The yearly Midwest Conference Baseball award winners were released along with the 2009 North and South Division All-Conference Teams on Wednesday, May 13. St. Norbert junior outfielder Jared Yost (right) becomes the third consecutive Green Knight to win Player of the Year after taking his squad to a third straight North Division title. Ripon senior Mike Lloyd brings home the Pitcher of the Year hardware while Dave DeGeorge earns Coach of the Year after leading Beloit to its first MWC Championship.

Roger Sander headlines the 2009 Midwest Conference South Division awards, as the Monmouth skipper wins his league-record ninth Coach of the Year award in its 15-year history. Sophomore Robbie Hinkle (left) becomes the seventh Fighting Scot to win Pitcher of the Year in nine seasons, while Grinnell’s freshman designated hitter Mike Nodzenski and Knox’s senior outfielder Kevin Malone share Player of the Year honors.

2009 All-Conference/Awards Winners

St. Norbert was unable to hold onto its 4-0 lead and fell to St. Olaf 8-4 in the Midwest Regional in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The Green Knights were eliminated after the loss, while the Oles will move on to the Regional Championship game.

St. Norbert finished the game with 12 hits and two errors to St. Olaf's 14 hits and no errors.

MWC North Division Player of the Year Jared Yost continued his hot streak, plating the game's first run with a third inning RBI single before Ryan Gusick added a three run homer an inning later. That proved to be the end of the Green Knight's scoring though as the offense totaled another five hits in the remaining five innings, but were unable to get any runs across. The Oles started their scoring with three runs in the top of the fifth and scored at least one run in each of the next four innings.

Gusick went 2-for-4 and led St. Norbert with his three RBI's while Garrick Fisher finished the game 3-for-4 and a run scored.

After an 11-inning 2-1 heartbreaking loss to St. Olaf, Beloit was knocked from the NCAA Tournament in an 8-2 loss to UW-Stevens Point in the first elimination game of the Midwest Regional in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

The fifth-seeded Pointers outhit the No. 6 seed Buccaneers 12-8 while using three homers to spur half of their eight runs.

Stevens Point tallied three runs in the second, one in the third, and two in the fourth to jump out to a 6-0 lead. Beloit got on the board in the seventh inning with a two-run home run by outfielder Jon Moran, but was quickly answered in the top of the eighth, when a Pointer homer put an end to the game's scoring at 8-2.

The first seven batters of Beloit's line-up recorded a hit with first baseman Hunter Nelson, who went 2-for-4, being the sole Buc with multiple hits.

With the first two games of the Midwest Regional in Oshkosh, Wisconsin going to extra innings, the trend continued as St. Norbert came out on the losing end of a 7-6 decision against #10 St. Scholastica.

The Green Knights were outhit 14-13 and the extra hit proved to be the game winner. With the game tied 6-6 in the eleventh inning, the Saints' Paul Kolodge singled home Chad Peterson from third for the walk-off win.

St. Scholastica got on the board early with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first and then added three more in the fourth, before St. Norbert exploded for four in the fifth. After each team plated a run in the bottom of the sixth and the top of the seventh, the Green Knights entered the ninth trailing 6-5. On the first pitch of the inning, MWC North Division Player of the Year Jared Yost hit a solo home run off of closer Steve Gerten to tie the game. St. Norbert threatened in the tenth inning with runners on first and third with one out, but Gerten was able to pitch out of the jam.

Yost led the Green Knights going 4-for-6 with an RBI and three runs scored.

No. 4 seed St. Norbert will now play No. 1 St. Olaf at 4 p.m., while No. 3 St. Scholastica takes on No. 2 St. Thomas. A Green Knight loss eliminates them from eight team regional.

Beloit faces elimination after an opening round loss to St. Olaf Wednesday (May 13) at the Midwest Regional in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

The eighth-seeded Buccaneers outhit the top-seed 11-6, but timely hitting by the top of their order, led the Oles to a 2-1 victory.

Beloit trailed 1-0 after a fourth-inning RBI sacrifice fly by the Oles' Tyler Jones. The scoreboard remained that way up until the top of the ninth when a St. Olaf error brought home pinch runner Dan Edwards for the tying run.

In the eleventh, T. Jones singled home brother, Carson, with one out for the winning run. Tyler tallied the Oles only two RBI's while Carson scored both of the runs. The Buccaneers threatened with two on in the tenth, but an inning-ending double play kept the game tied.

Beloit's Rick Krajewski finished with the unfortunate no decision, giving up only one run (unearned) on four hits in 8.1 innings pitched.

Live stats and audio will be available for St. Norbert's first-round game with St. Scholastica in the Midwest Regional in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The Green Knights received a coveted at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament as the region's No. 4 seed while the Saints, who were ranked tenth in the most recent D3baseball.com poll, are the No. 3 seed. The game is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. on Oshkosh North High School’s E.J. Schneider Field. Audio can be found via the St. Scholastica website, while live stats can be found through the regional home page.

Click Here For Audio
Click Here For Regional Home Page

Audio will be available for Beloit's first-round match-up with St. Olaf in the Midwest Regional in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The Buccaneers are the region's No. 8 seed while the Oles are the top seed. The game is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. on Oshkosh North High School’s E.J. Schneider Field.

Click Here For Audio
Click Here For Regional Home Page

Beloit, Wis. - The Beloit College Baseball team will make their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament in the Midwest Regional in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, beginning on Wednesday.  Games will be played at Oshkosh North High School’s E.J. Schneider Field. The Bucs are actually in the Central Region but were moved to the Midwest Region for seeding purposes. 

