Warhawks, Titans get Division III baseball bids

For UW-Whitewater coach John Vodenlich, Monday was business as usual.

The Warhawks qualified for the NCAA Division III baseball tournament for the 11th consecutive season.

At UW-Oshkosh, Monday conjured memories of the days the Titans were regular participants in the national tournament. The Titans, led by fifth-year coach Kevin Tomasiewiz, qualified for the tournament for the first time since 2008.

Whitewater (31-6) is ranked No. 1 nationally by D3baseball.com but received the No. 2 seeding in the Sauget (Ill.) Regional. Host Webster (36-8) received the No. 1 seeding in the eight-team, double-elimination regional.

The Warhawks open at 7:45 p.m. Thursday against seventh-seeded Monmouth (28-12-1).

Oshkosh (31-8), ranked No. 7 nationally by D3baseball.com, is seeded third in the six-team Duluth (Minn.) Regional.

The Titans play at 7 p.m. Thursday against fourth-seeded Bethel (32-9).

Regional winners advance to the Division III World Series May 25-29 in Grand Chute.

The Division III World Series, first played in 1976, has been held in Grand Chute since the 2000 season. It is scheduled to be played in Cedar Falls, Iowa, beginning next season.

Whitewater, which won national titles in 2005 and ’14, received an at-large berth because the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Conference did not have an automatic bid this season.

The WIAC fielded only six baseball programs once UW-Superior left the league after the 2015 season.

The Illinois Institute of Technology joined the league for baseball as an affiliate member this season.

Once the Illinois Institute of Technology becomes an “active” member of the WIAC, perhaps in 2018-’19, the league should regain its automatic bid.

Whitewater and UW-La Crosse represented the WIAC in the national tournament last season and both were placed in the Whitewater Regional.

Concordia-Chicago won the regional with a 17-3 victory over La Crosse.

Oshkosh’s return to the NCAA field is a sign the program is back on solid ground under Tomasiewicz.

Tomasiewicz, whose pitching helped Whitewater win its first national title in 2005, led the Titans to a second-place finish in the WIAC.

Oshkosh won at least 30 games for the first time since the 2007 season under Tom Lechnir. The Titans won the WIAC title that season, finished second in the regional at Wisconsin Rapids and finished the season 35-12.