APPLETON, Wis. — Beloit College’s baseball team figured it had experienced more than its fair share of frustration during the Midwest Conference’s regular season.
The Buccaneers figured qualifying for the MWC Tournament could make it all worth it.
Turns out, they were right.
Playing three of their best games of the season, the Bucs (24-15) proved to be the hottest team in Appleton this weekend and captured their second straight MWC Tourney title and the NCAA Division III berth that comes with it as they knocked off second-seeded University of Chicago 2-1 in the championship game Saturday.
On their way to the title, the third-seeded Bucs went 3-0, defeated second-seeded University of Chicago twice and top-seeded Lawrence once.
“I’m thrilled for everyone involved with the program,” Beloit head coach Dave DeGeorge said. “Instead of this season going down as a really good team that probably underachieved, it’s now a great team who went through some adversity, got their act together and won a tournament championship and is headed to the NCAA Tournament.”
The Bucs became the first back-to-back tournament champions since 2010-11 and the first three-seed since 2011 to win the tourney. They will find out on Monday where they are headed for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA will hold a selection show that kicks off at 11 a.m. and can be streamed live on the NCAA website.
Beloit took a huge step on Friday by routing U-Chicago 11-1 in eight innings and then edging regular-season MWC champion Lawrence 9-6.
The Maroons defeated the Vikings on Saturday morning to get another shot at the Bucs.
Beloit sent Eamon Burke to the mound and he went 4 1-3 innings, allowing four hits and Chicago’s lone run.
Relievers Tommy Murray, Caleb Lasher and Harvey Pena completed the game for the Bucs with Murray earning the win with 2 2-3 scoreless innings, striking out a pair.
“Our pitchers did great,” DeGeorge said. “We didn’t walk people. We executed pitches. We held Chicago to a total of two runs in two games. Through eight innings on Friday we held that overpowering Lawrence offense to just three runs. They got a three-run homer in the ninth, but fortunately we had a six-run lead at the time.”
After stranding a pair of runners in the first inning Saturday, the Bucs broke through in the second. Nolan Tomsyck singled to right and moved up on a wild pitch. Evan Zenger singled to drive in Tomsyck for a 1-0 lead.
Beloit turned a double play in the second to end a Chicago threat, but the Maroons had another opportunity in the third with a runner on third with two outs. Burke got out of it with a flyout.
The Bucs pushed across another run in the top of the fifth courtesy of a pair of Chicago errors. Jack Alport led off with a single to center and Miles Souza reached on an error on the third baseman. After a strikeout, Matt O’Leary reached on an error by the third baseman that scored Alport.
The Maroons made it 2-1 in the fifth and had a golden opportunity in the seventh when they loaded the bases against Murray with one out. Reliever Caleb Lasher came on and fielded Brody Miller’s bunt and got the forceout at home. He then got out of it with another fielder’s choice.
“That was a perfect bunt, about two inches from the foul line and somehow Caleb gets to the ball and pitches it like an option football to the catcher for the forceout at the plate,” DeGeorge said. “I would say 99 times out of 100 the run scores on that play.”
The Bucs played superlative defense most of the tournament.
“We were flat out fantastic on defense,” DeGeorge said. “We made great plays. If Jack Alford isn’t the best center fielder in the country I’m scared to think about the guy who is better than he is. He made two diving plays as good as anything you’d ever see on television and they were game-saving kind of plays.”
The Maroons got a two-out double by Erik Rindner in the eighth, but Jackson Lip fouled out to third baseman Souza to end that inning. Pena came on and retired the side in order in the ninth.
• FRIDAY: In Beloit’s first game against Chicago, O’Leary put the Bucs on top 1-0 in the fourth inning with a solo homer. Tomsyck singled in the fourth, Seth Brankey walked and Evan Zenger was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Alport made it 2-0 with an RBI single and Miles Souza walked to force in a third run. That brought Brett Kiger to the plate and the Beloit native blasted a grand slam, his 18th homer of the season, for a 7-0 lead.
