Green Knights Advance in NCAA Regional, Eliminate No. 18 Heidelberg

From Sports Information Director, May 15, 2014 | Baseball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

WHITEWATER - St. Norbert College jumped out to an early lead and got a stellar long-relief
performance from freshman Jake McMahon as the Green Knights defeated Heidelberg University
9-5 in a NCAA Division III Midwest Regional game at UW-Whitewater's Prucha Field at Miller
Stadium.

The Green Knights (24-15) will play at 3 p.m. Friday against an opponent to be determined.
Heidelberg, ranked No. 18 in the D3baseball.com Top 25 and the regional's No. 2 seeding, ended
its season 31-13.

St. Norbert got an early lead in the bottom of the first inning when Chad Ljunggren drew a walk
and Travis Mason homered for the second time in the tournament, sending a blast to deep right
for a 2-0 edge.

The Student Princes, who entered the tournament with Division III's top offense at 10.3 runs per game answered with four runs on five hits in the second inning to go ahead 4-2, but the Green Knights came again with four runs coming on three hits and two Heidelberg errors. Troy Rottier scored on a wild pitch, and Cameron Jerina scored on Derek Klegin's chopper to short with the infield in, just beating the tag to tie the game 4-4.

Klegin then stole second and went to third on a throwing error, and Ljunggren singled to right to
put the Green Knights ahead 5-4. Alex Larsen's hard shot to third was ruled an error and that
plated Ljunggren to close out the uprising.

Heidelberg responded by getting two baserunners in the top of the third on St. Norbert starter
Brett Nohr. McMahon replaced him and allowed an infield single to the first batter he faced to load
the bases, but coaxed Andrew Zenczak to ground into a double play to get out of the jam.

Neither team would score again until the Green Knights scored three big insurance runs in the
bottom of the eighth. Mason's bouncer to first with the infield in was just enough to score
Ljunggren, who beat the tag with a head-first slide. Adam Enwiya's single scored Mason, and
Rottier's RBI single drove in pinch-runner Tyler Brown.

Heidelberg would score an insurance run in the ninth, but that's all the Student Princes would get
thanks in large part to a diving highlight-reel play up the middle by Ljunggren to nip Austin
Fleming for the second out of the inning.

Ljunggren, Mason, Enwiya, Rottier and Jerina all finished with two hits apiece. The Green Knights
also stole six bases in the game, including two by Larsen.

McMahon turned in 6 2/3 innings of relief, allowing six hits, one run and no walks with two
strikeouts. Heidelberg totaled 15 hits in the game, but all of them were singles.