Senior southpaw Hank Schlueter, who made 26 appearances this season, fires a pitch en route to earning the win in Saturday's first game. (photo courtesy of Bret Billhardt, North Coast Athletic Conference)

WASHINGTON, Pa. – After coming back to knock off fourth-seeded The College of New Jersey 5-3 in Saturday's first game, The College of Wooster's exciting postseason run came to an end at the hands of top-seeded La Roche College, 13-0, in the NCAA Div. III Championships Mideast Regional, held at Washington & Jefferson College's Ross Memorial Park.

Wooster (37-13) lived up to its seeding at the Mideast Regional, taking third-place, while La Roche (39-10) goes on to the championship round to face off against Randolph-Macon College.

Saturday's opener began in a cool drizzle, and the Fighting Scots jumped on top via a pair of RBI singles from Jamie Lackner in the first and third innings.

TCNJ (32-12) finally got to Wooster starter Zach Woullard, as Zachary Shindler hit a solo home run in the sixth and he exited in the seventh after a pair of one-out walks brought his pitch count to 142. Both of those runners came across, as the Lions took the lead for the first time.

Wooster used some two-out magic, though, in the bottom of the frame to quickly retake control. Chandler Dippman singled – one of his four hits on the day – then Michael Wielansky reached via error and Lackner and Drew Tornow drew consecutive walks, knocking out TCNJ's starter in the process and tying the game. Next, Ryan Ostendorf beat one into the turf towards third that he legged out for an RBI infield single and Chris Fafalios was hit by the next pitch to give the Scots a two-run cushion.

After Hank Schlueter and Michael Whitaker combined to get through a scoreless eighth, with Whitaker stranding a pair on infield pop-ups, the drizzle turned into a steady rain and the game was delayed for about three hours.

When play resumed, Wooster quickly finished off the Lions, as Whitaker worked around a pair of one-out singles by striking out one and inducing a game-ending foul out. It was his fourth save of the season, while Schlueter picked up the win (4-0), marking his second of the regional and third of the postseason.

Following a brief break, the Scots took the field again and they were unable to solve the pitching of the Redhawks' Nick Tunstall, who spun a three-hit shutout.

Wooster's best chance may have come in the first inning when Tunstall walked the first two hitters, however, he erased one with a 4-3 double play and settled in.

From there, Dippman's singles in the third and sixth innings, a Tornow single in the seventh, and a walk to Wielansky were the Scots only base runners.

Wooster freshmen pitchers Wyatt Linde and Brian Murray kept the game within striking distance until La Roche exploded for seven runs in the top of the seventh to go ahead 11-0.

Then, the storyline became Lackner's consecutive games reached base safely streak, as he got one more plate appearance in the bottom of the ninth. The Scot junior first baseman lined one the opposite way, but the right fielder tracked it down, bringing his remarkable NCAA Div. III record of 94 games to an end. The previous record had been 60 by Damian Constantino of Salve Regina University (2001-03).