The Maroons broke up the shutout with a run in the fifth, but in the top of the seventh the Bucs pushed their lead to 9-1 with two more runs. Tomsyck doubled to left center and singles by Brankey and pinch-hitter Jacopo Tamburini loaded the bases. Back-to-back singles by Alport and Souza played two runs.
Murray relieved starter Aiden Phipps in the bottom of the seventh and allowed just one hit and no runs.
Beloit tacked on two runs in the eighth to put the run rule into effect. Connor Vogel singled and Brankey followed with a fly to left center that caused a collision between two Chicago outfielders. Vogel scored and Brankey moved to third. Zenger’s RBI single made it an 11-1 game. Micah Wilk worked the final inning. Phipps collected his 22nd career win, tying a program record.
In their second game, the Bucs moved over to Whiting Field against Lawrence.
The Vikings grabbed a 1-0 lead in the third inning. In the bottom of the fourth, Tomsyck led off with a double and moved to third on a single by Brankey. Zenger grove in Tomsyck and reached on a fielder’s choice. Pinch-hitter Tamburini singled to load the bases. Souza drew another bases-loaded walk to put Beloit ahead 2-1. A wild pitch by Quinn Berglan allowed Zenger to score.
Lawrence tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the sixth, but the Bucs took the lead for good in the bottom of the inning. Blake Nelson led off with a single to center. Brody Bremer pinch ran for Nelson and stole second. Souza’s flyout to right moved Bremer to third and Kiger doubled to score him for a 4-3 lead.
Pena relieved Beloit starter Ben Schweit to start the seventh. Schweit went six innings, allowing six hits and three walks while striking out three. Pena shut out Lawrence the final two innings.
Alport led off the eighth with a walk and moved to third on Souza’s single. Kiger was intentionally walked to load the bases. O’Leary and Vogel also walked, not intentionally, to force in a pair of runs and make it 6-3. Tomsyck and Brankey then hit back-to-back sacrifice flies. Zenger capped off the five-run inning for Beloit with an RBI single to make it 9-3.
Leading 9-3, Beloit needed three outs to secure a spot in the MWC title game. Lawrence made a push at a comeback, launching a three run home run to make things interesting but Pena regained control and earned his fifth save.
• BOXSCORES:
Friday
Game 1
BELOIT 11, U-CHICAGO 1
Beloit 000 700 220 — 11 17 0
U-Chicago 000 010 000 — 1 7 0
BELOIT (ab-r-h-rbi) — Alport, cf, 6-1-4-2; Souza, 3b, 5-1-1-2; Kiger, dh, 5-1-1-4; O’Leary, ss, 4-1-1-1; Vogel, 1b, 5-1-1-0; Tomsyck, rf, 4-2-3-0; Pouzar, rf, 0-0-0-0; Brankey, lf, 4-3-2-1; Zenger, 2b, 4-1-3-1; Simpson, c, 0-0-0-0; Love, ph, 1-0-0-0; Nelson, c, 2-0-0-0; Tamburini, ph, 1-0-1-0. Totals: 41-11-17-11.
U-CHICAGO (ab-r-h-rbi) — Jirovac, cf, 3-0-0-0; DeForest, 1b, 4-0-1-0; Rindner, c, 3-0-0-0; Slipock, rf, 4-0-1-0; J. Goldstein, 2b, 2-0-0-0; M. Gladden, 3-1-1-0; Lu dh, 3-0-2-1; Sharp, ss, 2-0-1-0; Zeevi, lf, 3-0-1-0.
E: none. DP: BC 2. LOB: BC 12, UC 6. 2B: Tomsyck, Lu, Zeevi. 3B: Brankey. HR: Kiger, O’Leary. CS: Jirovec.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): BC, Phipps (W,8-3) 6.0-5-1-1-2-2; Murray 1.0-1-0-0-0-1; Wilk 1.0-1-0-0-0-2. UC, Klanot 1.2-1-0-0-0-1; Butka (L,3-5) 3.1-7-7-7-3-4; Flanagan 2.0-6-2-2-1-2; Pelz 0.1-3-2-2-0-1; Kelsey 0.2-0-0-0-1-1.
