championship victory was Volk's 799th career win as the Warhawks' coach.
COURTESY UW-WHITEWATER SPORTS COMMUNICATIONS
WHITEWATER — The UW-Whitewater campus is quiet now.
Second-semester finals are completed and graduation ceremonies were held Saturday.
But quiet does not apply to the campus’ baseball and softball facilities.
Both the baseball and softball teams, that are a combined 80-11, have qualified for NCAA Division III super regional series. Both teams are two victories away from qualifying for their respective World Series.
The UW-Whitewater baseball team will play host to UW-Oshkosh in the best-of-3 series at Prucha Field at Jim Miller Stadium on Friday and Saturday. The winner of the series earns a berth in the eight-team Division III World Series in Eastlake, Ohio, a Cleveland suburb, that starts May 30.
The first game at Prucha Field will be at noon Thursday. The second game will be at 11 a.m. Saturday. A third game, if necessary, will start 45 minutes after the second game ends Saturday.
The UW-Whitewater softball team travels to Winona, Minnesota and will take on St. Mary’s University in a best-of-3 series Thursday and Friday that could provide head coach Brenda Volk her 800th career coaching victory. The winner advances to the eight-team Division III World Series in Bloomington, Illinois that starts May 29.
UW-Whitewater’s Matt Scolan is hitting .404 with 17 home runs and 55 runs batted in for the Warhawks. Scolan and his teammates host WIAC rival UW-Oshkosh starting Friday.
BRODERICK FRYE/UW-WHITEWATER ATHLETICS
Dirt mound brings baseball team home
It took sweat, wheel barrels of dirt and rakes to bring the Super Regional Series to Prucha Field.
The Warhawks deserved to host a regional tournament, but the NCAA awarded it to Adrian (Michigan) College due to complaints about the turfed mound in Whitewater. Prucha Field had been the site of nine Division III regionals since 2004.
Work to replace the turfed mound with a dirt mound began this past weekend, and the NCAA awarded the Super Regional to Whitewater on Sunday night.
The Warhawks are 5-1 against the Titans this season, including two wins May 10 that clinched the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament title for the Warhawks.
UW-Whitewater’s Sam Paden is hitting .349 with eight home runs and 50 runs batted in the Warhawks.
BRODERICK FRYE/UW-WHITEWATER ATHLETICS
Whitewater takes a 42-5 record into the Super Regional opener Friday at noon. The Warhawks won the WIAC regular-season title and the conference tournament.
Oshkosh is 34-14 after winning the St. Peter (Minnesota) Regional. The Titans finished third in the WIAC and lost to the Warhawks in the conference tournament championship series.
Former Warhawk guides Titans
The Warhawks-Titans series will bring a former UW-Whitewater pitcher from two decades ago to Whitewater to once again go up against his former college coach.
UW-Oshkosh head coach Kevin Tomasiewicz was a pitcher on the Warhawks from 2002-05. Vodenlich was an assistant coach under Jim Miller for Tomasiewicz’s first two seasons and was his head coach for the final two. Tomasiewicz remains the WIAC’s all-time winningest pitcher with 35 victories. He received All-America awards in 2003 and 2005, while being named the Most Valuable Player at the 2005 Division III World Series, which the Warhawks won.
The New York Mets selected Tomasiewicz in the 26th round of the 2005 MLB Draft. He pitched four years in the minor leagues, totaling a 17-8 record with 19 saves and a 4.04 ERA. In 2008, he reached the AA level for his highest advancement in professional baseball.
Tomasiewicz is in his 12th season as the Titans head coach. He is 260-200-1.
Volk approaches milestone softball victory
After spending last weekend in Cleveland, Ohio, the Warhawks softball team will be back on a bus Wednesday. The Warhawks will pack its 38-6 record for a 3½-hour drive up Interstate 90 to Winona, Minnesota where they will play St. Mary’s University (42-4) in a best-of-3 series starting Thursday at 2 p.m.
Volk, who is in her 26th season as the Warhawks’ head coach, is 799-322 as Warhawks’ coach and would become the 18th coach in NCAA Division III softball history to reach 800 victories.
The former UW-Whitewater player is focused on getting the team to her third NCAA World Series joining her 2008 and 2014 teams.
Volk said the number of players that have contributed to this season’s success is noteworthy.
“It seems like every game, someone else made a huge impact,” Volk said.
The Warhawks, who won the regular-season WIAC title for the 11th time under Volk, have shown her a will to win.
“We have been in many close games this year,” Volk said. “The team never seems to show any sort of doubt or fear.”
The head coach credits assistant coach Beth Bonuso for the team’s demeanor.
“She works with our team and their mental training skills,” Volk said. “It really has paid off this year.”
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