As of early Monday morning, the NCAA had determined that the Bucs, as the #6 seed, will play #1 seed St. Olaf College, champion of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, in the first game at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, May 13.  A win would have Beloit playing the loser of the game between #3 seed College of St. Scholastica vs. #4 seed St. Norbert College on Thursday, May 14, at 1:00 p.m.  A loss in game one would have the Buccaneers playing the loser of the game between #2 seed University of St. Thomas vs. #5 seed Wisconsin-Stevens Point at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday.

Click Here For Regional Home Page

De Pere, Wis. - St. Norbert College earned a coveted at-large berth to the NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament, getting assigned to the Midwest Regional when selections were announced early Monday morning.

The Green Knights (23-13) will play in the Midwest Regional at E.J. Schneider Field at Oshkosh North High School in Oshkosh. St. Norbert, which received one of 13 at-large berths to the 54-team tournament, will face the College of St. Scholastica (35-5) at 4 p.m. Wednesday in a first-round game. The regional is a double-elimination format.

"We're obviously thrilled to be selected to the tournament," St. Norbert coach Tom Winske said. "The NCAA Committee has always looked at strength of schedule as an important factor and with the schedule we played this year I'm sure that was a big reason we were selected. I'm happy for our team we have another week to play."

St. Norbert defeated three Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference teams this season, splitting doubleheaders with UW-Stevens Point, UW-Oshkosh and UW-Platteville, marking the first time in program history that's happened. The Green Knights also played six games against Midwest Conference champion Beloit College and two games with Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament champion St. Olaf College.

St. Norbert is making its second NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament appearance. The Green Knights played in the West Regional in 2003, going 0-2.

In other first-round games Wednesday at the six-team Midwest Regional, St. Olaf College (29-12) faces Beloit College (28-7), while the University of St. Thomas (31-10) plays UW-Stevens Point (29-14).

The winner of the regional will advance to the NCAA Division III World Series which runs May 22-26 at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute.

Click Here For Regional Home Page

Preview

Beloit, Wis. - The Buccaneers won their opening game in the MWC Tournament on Friday, coming from behind to defeat Monmouth College 7-6.  Jake Majeski drove in the tying run with a single in the seventh and Mike Ross plated what proved to be the winning run with a fielders choice RBI in the eighth. Beloit topped St. Norbert College 6-3 in the second game of the Tournament.  The Buccaneers took control early and sealed it with a three-run seventh.  Beloit won its first-ever MWC Championship on Saturday in a 9-6 win over St. Norbert.  The Bucs grabbed the lead for good with a five-run fourth inning, highlighted by Ross’ three-run double.

Due to rain, the Midwest Conference Baseball Tournament's site and times have been changed. All Saturday games will be played at VandenPlas Field, which is located behind Green Bay Southwest High School. For updated times please refer to the schedule on the left-hand side. Directions can be found via the link above.

The 2009 Midwest Conference Baseball Championship Tournament is scheduled to begin this Friday and Saturday, May 8-9. All contests will be held at Mel Nicks Field on the campus of host St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wis., while one game will take place at Westwood Park in De Pere. Directions can be found via the links above. The Green Knights locked up hosting duties with a pair of wins over Lawrence May 2, but the other remaining seeds were undecided until just days ago. After splitting its season series 2-2, Beloit and Ripon needed a one-game playoff to determine the No. 2 North team, while Grinnell and Monmouth, who already clinched berths, needed a playoff game to decide who was to be the South’s No. 1 and No. 2 seeds. The Fighting Scots downed the Pioneers with a convincing 15-4 victory, but it took a walk-off RBI double for the Buccaneers to earn their first MWC Tournament berth since 1995.

Conference tourney action opens at 10 a.m. on Friday when the Green Knights host Grinnell and Beloit and Monmouth travel to Westwood Park for its first round match-up. The winners of the two games will meet at 1 p.m., while the loser’s bracket game is scheduled right after at 4 p.m.

Click Here For 2009 Championship Preview

The postseason has started already for a pair of MWC teams as Beloit and Ripon, who split its season series 2-2, will take the mound for a one game playoff Monday at 3 p.m. The winner will claim the No. 2 North Division seed and will play the winner of the Grinnell-Monmouth one-game playoff in the 2009 MWC Championship Tournament this weekend. The loser will take the South Division's second-seed and match-up with host St. Norbert. The Pioneers and Fighting Scots game is scheduled for Noon Monday and will webcast free of charge via MWCTV. Live Stats will also be available.

Grinnell, Iowa – The Grinnell and Monmouth College baseball teams combined to set an NCAA Division III record in their 19-inning game that was suspended Saturday, May 2, and completed Sunday.

The teams combined to leave 43 runners on base in Grinnell’s 5-3 win, breaking the previous Division III mark of 39 established by Southern Maine and Keene State in 2000. That contest was a 14-inning affair.

The 43 stranded runners equals the overall NCAA record set by San Diego State and Hawaii in a Division I game during the 1994 season.

Waukesha, Wis. - In the Midwest Conference era of Carroll University baseball, senior Chris Elliott (right) reigns supreme as the program's homerun king.

The Pioneers first season of competition in the Midwest Conference was 1993, and since that time no Carroll player has hit more homeruns than Elliott's 21 round-trippers.

Brian Lussier previously held the best homerun mark in the MWC era when he jacked 18 long-balls over a two-year period in 2000 and 2001, including a program-best 12 homers in 2001.

Elliott has a chance to add to his career total with four MWC games against Ripon College remaining on the schedule, plus the potential for a make-up doubleheader against Marian University.

The Chicago, Ill. native (Notre Dame High School) began his Pioneer career with six homeruns in 2006 then belted seven as a sophomore in 2007. He added four homeruns in 2008 and currently sits at four heading into the Ripon series.

[Note: Individual statistics prior to 1993 are not complete. The all-time program homerun leader is not known. For what is available, Elliott's mark is currently the best.]