* 1B Casey Power (Belle River, Ont.) powered the Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks to the NCAA Division III World Series in Appelton, Wisc. ...    

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By Bob Elliott It’s one thing to have a great baseball name.

Quite another to be able to live up to it.

Casey Power (Belle River, Ont.) helped the Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks reach the NCAA Division III World Series and once he got there -- one of three Canadians who played on teams who made it -- and he delivered.

How they fared at the College World Series in Appleton, Wis. ... 

_ Playing first base, he doubled in an 8-1 win over Southern Maine Huskies before 2,374 fans at Fox Cities Stadium.

_ Was 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs in a 9-6 win over SUNY Cortland before 2,665. He hit a three-run homer in the second giving the Warhawks a 3-2 lead, singled and scored in the fourth tying the score 4-4, flew out in the sixth, singled up the middle, stole second and scored in the eighth as Whitewater scored three times to break the 6-6 tie.

_ Had two hits homering to left centre in the fourth to tie the score 1-1 and singling to centre in the six-run eighth as Whitewater beat St. Thomas 10-4.

_ Had two hits in a 7-0 win over the Emory Eagles before 2,042 fans. He singled to left and scored in the second for the game’s first run, struck out in the third, was hit by a pitch leading off the fifth and stole second, singled to left in the seventh and scored the game’s final run.

Power hit .500 (8-for-16) in the four games with a double, two homers, four RBIs and two stolen bases. Power was named to the all-tournament team.

On the season: Power, who played for Tecumseh Thunder coach Dave Cooper hit .345 with 16 doubles, three triples, five homers and 52 RBIs with a .875 OPS starting all 51 games.

The two other Canadians who were on teams that reached the D3 World Series:

 

RHP Travis Laitar (Fergus, Ont.) SUNY Cortland Red Dragons. How they fared: SUNY Cortland opened with a 4-3 win over the Salisbury Sea Gulls.

Next came a 9-6 loss to Wisconsin-Whitewater.

And Cortland was eliminated with a 9-7 loss to Emory to finish tied for fifth. Laitar faced one hitter in the bottom of the eight, recording a strikeout.

His last outings: Laitar’s two previous outings was a scoreless outing May 7 against Mt. St. Mary’s and another scoreless inning April 19. He worked a scoreless sixth in a 9-3 win allowing one base runner on a hit batter. Laitar again worked the sixth setting down SUNY Oneonta hitters 1-2-3 in a 17-0 win.

On the season: Laitar, a former Ontario Terrier who played for coach Scott Van de Valk, was 0-0 with a 3.09 ERA. He walked six and struck out 12 in 11 2/3 innings in 11 games, holding opposing hitters to a .200 average.

 

Warren Kember (Thornhill, Ont.) Emory Eagles. How they fared:  Emory lost its opener 5-4 to Baldwin Wallace, before 1,428 fans.

Next came an 8-5 win over Linfield in front of 1,569 fans.

Then a 9-7 win against SUNY Cortland.

And then a 15-3 win over Southern Maine to reach the final against Whitewater.

On the season: Kember hit .167 with a double and four RBIs in 11 games. He had a .583 OPS.

 

How Wisconsin-Whitewater got to the D3 World Series:

_ Power had two hits, including a double, knocked in a run and scored the game winning run in the bottom of the 10th in a 15-14 decision over Wisconsin-Stout Blue Devils in the opener of Wisconsin Conference tournament at Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium in Whitewater.

_ Was hitless as the DH in a 12-3 loss to Wisconsin-La Crosse Eagles.

_ Singled and scored the game’s first run in an 8-1 win over UW-Stevens Point Pointers.

_ Power was hitless as he caught Whitewater 6-4 win over La Crosse.

_ Catching again Power powered Whitewater, knocking in six runs in a 17-5 win over La Crosse in the Warhawks third game of the day to capture the WIAC tournament championship to go along with its WIAC championship earned for the regular season. Power singled in the first and tripled in a run in the third. Then came the sixth as Power singled in a run and scored and hit a three-run homer over the left field fence in the 11-run inning.

At the Regionals: _ Power knocked in a run in a 6-2 win over St. Norbert Green Knights. Injuried forced a re-huggled lineup which saw him squatting behind the plate.

_ Power tripled and knocked in a run in a 13-3 win over La Crosse.

_ Power singled in a 6-2 victory over Adrian Bulldogs.

_ Playing first base Power singled and knocked in the first run in a 5-4 win against Adrian.

“He’s everything I would expect of a kid from Canada to be,” coach John Vodenlich told the Daily Jefferson County Union. “Casey’s a guy that works his butt off, he’s a guy that understands that Canada doesn’t have a lot of tradition in baseball and he’s done everything in his life to get the opportunities he has. He’s a great young man, a great teammate, people love him, and he’s a pleasure to be around,”

After winning the 2011 national midget championship with Tecumseh Thunder, Power headed to the North Carolina Wesleyan Battling Bishops before transferring to Wisconsin where he earned All-WIAC honourable mention and was name D3Baseball.com All-Region Third Team honours this spring.