After spending a week in the Quad Cities area, the Carthage College baseball team (36-7, 18-1 College Conference of Illinois And Wisconsin) finally won the 2009 NCAA Central Regional Championship on Monday, May 18 with an 8-3 win over Wisconsin-Whitewater (30-19) at Swanson Stadium/Brunner Field in Moline, Ill.

Carthage lost to Wisconsin-Whitewater, 4-2 in the first game of the championship round on Monday, which forced a final game. Carthage advanced to the championship round on Saturday night, May 16, with a 12-5 win over Millsaps College (34-9). Both the Red Men and the Majors were 2-0 in the championship. The regional was originally scheduled to begin on Wednesday, May 13, but the schedule was pushed back one full day due to rain.

The top-seeded Red Men got by sixth seeded Fontbonne University (25-18), 8-7, in a first-round game on Thursday, May 14. Second-seeded and Millsaps College (33-8) defeated fifth-seeded and Wartburg College (27-19), 5-3, in Thursday's second game, with third-seeded and Wisconsin-Whitewater (27-17) edging fourth-seeded and Washington University (Mo., 25-11), 3-2, in the final game of the day. All three scheduled games on Friday, May 15 were rained out, and the championship resumed, with a compacted schedule, on Saturday, May 16. In the first game on Saturday, May 16, Wartburg (28-19) eliminated Fontbonne (25-19), 4-2.

Carthage eliminated Washington (Mo., 25-12), 21-3, in Saturday's second game, and Millsaps (34-8) defeated Wisconsin-Whitewater (27-18), 12-4, in Saturday's third contest. On Sunday, May 17, Wisconsin-Whitewater (29-18) eliminated both Wartburg (28-19), 8-3, and Millsaps (34-10), 10-4. With the two wins, Wisconsin-Whitewater (29-18) advanced to play Carthage in the championship round. However, due to NCAA regulations that discourage a bracket where a team plays three times in one day, the championship round could not begin until Monday, May 18.