Senior helped lead UW-L to Midwest Regional win
He did it again.
Holmen’s Taylor Kohlwey got another hit Thursday – two, in fact – and extended his consecutive-game hit streak to 47 games.
That puts him alone second all time in Division III history. The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse senior came into the second round of the Midwest Regional in a tie for the record.
Kohlwey went 2 for 5 – extending the streak with a double in his first at-bat, but lowering his batting average from .497 to .494 – and the Eagles shutout Luther 10-0 at Copeland Park.
The No. 4-ranked Eagles (36-8) will play at 4:30 p.m. today against Concordia at Copeland. Those 36 wins for UW-L tie a single-season record – set last season when the team went to its first-ever College World Series championship.
As for Kohlwey and the streak: “He’s good. He’s just good,” UW-L coach Chris Schwartz said as some players laughed in agreement in the background. “He finds a way to put the barrel on the ball. Sometimes it ends up over the fence. Sometimes it ends up a dump over the shortstop’s head.
“There’s no way to get him out, consistently. There just isn’t.”
Teammate Justin Anderson has a streak of his own going. The senior has hit a home run in three consecutive games now, after another one Thursday.
He was a ridiculous 4-for-6 with five RBI. Alex Cordova, Travis Buxton-Verstegen and Nate Helli all had two hits for UW-L.
Pitching the combined shutout were Troy Kenkel and Jake Stern. Kenkel (8-2) struck out eight in seven innings, giving up just four hits and walking none. It was the first shutout by the Eagles in the playoffs in school history.