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The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater baseball team won two games Friday at Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium in Whitewater to advance to the championship game of the 2017 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship. The Warhawks will play at 3 p.m. on Saturday against the winner of Saturday's first game between UW-Stevens Point and UW-La Crosse.
 
The top-seeded Warhawks, 34-6 overall, defeated UW-Oshkosh, the fourth-seed, 8-4 in their first game, and followed with a 12-2 win over second-seeded UW-L in the night's final game.
 
Since the tournament uses a double-elimination format, the Warhawks will have two opportunities to capture their fifth tournament championship title on Saturday. The championship winner receives the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.
 
In game one, the Warhawks fell behind 1-0 after just a half of an inning, but fought back to tie the score in the second. Kevin White (Chicago, Ill./St. Laurence) led the inning off by reaching on an error and came around to score after back-to-back singles by Matt Wary (Elk Grove, Ill./Elk Grove) and Cal Aldridge (Crystal Lake, Ill./Prairie Ridge).
 
The same part of the order started a rally in the fourth. With White and Wary on first and second and no outs, Aldridge singled to left to score White and give the Warhawks a 2-1 lead. A fielder's choice put runners on first and third setting up an opportunity for Jeff Szubert (Tinley Park, Ill./Victor J. Andrew) to lay down a squeeze bunt. The bunt was executed perfectly and turned into a base hit and another run for the Warhawks. After a fly out to center, Blake Fleischman (Germantown, Wis./Germantown) hit an infield single that plated Mike Aiello (Racine, Wis./Horlick) and gave the Warhawks a 4-1 lead.
 
Meanwhile, Heath Renz (Jefferson, Wis./Jefferson) was cruising on the mound. After the first inning, the junior held Oshkosh to just three hits across the next seven innings, adding nine strikeouts.
 
The Warhawk offense offered some more run support in the fifth adding three to make it 7-1. With the bases loaded and one out, Aiello plated the first run of the inning with a sacrifice fly to center that scored Steve Chamberlain (Rockford, IL/Guilford). Szubert knocked in the other two runs with a double to left on the next at bat.
 
Brett Krause (Menomonee Falls, Wis./Menomonee Falls) added another insurance run in the bottom of the eighth when he hit a triple down the right field line to plate Fleischman and give the Warhawks an 8-1 lead.
 
Oshkosh made things interesting in the ninth but Mike Nompleggi (Oconto Falls/Oconto Falls) came on in relief and stymied the rally as the Warhawks held on to win 8-4.
 
Renz earned the win tossing eight innings while scattering seven hits and four runs.
 
Game two started in a familiar way for the Warhawks. The Eagles scored a run in the top of the first to take an early 1-0 lead. Two innings later they added another for a 2-0 advantage.
 
The Warhawks broke their way onto the scoreboard in the fourth. With one out, White and Wary hit back-to-back singles and then each moved up a base on a passed ball. Aldridge came through with a single to center to tie the game.
 
UW-W escaped the top of the fifth unscathed despite two errors before taking the lead in the bottom of the frame. After two quick outs to start the inning, the Warhawks went to work. Back-to-back-to-back singles by Krause, Chamberlain and White resulted in UW-W's first lead of the game, 3-2. With runners on second and third the Eagles walked two consecutive batters to make it 4-2. After a pitching change, a bases loaded wild pitch made it 5-2 and another walk filled the bases yet again. Szubert belted an RBI single to left field to make it 6-2 before the Eagles could end the inning.
 
A four-run sixth highlighted by an RBI triple by Chamberlain and an RBI single by White gave the Warhawks a 10-2 lead.
 
A two-RBI blooper to left by Jordan Kuczynski (Germantown/Germantown) in the bottom of the eighth plated Szubert and Aldridge to give the Warhawks a 12-2 lead and end the game by virtue of the ten-run rule.
 
Austin Jones (Wauwatosa, Wis./West) did his job on the mound. The junior righty tossed eight innings, scattering three hits, just one of those coming after the third inning. Behind eight strikeouts and his third complete game, Jones moves to 8-2 this season.