Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 St. Scholastica (Minn.) 3, UW-La Crosse 2

UW-La Crosse 7, St. Scholastica (Minn.) 3

Minneapolis, Minn. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team split a non-conference doubleheader with The College of St. Scholastica (Minn.) Thursday afternoon at Mall of America Field at the Metrodome. The Saints won the opener, 3-2, before the Eagles came back to win the nightcap, 7-3. With the doubleheader split, UW-L is now 7-5 while St. Scholastica is 9-4. Both teams are receiving votes on the D3baseball.com Top-25 Poll.

In the opener, St. Scholastica scored twice in the top of the second on a pair of two-out singles from Jordan O'Neill and Padraic Getchell. The Saints added another run in the sixth inning on an RBI single from Andy Schwantes.

UW-L cut the lead to 3-2 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth. Josh Rowles opened the inning with a single and moved to third on Brooks Braga's single and a St. Scholastica error. Braga went to second on the play. After a strikeout, Adam Cordova walked with Rowles scoring on a wild pitch to make it 3-1. Jordan DeBoer followed with an RBI single to knock in Braga to cut the deficit to 3-2, but the Eagles' next two hitters were retired.

Tim Verthein (1-3) suffered the loss for UW-L, going 4.2 innings, allowing seven hits and two runs while striking out one.

Rowles and DeBoer each finished 2-for-4 for the Eagles. Rowles had one run scored and a walk while DeBoer recorded an RBI.

Kyle Jensen (1-1) earned the win for St. Scholastica, pitching 7.0 innings, allowing four hits and two walks with three strikeouts. He was also 2-for-4 at the plate with an RBI. Jake Casareto was 2-for-4 with two runs while O'Neill finished 2-for-4 with an RBI.

In the nightcap, St. Scholastica took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on Kyle Flagstad's two-run double. UW-L tied the game in the top of the sixth. Trevor Burmeister opened the frame with a walk and scored on an RBI triple from Rowles. Cefalu later tied the game on a sacrifice fly.

The Eagles took their first lead of the day in the top of the seventh with a pair of runs. Nic Barnes singled to start the inning and moved to second on Burmeister's sacrifice bunt. After a strikeout, UW-L's Garrett Novinski and Cefalu hit back-to-back RBI doubles to make it 4-2.

The Saints cut the deficit to 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth on Parker Olson's run-scoring double. St. Scholastica had the tying and go-ahead runs on second and third base with two outs in the eighth, but DeBoer made a leaping catch behind second base to record the final out of the inning.

UW-L then tallied three runs in the top of the ninth to give itself a 7-3 advantage. DeBoer had an RBI single to score Rowles while Brett Jacobson's single knocked in Cefalu. Braga added a sacrifice fly to finish the scoring.

Joel Effertz (2-1) earned the win for the Eagles, pitching 7.0 innings, allowing one hit, two runs (one earned) and three walks while striking out nine. He did not allow a hit to the Saints after Flagstad's double in the first inning.

Rowles finished 2-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI while seven players had one hit. Cefalu totaled two RBI.

Mickie Keuning suffered the loss for St. Scholastica, going 1.2 innings in relief. He allowed three hits, two runs and two walks with three strikeouts.

Flagstad finished 2-for-4 with two RBI.

UW-L returns to action Wednesday, April 3 hosting UW-Stout in its Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) opener. The first game is scheduled to start at 1 p.m.