The NCAA Super Regionals have all been set and are set to start June 11th with six of the top eight national seeds making it to the round of 16. The Super Regional winners will play in Omaha at the College World Series which will be the final year at Rosenblatt Stadium before moving to TD Ameritrade Park in downtown Omaha.
Wisconsin 8, La Crosse 5 The Woodchucks offense came to life after a lackluster night with the bats on Wednesday. The ‘Chucks used great plate discipline and clutch hitting to score eight runs on nine hits. Picking up the win for the ‘Chucks was Bobby Alcala (San Diego State), who had a solid outing allowing five runs on ten hits, in 6.0 innings on work. Jayson McClaren (Nevada Reno) earned a save the hard way, pitching the 6th through 9th innings without allowing a run to score.
Nick Anderson earns his second 'NWL Pitcher of the Night' award by throwing 8.0 innings of three hit baseball against Rochester. The St. Cloud State righty gave up one earned run while striking out seven. His ERA is currently 0.60 with a 2-0 record. Anderson was 8-4 with a 3.33 ERA for St. Cloud State. The Brainerd native threw 92.0 innings on the season while striking out 88 for the St. Cloud State Huskies.
Steve Nyisztor a 6’4’’ IF from Rutgers went 2-for-6 against the Duluth Huskies, but hit a go-head grand slam in the top of the 6th. The River Bats went on to win 10-9 against the Huskies. He is currently hitting .296 with eight hits and eight RBI. For Rutgers he led the team in batting average at .410. He also had 24 extra base hits to go along with 11 steals, 51 RBI, and a fielding percentage of .989.
Eau Claire 2, Madison 1 The Eau Claire Express continued their winning ways tonight at Carson Park in a 2-1 victory over the Madison Mallards. The win is Eau Claire's fifth in a row and third at home, bringing the team's record to 5-1 on the season. The Express take sole possession of first place in the South Division and Madison falls to the middle of the pack and drops to 3-3 after starting the season 2-0. Runs came at a premium tonight and the Mallards scored first after starting Express pitcher Steven Florez (New Mexico) struggled with his command early on. Florez gave up two quick walks in the first and Madison short-stop Justin Scanlon (Madison College) scored on a fielding error.
Waterloo Bucks starting pitcher Jarod Wagoner (Butler) was working on a no-hitter going into the seventh. His no-hit bid was broken up by La Crosse Logger center fielder Tony Mueller (Winona State). Wagoner ended up throwing a complete game five hitter giving up three earned runs. The Vincennes, IN native started eight games for the Butler Bulldogs in 2010 and threw the fourth most innings on the pitching staff at 38.1.
Zach McCool (Iowa) had a great day at the plate for the Waterloo Bucks going 3-for-4 with three runs scored and an RBI from the DH spot. McCool was hit by a pitch and had a stolen base against the Loggers and is currently hitting .478. McCool hit .344 for the Hawkeyes with 12 stolen bases and 17 extra base hits. He helped lead the Hawkeyes to the championship of the Big Ten tournament against Minnesota.
Eight former Northwoods League players were selected in the top 100 picks of the MLB First-Year Player Draft, including a pair in the first round.
Rochester 3, Alexandria 2 The Rochester Honkers two run 8th inning was too much for the Alexandria Beetles at Knute Nelson Memorial Park. Both the Honkers and Beetles received great pitching performances from two Northern Sun Intercollegiate pitchers, Bret Mitchell (Minnesota State Mankato) and Shawn Riesgraf (St. Cloud State). The Honkers pitching staff came in relief of Mitchell throwing three innings of one-hit, no run baseball. Rochester received two hit days out of Bryan Karraker (Central Arizona), Mitch Caster (Wichita State) and Devin Thaut (Paradise Valley CC).
Northwest Missouri State right handed pitcher, Chris Green, will go into the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters record books. He earned the first win in franchise history by throwing 5.0 innings of three hit scoreless baseball. He also walked two and struck out two and his NWL ERA is currently at 3.86. Green also was the recipient of great bullpen work by the Rafters pitching staff. Four Rafters combined to throw the final four innings of scoreless baseball.
