LA CROSSE, Wisc. – Alex Henderson hit three home runs, including a grand slam in the second inning, and went back-to-back with Andrew Mazzone twice, as the No. 16-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps baseball team rolled to a 23-3 win over No. 29 Buena Vista in the first round of the NCAA Division III Regionals, hosted by Wisconsin-La Crosse.

The win improves CMS to 32-12 on the year, tying the program record for wins in a season set last year, and advances to the Stags into the winner's bracket, where they will face host Wisconsin-La Crosse tomorrow at 12:30 (Pacific time). Buena Vista falls to 32-11 and will face Bethany Lutheran in an elimination game tomorrow.

Henderson finished the game 3-for-6 with three homers, five runs scored and eight RBI, while Mazzone was 2-for-4 with three walks and three runs scored. 

Henderson started the scoring with a solo homer, and added a grand slam in the second inning to make it 7-0, off of a pitcher who had allowed only one home run all season. Mark Eddie came into the game with a 9-1 record and a 1.87 ERA, and hadn't allowed more than three runs in any of his last nine starts.

After Henderson supplied the only run in the first, Carter Bennett hit a triple in the second with one out, and came home on an RBI double from Blaise Heher. After a walk to Slader Spoor loaded the bases, Dillon Martin had an RBI single to right to make it 3-0. Henderson then followed by going the opposite way for a grand slam, making the score 7-0.

Mazzone followed with a towering shot to right field that left the stadium, pushing the lead to 8-0 at the end of the second. CMS built a 12-0 lead in the third and fourth, before Buena Vista got three runs back in the bottom of the fourth.

CMS answered right back, though, with Henderson and Mazzone going back-to-back again. Henderson's was a two-run shot the other way, scoring Spoor (walk), and Mazzone also went the other way to left-center for his second of the day and 15th of the season, giving him the top two home run totals in CMS history after tallying a program-record 20 last year.

Henderson came up with the bases loaded again in the sixth, but settled for an RBI fielder's choice for his eighth RBI of the day. After Mazzone was intentionally walked, Bryce Didrickson had a two-run single to push the lead to 18-3. Spoor hit the seventh home run of the day for the Stags in the seventh, a two-run shot to stretch it to 20-3, and Charlie Kalil and Thomas Worth capped off the scoring with bases-loaded walks.

Spoor was 2-for-2 with four runs scored and three RBI for the Stags, while Didrickson had a team-high four hits (4-for-6) and Seluga was 2-for-3 with three walks, five runs scored and three RBI.

CMS will face 12th-ranked UW-La Crosse tomorrow for the right to advance to Sunday's regional final. The winner of that game will need to win only once on Sunday to advance to Super Regionals, while its opponent will need to win twice.