QUINCY, Ill. – With two down in the bottom of the ninth and the UIndy baseball team holding a 5-2 lead, veteran reliever E.J. White elicited a shallow pop up to centerfield. A calm went over QU Stadium, but it was short lived as Brandon DeWitt gloved it and the Greyhounds stormed the field as the 2023 Midwest Region champs.

UIndy upended No. 16 Illinois Springfield, 25th-ranked Maryville and finally the No. 6 Quincy Hawks on the way to becoming the first-ever 7-seed in the super regional era to make the NCAA DII Championship. The feat was good for the program's third regional crown, with the first two coming in 2000 and 2012.
 

? | ITS DANCING TIME!! ???? pic.twitter.com/j1s36U5UvW

— UIndy Athletics (@UIndyAthletics) May 27, 2023

The official NCAA DII Baseball Championship bracket has been revealed and the Greyhounds will face off against No. 7-ranked Millersville in the first round of the tournament. The two squads will battle on June 3 at 6 p.m. ET at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C. The tournament will be a double-elimination format with the eight region champs vying for the big trophy. 

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Hawks were the first to get on the board, doubling off of starter Seth Spencer in the second to make it 1-0. It would take the Hounds until the fifth to answer, but they did just that and more with Easton Good hammering a ball to right that scored both Denton Shepler and Zack Williams.
 

? | Good gives us the lead! ????

Good guys ?? 2??-1??! pic.twitter.com/alzgKrd3CD

— UIndy Athletics (@UIndyAthletics) May 27, 2023

 
With all the momentum behind the Hounds, the Hawks attempted to calm the flames with a long homer over the left field wall. But with every Hawks punch, the Hounds answered, this time with the red-hot Adam Rakestraw. In one of the hardest hit balls to stay in the park this season, Rake traded spots with Nick Lukac from second to re-give the Hounds the lead. Drew Donaldson made it a two-run lead with a bases-loaded walk with just six outs to go.
 

? | ADAM RAKESTRAW FOR THE LEAD! ?

3??-2?? lead for @UIndyBaseball pic.twitter.com/B35p1KmV6Q

— UIndy Athletics (@UIndyAthletics) May 27, 2023

 
White went to work from there, shutting down the high-powered Quincy offense for 2 2/3 innings, eliciting four flyouts and three groundouts. Shepler added on additional insurance in the eighth with a shot into right center to drive in the final run of the afternoon.
 
READY JUST WINS
Head Coach Al Ready has a special connection with the regional championship now, having been a part of all three of UIndy's "World Series" trips. His first came in 2000 as the team's primary catcher and clean-up hitter. He later came back as an assistant coach for the squad and won it with the 2012 squad, and he now has claimed the title as the Hounds head coach.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Brandon DeWitt, a day removed from his complete-game victory, slapped two hits in the victory.
- Spencer recorded a quality start, giving up just two earned runs in 6 1/3.
- Despite the Hawks leading the nation in homers, the Hounds won the power battle, having three extra-base hits to the Hawks' two.
- Luke Napelton, the reigning GLVC Player of the Year and national home run leader, was silenced by the Hounds, holding him to an 0-for-5 day.
 
HOUND BYTES
Head Coach Al Ready immediately after the win…
"It's a little surreal. We started the season off as hot as can be, and then we went through a little adversity and had to ask ourselves some questions. I'm speechless right now. I just love my guys so much and they never quit. We had our back to the wall from the third conference weekend on. It was must win for us after starting 0-8 in conference and then we got it done and just got hot at the right time."
 
Ready on how proud he is of his team…
"I'm so proud, not just of my player, but in my assistant coaches. Trevor Forde, our top assistant, he's been with us from the beginning. We brought on Adam Cornwell as our pitching coach. I'll say it again, our pitching down the stretch, I don't know what our ERA was but they gave us a chance to win every time out. That's a feather in Adam's cap right there, he's done a phenomenal job with them."
 
Ready on the influence f former UIndy head coach Gary Vaught...
"Before I say "Roll Hounds", my mentor Coach Vaught, this was impossible without Coach Vaught setting the foundation for this program. The years of blood, sweat and tears he put into this program. We just wanted to build on his legacy. I just wanted to thank him as much as anybody. And Roll Hounds!"