Fairfield 7, Butler 0:
Right-hander Adam Sams tossed a three-hitter in a D-I district final. Noah Bauman had two hits and two RBIs for Fairfield, which advances to face St. Xavier in the regional semifinals on Thursday.
Lakota West 4, Springboro 3:
The Firebirds scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth in a D-I district final. The Firebirds will face Centerville on Thursday in the regional semifinals.
Carlisle 2, Madeira 0:
The Indians advanced to face Cincinnati Country Day on Thursday in the D-III regional semifinals.
CHCA 1, Anna 0:
CHCA scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh for a walk-off win in a D-III district final.
Northwestern 5, Middletown Madison 0:
The Warriors scored four runs in the sixth inning to spark their Division III district final win at Eaton. It’s the fourth consecutive district championship for Northwestern, which advances to play the winner of Monday’s Hamilton Badin-Clermont Northeastern game in a regional semifinal at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Wright State.
West Liberty-Salem 16, Cincinnati Reading 2:
The Tigers run-ruled the Blue Devils in five innings in a Division III district final. Kenedie Cox went 4 for 4. Olivia Ames had four RBIs. WL-S (21-5) advances to face Columbus Ready in a regional semifinal at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Wright State.
Williamsburg 9, Covington 0:
Justice Warner’s double was the lone bright spot for Covington in this D-IV district final.
Riverside 11, Fayetteville Perry 5:
Marissa Davis homered and drove in five runs to pace Riverside in this D-IV district final.
The Raiders broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth, thanks to a Seth Gray RBI double. Matt Morrow touched home plate to give Wright State a 2-1 advantage, but the Raiders left two men on base.
UIC scored one run in the eighth to take its first lead. The Flames added two insurance runs in the ninth to extend their lead to 5-2.
The Raiders left 13 runners on base.
“We would get two or three guys on but were unable to finish the inning,” Mercer said. “We would string two or three good at-bats in an inning but not getting that last one that we needed to put a couple runs up was hard.”
In his sixth year leading Wright State’s baseball program, Mercer has been to four conference tournament finals and won three of them.
Of those four games, only one took place at Nischwitz Stadium. Mercer said he told his players that teams rarely get a chance to win conference tournaments on their home field, so playing at UIC won’t hinder them much.
Mercer echoed Collins in mentioning the immense growth the team has undergone in the past week.
“If we grow as much in this week as we did last week, then we’ll have an opportunity to go back to the NCAA Tournament,” Mercer said.
Wright State will open the tournament Thursday against the highest remaining seed from the first-round games.
The tournament winner receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
“We’ll be right there in the championship like we are every year,” Collins said. “We’re gonna come in and get this one.”