WHITEWATER, Wis. -- Brock Liston was strong through seven innings allowing five hits and two runs while striking out seven as Wisconsin-Whitewater topped St. Norbert 6-2 in the first game of the NCAA Division III Midwest regional on Wednesday.
Liston, now 8-1, faced four or fewer batters in six of the seven innings he pitched with the only hiccup coming in the third. With a 3-0 lead Liston gave up a two run home run to first baseman Travis Mason. Liston kept the Green Knights quiet for the next four innings before giving way to Colin Grove in the eighth. Grove followed suit. He threw the final two innings and gave up just one hit en route to his second save of the season.
Offensively the Warhawks did half of their damage in the second inning. UW-W scored its first run on a Trent Diekvoss single. Nick Kuhlmann made it 2-0 with a single to score Diekvoss, and Dylan Friend hit a sacrifice fly for the final run of the inning.
In the fifth Casey Power came up just shy of a grand slam ending up with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-2. Friend notched his second RBI of the game in the sixth on a double to left center for a 5-2 Whitewater lead, and Mikole Pierce plated Nick Kuhlmann in the eighth to make it 6-2.
UW-W's one through four batters had the most success going a combined 9-for-16 in the game with three runs and four RBIs.
The Warhawks, 37-7, advance to play again at 4 p.m. ET Thursday against the loser of the game between Concordia (Ill.) and Wisconsin-La Crosse. The regional uses a double-elimination format.