Game 2
BELOIT 9, LAWRENCE 6
Lawrence 001 002 003 — 6 9 2
Beloit 000 301 05x — 9 11 0
LAWRENCE (ab-r-h-rbi) — Hartlaub, ss, 4-1-2-0; Parker, cf, 4-1-1-3; Perez, lf, 5-0-2-1; Charon, rf, 4-1-0-0; Leslie, 1b, 4-0-0-0; Freeman, 2b, 3-1-2-1; Zatkowski, c, 3-0-1-1; Polanco, 3b, 3-0-0-0; Heerde, ph, 1-1-1-0; Gutowski, dh, 3-1-0-0. Totals: 34-6-9-6.
BELOIT (ab-r-h-rbi) — Alport, cf, 4-1-0-0; Miles, 3b, 3-1-1-1; Kiger, dh, 4-1-2-1; O’Leary, ss, 4-1-2-1; Vogel, 1b, 4-1-0–1; Tomsyck, rf, 3-1-1-1; Pouzar, rf, 0-0-0-0; Brankey, lf, 4-1-2-1; Zenger, 2b, 5-1-1-2; Simpson, c, 1-0-0-0; Tamburini, ph, 1-0-1-0; Nelson, c, 1-0-1-0; Bremer, pr, 0-1-0-0; White, c, 2-0-0-0. Totals: 36-9-11-8.
E: Hartlaub, Freeman. DP: BC 1. LOB: Law 7, BC 12. 2B: Kiger, Tomsyck. 3B: Freeman. HR: Knoll. Sac: Hartlaub. SF: Tomsyck, Brankey. SB: Perez, Charon, Bremer.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Law, Berglin 4.0-6-3-3-2-7; Brust (L,4-1) 3.0-4-3-3-2-3; Ruth 1.0-1-3-3-3-0. BC, Schweiz (W,5-1) 6.0-6-3-3-3-4; Pena (S,5) 3.0-3-3-3-1-2.
Saturday
Championship game
BELOIT 2, U-CHICAGO 1
Beloit 010 010 000 — 2 7 0
U-Chicago 000 010 000 — 1 6 2
BELOIT (ab-r-h-rbi) — Alport, cf, 5-1-1-0; Souza, 3b, 5-0-2-0; Kiger, dh, 4-0-0-0; O’Leary, ss, 5-0-1-0; Vogel, 1b, 5-0-1-0; Tomsyck, rf, 4-1-1-0; Pouzar, rf, 0-0-0-0; Brankey, lf, 3-0-0-0; Zenger, 2b, 3-0-1-1; Simpson, c, 1-0-0-0; Tamburini, ph, 1-0-0-0; Nelson, c, 0-0-0-0. Totals: 36-2-7-1.
U-CHICAGO (ab-r-h-rbi) — Jirovec, cf, 4-0-0-0; DeForest, 1b, 3-0-0-0; Rindner, dh, 4-0-1-0; Slipock, lf, 3-0-0-0; Gladden, 3b, 4-0-1-0; Lu, rf, 4-1-2-0; McCarthy, c, 3-0-0-0; Goldstein, 2b, 2-0-2-1; Miller, 2b, 1-0-0-0; Sharp, ss, 3-0-0-0. Totals: 31-1-6-1.
E: Gladden. DP: BC 1. LOB: BC 13, UC 6. 2B: O’Leary, Rindner, Goldstein. SB: Slipock, Lu. CS: Goldstein.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): BC, Burke 4.1-4-1-1-0-1; Murray (W,1-1) 2.0-1-0-0-2-2; Lasher 1.2-1-0-0-0-0; Pena (S,6) 1.0-0-0-0-0-0. UC, Leiderman (L,3-6) 6.0-5-2-1-4-8; Hogan 3.0-2-0-0-1-4.
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