May 31, 2017 3 min read

APPLETON, Wis. – Marty Slimak proved to not only be a first-class college baseball coach, but also a tremendous prognosticator in this tournament.

Slimak, the baseball coach at Cal Lutheran, brushed off a 10-run loss to Washington & Jefferson in Monday’s Game 1 of the best-of-three series in the NCAA Division III Championship at Fox Cities Field in Appleton, Wis.

He promised his team would play better and that is exactly what happened.

The Kingsmen administered a whipping of their own to W&J in Game 2, then broke away late for a 7-3 victory to capture the Kingsmen’s first Division III title.

“If you would have told me in February that this team would be sitting here, I would have looked at you and said you were nuts,” said Slimak. “After Monday’s beat down, we were loose. These guys came back. They kept telling me, ‘No worries, coach. No worries.’ I’m really proud of these guys.”

The Presidents, who also were looking for their first Division III title, finished the season with a 42-13 record. The Presidents came into the day needing a win to clinch and were coming off a 12-2 rout of Cal Lutheran. But W&J not only lost both games, the Presidents never held a lead.

“It stings,” said W&J head coach Jeff Mountain. “We were cruising through (Monday) and put ourselves in great position. Then things didn’t work out. I give Cal Lutheran a lot of credit. It’ll take some time but I think our seniors will be able to look back on this with pride. … It’s a tough pill to take.”

Cal Lutheran had 12 hits in Game 2, and starter Scott Roberts allowed only two runs over six innings. The Kingsmen led 3-1 after four innings, but W&J closed the gap to 3-2 in the fifth when Jake Gordon hit a leadoff home run.

“I knew we were still down,” said Gordon. “I was hoping that would give us some momentum.”

But W&J would not score again until the ninth inning but Cal Lutheran held a 7-3 at the time, thanks to a three-run eighth.

Shortstop Austin Kay, right fielder Gabe Gunter and Jamie Jarauqui each drove in two runs for Cal Lutheran.

Left fielder Dante Dalesandro had two hits and an RBI and first baseman Mark Merlino had an RBI double for W&J.

“I think (Monday) we took advantage of some self-inflicted wounds,” said Mountain. “It was vice versa for us (Tuesday). … They played a great 18 innings and you have to give them credit.”

In the first game yesterday, the Kingsmen pounded out 22 hits, a season high, against six W&J pitchers in a 12-4 victory. Starter Bryce Schnatterly took the bulk of it, 12 hits, seven earned runs in four innings. It was the largest deficit for W&J all season.

First baseman Weston Clark and shortstop Austin Kay each knocked in three runs and catcher Trevor Saito and center fielder Brad Fullerton each had four hits. W&J’s lineup produced six hits and none in the starting lineup had more than one.