APPLETON, Wis. - For the second straight season, the Beloit College Baseball team is headed to the NCAA Tournament. The Buccaneers went 3-0 in the Midwest Conference tournament this weekend, defeated second seeded University of Chicago twice and the top seeded Lawrence Vikings once to claim the 2024 Tournament title. Beloit becomes the first back-to-back tournament champion since 2010-2011 when Ripon College did it.
Beloit earned the luxury of watching the first game this morning after defeating both Chicago and Lawrence yesterday. The Maroons held on to defeat the Vikings this morning for a second chance at the Bucs this tournament.
Eamon Burke (Helena, Mont.) earned the start on the mound for the Bucs in what they were hoping would be their only game of the day. He went 4.1 innings, giving up four hits and Chicago's only run. The trio of
Tommy Murray (Rockton, Ill.),
Caleb Lasher (Albuquerque, N.M.) and
Harvey Pena (Riverside, Calif.) completed the game for Beloit. Murray earned the win, pitching 2.2 innings and striking out two.
The Buccaneers looked to be ready to score early after
Brett Kiger (Beloit, Wis.) was hit by a pitch and
Matt O'Leary (Clarendon Hills, Ill.) doubled in the top of the first. However, the runners were left stranded at second and third. Beloit broke through in the top of the second after
Nolan Tomsyck (Muskego, Wis) singled through the right side and advanced to second on a wild pitch.
Evan Zenger (Burr Ridge, Ill.) singled and drove in Tomsyck to give the Bucs the 1-0 lead. The Maroons put their first base runner on in the bottom half of the inning but Burke induced a double-play ground ball that ended the inning. Again in the third the Maroons looked like they could tie the game. After a single and balk moved a runner to second, a fielder's choice put their runner on third with two outs, Burke provided a fly ball for his defense and the inning was over.
Beloit pushed their second run across in the top of the fifth. A couple of Chicago errors moved runners along.
Jack Alport (Arlington Heights, Ill.) led off the inning with a single to center.
Miles Souza (Carpinteria, Calif.) reached on an error by the third basemen. Following a strikeout for the first out of the inning, O'Leary reached on a second fielding error by the Maroons' third basemen that scored Alport. Chicago cut the lead in half with one run in the home half of the fifth, but Murray came in in relief and shut down the Chicago hitters.
Beloit becomes the first three seed since 2011 to win the MWC Tournament.
The Buccaneers will find out on Monday, May 13th where they are headed for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA will hold a selection show that kicks off at 12pm ET and can be streamed live on the NCAA website.
