SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (May 14, 2005) -- For the second time in school history the Edgewood College baseball team will represent the Lake Michigan Conference at the NCAA national tournament after the Eagles (27-15) defeated Marian College (20-22) by a final score of 10-6 in the LMC tournament championship game from Wildwood Park on Saturday.

Marian jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the third inning as Kurt Miller hit a three-run homer off of Eagles starting pitcher Jeff Potts (Kirkland, Wash.) The Eagles responded in the bottom half of the inning as Shawn Burcum (Deforest, Wis.) belted a three-run home run and John Fish (Wisconsin Dells) blasted a solo shot shortly after as the Eagles took a 5-4 lead. 

The two teams would again trade punches in the fourth inning as Jake Wilson gave the lead back to Marian with a two-run homer of his own to put Marian back on top by a run.  Edgewood would again respond in their half of the fourth as they scored three more runs, highlighted by Nick Wilz's (Appleton, Wis.) two-run double.  The Eagles would score two more runs in their bottom half of the fifth inning as Andrew Handorf (Deforest, Wis.) singled and later scored on a wild pitch, and Jon Adair (Praire du Sac, Wis.) had a run scoring single. 

Potts would settle down from the fifth inning on to shut down the Sabres bats, not allowing a run for the rest of the game.  Potts hurled a complete game, surrendering nine hits, and six earned runs while striking out four and walking only one. The Sabres went through four different pitchers with Cory Tjader taking the loss.  

With the victory, the Eagles earned the LMC's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Championships for the first time since 2001. Edgewood will learn which regional it will be playing at sometime Sunday evening, and the information will be posted Monday morning. More details to follow ....