A two-out error kept Wartburg College's (Iowa) fifth inning alive, Jude Burger took advantage with a two-run single, and a brilliant defensive play in the ninth inning gave the Knights a dramatic 2-1 win over the University of Southern Maine in an NCAA Division III College World Series opening-round game Friday night at Fox Cities Stadium.

Wartburg, now 41-7 overall, advances to play Allegheny College (Pa., 37-8) in a championship-bracket contest in the double-elimination tournament Saturday at 7:45 p.m., CST. Southern Maine, now 35-13 overall, will play Chapman University (Calif., 31-11) in an elimination game Saturday at 1:15 p.m. Allegheny topped Chapman 4-2 in a first-round game Friday.

Trailing 2-0 in the top of the ninth with two runners aboard, Southern Maine nearly tied the game on a two-out single to center field by Jason Dority. Jody Curcuru scored, but pinch runner Jesse Lacroix was tagged out at the plate on a brilliant throw from center fielder Patrick Lowe to catcher Matt Thede to end the game.

"Pat Lowe, our center fielder, has done that all year. That's at least the second time he's come up big with two outs at the end of the ballgame," said Wartburg head coach Joel Holst. "He obviously works on that a lot. I was kind of surprised that the runner went, but Pat made a great throw and Matt did a good job of putting the tag on. It's just a big way to finish off. The first game is always huge in a tournament like this. We had momentum in our dugout. The intensity was huge throughout the whole game, and I would guess that's going to help us, I hope, through the next few ballgames."

"It takes a good throw by a center fielder to make that play," said Southern Maine coach Ed Flaherty. "We had a kid in there who can run, Jesse as a pinch runner. We took a chance on having him steal second to get the tying run on second. It paid off and Dority gets a good hit, and the kid makes a great play in center field. That's the game. He just made a great play. There was no doubt (to send Lacroix from third). There's two outs, and I that situation, you have to send the runner. They had to make a good throw and they got him by quite a bit, I guess, but you have to take a chance."

One brilliant defensive play clinched the victory, and an opponent's defensive lapse earlier in the game enabled Wartburg to take the lead for good.

After being held hitless through the first four innings, Wartburg notched its first hits of the game in the fifth, as Vernon Birmingham and Jay Whannel both reached on singles to right field.

With two outs, No. 9-hitter Jay Bollman lifted a fly ball to the infield, which Southern Maine first baseman Curcuru dropped to allow the bases to be loaded. The error proved costly, as the next batter, Jude Berger, promptly smacked a single to right that drove in both Birmingham and Whannel.

"I've always prided our program on not beating ourselves, and we beat ourselves," Flaherty said. "That's a basic play, with communication on the pop-up. Whatever happened, we'll have to try and figure it out so we don't do the same thing tomorrow."

"Usually in a game like this, with two good pitching performances, it comes down to who makes the mistakes and who capitalizes on the mistakes," Holst said. "Jude Berger came up with a key hit after that miscommunication on the first baseman. That was huge, with our second-baseman coming up with the key hit we needed."

The defensive plays overshadowed two brilliant pitching performances. Wartburg's Shane Potratz improved to 11-0 with his seventh complete-game victory of the season, striking out eight while walking just two and allowing seven hits. Meanwhile, Southern Maine's Denny Webber took the loss to drop to 7-4, despite striking out six and walking just one. Both his runs allowed were unearned.

"I can throw anything, and I know those guys back there, they've been playing the defense behind me," Potratz said. "It's just great knowing that you can throw anything up there. It adds confidence after this game, that these guys are going to do it all for me if I just put the ball in the zone."

Southern Maine grounded into three double plays in the contest. The Huskies stranded six runners on base, while Wartburg stranded eight runners ­ all but one in the fifth inning or later.