Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Tulsa, Okla. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team (1-3) split a pair of games Saturday at the D3 Midwest College Classic Saturday at ONEOK Field.  The Eagles lost their first game by the score of 7-5 to ninth-ranked the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) before coming back to earn a 9-6 victory over The College of St. Scholastica (Minn.).

St. Thomas raced out to a two-run lead in the top of the first inning Saturday afternoon. Tyler Peterson belted a two-run homer to right field to take the lead for the Tommies scoring Ben Podobinski.  

UW-L scored in the bottom of the fourth inning when Cole Cefalu got on base with a hit-by-pitch and stole second.  Alex Cordova then drove home Cefalu with a single to right center to cut the lead to 2-1. 

St. Thomas responded with another run in the top of the fifth.  Kelvin Stroik reached base on a bunt single to first base and moved to second by the benefit of a balk.  He later scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Jack Hogan.  

The Eagles responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth inning to tie the game at 3-3. Nic Barnes and Josh Rowles both singled to start the Eagles' rally.  Barnes later scored on a fielder's choice off the bat of Bryce Barsness and a throwing error on the same play allowed Rowles to score from second to tie it at 3-3.

St. Thomas took a 5-3 lead in the top of eighth on a Tim Kuzniar home run.  

UW-L answered in the bottom of the inning with a Travis Buxton-Verstegen RBI single scoring Barsness to cut the deficit to 5-4.  The Eagles tied the game when pinch-hitter Jordan Greenland's  fielder's choice scored Cefalu, but Shane Adler was thrown out at home on the play.  

The Tommies scored the eventual winning run in the top of the ninth off a wild pitch.  St. Thomas added another run with a Peterson double to right field, scoring Stroik.   

Ben Cejka (0-1) suffered the loss for UW-L, pitching a complete-game.  He went 9.0 innings, allowing 12 hits, seven runs and two walks while striking out seven.

Five different players had a hit for the Eagles while Cefalu scored twice.

UW-L recorded its first win of the season with the 9-6 victory over St. Scholastica (Minn.).  The Eagles took the lead in the top of the first when Taylor Kohlwey led off with a single up the middle.  Barsness followed with another single to move Kohlwey to third and Cordova drove Kohlwey in with a groundout to second.  

The Eagles added five runs in the top of the second to take a 6-0 lead.  Greenland reached on a fielder's choice with one out and moved to second on a Barnes single to left field.  After a line-out, Kohlwey doubled to left center to knock in Greenland and Barnes to make it 3-0. Barsness followed with an RBI single to score Kohlwey and advanced to second on the throw to the plate.  Cefalu then doubled to score Barsness.  Cordova reached on a throwing error that moved Cefalu to third base, who later scored on Cordova's stolen base of second.

St. Scholastica cut the lead to 6-1 in the bottom of the third as Jesse Heaton scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Parker Olson.  

The Saints tacked on four more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to make it 6-5.  Mike Policano, Grant Rindal and Ryan Burmeister all singled to start the inning for the Saints with Burmeister's single scoring Policano.  Troy Duex belted a two-run single down the right field line to score Burmeister and Rindal.  Olson singled to scoring Heaton to make it 6-5.  Tyler Henderson grounded into an inning ending double play.  

UW-L responded with two runs in the top of the fifth as Barnes hit a two-run home run to right field to make the score 8-5.

St. Scholastica added a run in the bottom of the seventh to cut the lead to 8-6. Duex led off with a triple and scored on an Olson sacrifice fly.

UW-L added an insurance run in the top of the ninth when Cefalu scored on a Buxton-Verstegen single.  

Travis Kruckow (1-0) earned the win for UW-L, pitching 5.2 innings of relief.  He allowed two hits and one run with seven strikeouts.  Troy Kenkel started for the Eagles, going 3.1 innings, allowing six hits, five runs (four earned) and three walks while striking out three.

Barsness finished 3-for-5 at the plate with one RBI and one run while Barnes was 3-for-3 with two RBI and two runs.  Kohlwey, Cefalu and Buxton-Verstegen each had two hits.  Kohlwey, Cefalu and Greenland each scored twice.

UW-L returns to action Saturday, March 15 versus Augsburg College (Minn.) in Tucson, Arizona. The teams will play a doubleheader starting at 4:30 p.m. (Mountain Time).