LA CROSSE, Wis. – Alex Henderson had his second three-homer game of the weekend in the first game, and added his ninth homer of the weekend in the nightcap, as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps baseball team defeated Wisconsin-La Crosse twice, 11-2 and 6-2, to win its first-ever NCAA Division III Regional on Sunday.

With the two victories, CMS extends its program record to 35 wins (35-12) and will advance to the Super Regionals next weekend against Endicott, which defeated Concordia (Texas) to win its regional. The winner of that best-of-three series will advance to the national championships in Eastlake, Ohio from May 30-June 5.

PJ Wendler threw a complete-game in the opener to force the if necessary game, striking out eight, and then five Stag pitchers combined to hold Wisconsin-La Crosse to two runs in the second game. Dominic Rolla earned the win with four innings of shutout relief after also winning the opening game of the weekend against Buena Vista on Friday.

CMS entered the day needing to win twice, while the host Eagles only need to win once after advancing through the winner's bracket with a comeback 8-6 win over the Stags on Saturday. In the first game of the regional final round, Henderson was 4-for-5 with three homers and four RBI, giving him eight homers through four regional games, as the Stags won 11-2.

Wendler went the distance, allowing nine hits and striking out eight, getting the final out via strikeout with the bases loaded and preserving the CMS bullpen for the second game.

Bryce Didrickson had an RBI single in a two-run first, and after the Eagles tied it with a two-run homer in the bottom of the first, Henderson broke the tie with a two-run shot in the second.

Slader Spoor added a solo homer in the fourth to stretch the lead to 5-2, and Rider Gordon had an RBI double to make the score 6-2 in the sixth. Henderson hit a solo shot in the eighth, which was followed by a three-run shot from Carter Bennett to break it open and make the score 10-2. Henderson capped off the scoring with a solo shot in the ninth.

Andrew Mazzone was intentionally walked the first five times up before being retired in the ninth. He reached base in 11 straight plate appearances, after going 6-for-6 with two homers and six RBI in the Saturday evening game with Buena Vista.

In the nightcap, CMS scored three times in the second to get the early advantage, as Spoor had an RBI double, and Dillon Martin drove in two with a single. Gordon then had an RBI single in the third and an RBI double in the fifth to make it 5-0.

Henderson then capped off his mammoth weekend with a solo shot in the seventh to make it 6-0, his ninth homer in a five-game regional, including at least one in every game. He started off the regionals with three homers and eight RBI in a 23-3 win over Buena Vista, added a homer in the winner's bracket defeat to Wisconsin-La Crosse, and then went 6-for-7 with a homer and six RBI in an elimination game with Buena Vista on Saturday.  He finished the five games hitting 16-for-27 (.592) with nine homers and 20 runs batted in.

Meamwhile, Mazzone was intentionally walked five more times and finished the regionals 10-for-15 with four homers and eight RBI, to go with 12 walks total. He will head into Super Regionals with a slugging percentage of an even 1.000 points, to go with a .511 batting average, 17 homers and 51 RBI, and a .637 on-base percentage 

The Eagles made it interesting late with a two-run homer in the eighth to close to within 6-2. Hamilton Finefrock came out of the bullpen with one on and two out, and after a high chopper in front of the plate for an unlucky single put two runners on with two out, he got a big strikeout to send the game into the ninth with the Stags up four.

UW-La Crosse then had a two out single into the ninth to put two runners on with two out for the second straight inning, bringing the tying run into the on-deck circle, but Blaise Heher made a leaping catch at the wall in center for the final out of the game to send CMS through to the super regionals.

CMS will advance to the Super Regionals after the first NCAA regional championship in program history. The Stags have advanced to the final game of a regional twice (1979, 1996) before the Super Regional format was implemented. The Stags also won an NAIA District title in 1971.