Gazette staff
PREVIEW: NCAA III SUPER REGIONAL
Who: No. 9-ranked UW-Whitewater (36-9) vs. No. 12 UW-Stevens Point (38-8).
What: Best-of-three NCAA Division III Super Regional playoff.
When: Game One, noon Friday; Game Two, 11 a.m. Saturday; Game Three (if necessary), 45 minutes after the end of Game Two.
Where: Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium, Whitewater.
At stake: A berth in the eight-team, double-elimination NCAA III World Series, set for June 3-8 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Tickets: Available at the gate for $10 per day ($8 for seniors, students and youths above the age of 2).
How they qualified: Whitewater earned an at-large berth after winning a fifth consecutive Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular-season title. The Warhawks then beat Aurora in the final game of its regional on Sunday, rebounding from a loss to Aurora earlier in the day. … Stevens Point earned the WIAC’s automatic NCAA bid by winning the WIAC Tournament. In the Stevens Point regional, Point lost 8-2 to North Central in the second game but rebounded with double-digit scoring in three elimination games: 10-5 over Coe and 27-3 and 21-8 over North Central.
Previous meetings: Whitewater is 3-1 against the Pointers this season, splitting a doubleheader on March 28 and sweeping another on April 26. Three of the four games were decided by four or fewer runs.
Tournament history: Whitewater is making their 14th consecutive NCAA appearance, the 24th in program history overall, and are 75-46 (62%) in tournament games. Whitewater has made seven NCAA III World Series trips, the last in 2016, and won championships in 2005 and 2014. … Stevens Point is making its 17th appearance in the NCAA III tournament, but its first since 2015. The Pointers have made it to the World Series five times, finishing third in 2007 and taking fourth in its most recent apperance, 2013.
Whitewater coach John Vodenlich: Vodenlich is in his 18th season as Whitewater’s coach, and has a record of 682-242-1 (73.8%), ranking fourth among active Division III coaches in winning percentage and 29th in wins. His teams have won 14 WIAC regular-season titles and six conference tournaments, making 16 NCAA visits.
Stevens Point coach Nat Richter: A former Pointers second baseman (2002-2006) who played in the College World Series in 2006, Richter is in his second year in charge of the Point program and has a 62-12 record. Richter also coached at Division II Northwood University in Midland, Michigan, going 170-97, and was an assistant at UW-Oshkosh at St. Norbert College.
Whitewater leaders: Junior infielder Sam Vomhof leads the Warhawks in batting averaged (.381) and is tied with senior outfielder Zach Campbell for the lead in hits (61). Campbell has six of the Warhawks’ 42 home runs. Junior outfielder Jacob DeMeyer has 46 RBIs and freshman outfielder Matt Scolan has 12 doubles. The Warhawks are hitting ..320 as a team. … Senior Kade Lancour tops the pitching staff with a 9-0 record and 2.65 ERA, with 81 strikeouts in 78 innings. Junior Cade Berendt is 7-0 with a 3.66 ERA and 74 strikeouts in 59 innings. Senior Westin Muir is 10-2 with a 2.81 ERA and 93 strikeouts in 77 innings. Opponents are hitting .252 against Whitewater pitching.
Stevens Point leaders: Among players with more than 140 at-bats, senior infielder Lucas Luedtke leads the Pointers with a .379 batting average. Senior outfielder Aaron Simmons is hitting .375 with 20 home runs and 60 RBI, Luedtke has 11 homers and 55 RBI and Payton Nelson has 10 homers and 47 RBI. Nelson moved to the top of Point’s all-time career doubles list with 50. Junior infielder Bradley Comer is hitting .358. Point is hitting .319 as a team. … The pitching staff has a 4.32 ERA and has allowed opponents a .265 batting average. Sophomore Sidney Ferry is 5-0 with a 1.99 ERA and 41 strikeouts in 31 innings. Sophomore Casey Pickering is 6-1 with a 4.34 ERA and 42 strikeouts, and senior Caleb Krommenakker has a 7-2 record and 3.45 ERA.
Whitewater notables: UW-Whitewater ranks No. 1 in NCAA Division III in winning percentage from 2018 through the 2022 NCAA III regionals, going 146-37 (79.8%). … Whitewater ranks among the top 30 nationally in 10 statistical categories, including third in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.63 to 1) and eighth in strikeouts per nine innings (10.3). … Matt Korman of Waterford went 9-for-16 (.563) in the regional with two doubles, a triple, two homers and seven RBI. … Lancour scattered five hits over seven innings in a May 21 win over Aurora.
Stevens Point notables: The Pointers have hit 76 home runs in 44 games after hitting 50 last season. … Point has scored 10 or more runs in each of its last seven victories. … Point has won 14 of its last 16 games overall, averaging 10.6 runs per game.
