UW-Whitewater designated hitter Adam Cootway is 11-of-21 with eight RBI and five runs scored in the five NCAA Division III World Series games the Warhawks have played in Eastlake, Ohio since Friday.
Former Janesville resident Quint Studer can take credit for Cootway’s success.
Cootway, a De Pere native, spent his first three college years at hometown St. Norbert College. He transferred to UW-Whitewater before the 2022-23 school year.
“I just wanted to go someplace with a better (baseball) tradition and see where the game of baseball could take me,” Cootway said in a phone interview Wednesday morning from the team hotel.
No panic as UW-Whitewater faces postseason elimination once again at Division III World Series
In his first season in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Conference, he was named Position Player of the Year in Region 9 by the American Baseball Coaches Association and D3Baseball.com.
The 6-foot, 205-pound outfielder led the WIAC in batting average (.477), runs scored (59), hits (71), triples (5), RBI (67), slugging percentage (.933) and on-base percentage (.560).
Problems in San Antonio
Cootway was aiming for even more production this year. The Warhawks began the season with a four-game, three-day trip to San Antonio Feb. 29-March 2 to play another NCAA D-III power, Trinity, which is located in San Antonio.
Cootway went 2 for 3 with two runs scored in the first game Feb. 29. He singled and scored in the first inning of the second game. In his second at-bat of the day, he took an awkward swing and felt a twinge on the bottom of his hand between his little and ring finger.
“It was an inside pitch, and I didn’t get my hand extended enough,” Cootway said. “I think the vibration just broke it.”
At the time, neither Cootway nor doctors knew exactly how serious the injury was. His hand became swollen, and it was difficult for Cootway to grip anything.
“I thought there was a chance I could fight through it,” Cootway said.
The team returned to Whitewater on March 3 to prepare for their spring break trip to Pensacola, Florida, six days later.
Studer’s love of baseball
The Warhawks have taken a spring trip to Pensacola since 2019 thanks to Studer and his wife, Rishy, who own the Class AA Pensacola Blue Wahoos along with pro golfer Bubba Watson.
Quint Studer taught special education at Parker High School in Janesville for 10 years after he graduated from UW-Whitewater in 1973.
In 1987, he became director of marketing for what was then known as Mercy Hospital in Janesville.
In 1993, he became chief operating officer of a struggling hospital in Chicago. Through his management techniques, Studer turned around the hospital’s financial troubles. A hospital in Pensacola hired Studer as an administrator in 1996 and within a year, he was named president.
From there, Studer formed Studer Group LLC, a consulting group that by 2014 had 750 clients. He sold 70% of the group in 2011 for $325 million and settled in Pensacola.
Quint and Rishy never forgot their roots. In 2012, the Studers donated $1 million to UW-Whitewater.
While at Parker High, Quint’s classroom was next to Dan Madden’s, the longtime baseball coach at Parker, and Quint was fascinated by the game.
He took over an independent baseball team in Pensacola, and through a series of moves, acquired the minor league franchise. Quint also owns the Beloit Sky Carp and joined with Diane Hendricks to finance the construction of ABC Supply Stadium, which opened in 2021.
In 2019, Studer invited the Warhawks to play in the Blue Wahoos Challenge Tournament, which features NCAA Division III teams from several states. Excluding the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, the Warhawks have made the tournament an annual spring trip destination.
“The Studers and Blue Wahoos cover all the expenses of the tournament for all the teams,” Warhawks head coach John Vodenlich said. “Quint and Rishy have supported UW-W very well throughout the years.”
Part of the challenge tournament is a social gathering in the stadium’s Hancock Whitney club.
“That bill has to be 10, 15, maybe $20,000,” Vodenlich said. “He invites all the parents, all the coaches, all the teams.
“He lets us use the stadium free of charge, and he’s paying his staff to do that,” Vodenlich said. “He is an amazing man, and I’m glad to consider him a friend.”
Studer to the rescue
When the Warhawks arrived in Pensacola on March 9, Cootway was still uncertain what was wrong with his hand. The original X-ray did not show a break, which Cootway said was undetected because of the swelling.
UW-Whitewater assistant baseball coach Mark Fuller approached Studer and informed him of Cootway’s situation.
Before the first game of the tournament, Studer approached Cootway and suggested a visit to the Andrews Institute in Gulf Breeze, Florida, which was a charter partner of the Blue Wahoos.
Studer got Cootway into the Andrews Institute the next day. Two X-rays later, Cootway was told he had broken the hamate bone.
Dr. Steven Kronlage, an orthopedic surgeon specializing in hand and wrist injuries, performed surgery that day. Cootway was out six weeks and returned to action April 20.
Cootway is grateful for Studer’s help that got him into a prestigious hospital and Kronlage.
“Me and my parents had no idea about any hand surgeon in the (Whitewater) area,” Cootway said. “It was a huge help.”
Cootway says the hand now feels “brand new” and “normal as normal can be.”
Vodenlich said having Studer help Cootway get into the Andrews Institute gave the player an extra two to three weeks of games.
“If we had come home, we’d have him back now,” Vodenlich said. “That’s not an easy road back. If Quint had not been able to work his magic down there with that doctor, he probably saved him two to three weeks of recovery.”
Cootway back in the groove
After an adjustment period when he came back, Cootway is 18 of 46 (.391) in NCAA tournament play. In 28 games played, he is hitting .333 with 29 hits, including four doubles, a triple and five homers and 19 RBI.
In Tuesday’s 12-9 loss to Misericola (Pennsylvania) University in the first game of the best-of-three national championship series, Cootway was 3 for 5 with three RBI and two runs scored.
Cootway, a finance major who graduated two weeks ago, could return for one more baseball season due to being eligible during the COVID-shortened season in 2020. He has not made up his mind whether he will return one more year to pursue a master’s degree or work on a second major.
“I’m considering it,” Cootway said. “It’s not 100% yet.”
He will play summer baseball in the Wisconsin-based Northwoods League. Last summer, Cootway played for the Lakeshore Chinooks located in Mequon.
After that he’ll decide whether to return to UW-Whitewater next school year and play another season with the Warhawks.
“Talking with my advisors at Whitewater, (the decision) doesn’t really have a deadline,” Cootway said. “But with classes, I want to get in as soon as I can.”
He said the outcome of the championship series won’t have a bearing on his decision.
“Obviously, you want to win it all,” Cootway said. “But going back-to-back would be cool. And if we don’t win, with this team, who wouldn’t want to go for it again?”
Vodenlich would welcome him back. The Warhawks will lose only three or four players from this year’s team.
“We would love to have him,” Vodenlich said. “He’s such a fine young man, and obviously a good baseball player.”
And a player who is grateful for Quint Studer.
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