Box Score Whitewater, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team fell 13-3 at third-ranked UW-Whitewater Thursday afternoon to be eliminated from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Midwest Regional at Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium.  The Eagles, seeded fourth in the regional, finish their season at 26-18.  The Warhawks, the regional's top seed, improve to 38-7 and advance in the winner's bracket.  UW-Whitewater will play Friday, May 16 at noon versus the winner of the Concordia University Chicago (Ill.)/Adrian College (Mich.) game. 

UW-Whitewater took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning Thursday afternoon.  Nick Kuhlmann, Dylan Friend and Mikole Pierce opened the game with three straight singles with Kuhlmann scoring the first run of the game on Pierce's single.  After a strikeout, Casey Power singled to knock in Friend for a 2-0 Warhawks' lead.  Trey Cannon followed with a sacrifice fly to score Pierce with the third run of the inning. 

The Warhawks tallied three runs in the top of the second to take a 6-0 advantage. Adam Gregory singled to start the inning and Dylan Bersch was hit-by-pitch.  Gregory advanced to third as Kuhlmann flied out.  Bersch then stole second base and advanced to third as Gregory scored on a UW-L throwing error.  After Friend walked, Bersch scored on a Pierce groundout to make it 5-0 and Michael Gonzalez followed with an RBI single to knock in Friend. 

UW-L, making its third career appearance in the national championships and second in three years, cut the lead to 6-2 with a pair of two-out runs in the bottom of the second. Timmy Kehren reached on a fielder's choice with two outs and advanced to second on a Josh Rowles single.  Nic Barnes followed with an RBI double to score Kehren with UW-L's first run of the game.  Cole Cefalu then singled to knock in Rowles, but Barnes was thrown out at home plate to end the inning.  Cefalu's RBI set a career record for UW-L with 144, breaking the record of 143 held by Chester Janke (2001-04). 

UW-Whitewater scored four times in the top of the third to take a 10-2 lead.  Bersch was hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded to bring in Cannon.  Kuhlman and Pierce each added a sacrifice fly to drive in Mike Mierow and Gregory.  Gonzalez finished the scoring in the inning with an RBI to knock in Bersch. 

Each team scored a run in the fifth inning.  Friend singled home Bersch for UW-Whitewater to make it 11-2 while Taylor Kohlwey had an RBI single for UW-L to score Rowles and cut the lead to 11-3.  The Warhawks finished the scoring in the top of the seventh as Kuhlmann and Friend scored on a two-run triple by Pierce. 

Joe Miller (2-5) suffered the loss for UW-L, pitching 1.0 inning, allowing five hits and three runs with one strikeout.  Jameson Sadowske went 1.0 inning, allowing five hits, six runs and one walk.  Jameson Lavery pitched 7.0 innings for the Eagles, allowing six hits, four runs and two walks with one strikeout.

Cefalu, Kohlwey, Rowles and Alex Cordova each had two hits for UW-L as the team finished with 11 overall.  Along with setting the school record with 144 career RBI, Cefalu finished second in school history in career hits (229) and walks (96).   Kohlwey set a single-season school record with 88 hits in 2014 and tied the school record with 57 runs.  Vinny Rottino also scored 57 runs in 2002.  With his two hits Thursday, Kohlwey extended his hitting streak to a school record 29 games, breaking the mark of 28 held by Jay Fanta over the 2010 and 2011 seasons.  Kohlwey also set a single-season school record with a .458 batting average in 2014, breaking the mark of .443 held by Dan Graziano in 2003.

UW-L set single-season school records for runs (400), hits (548), average (.348), RBI (354), doubles (100), triples (20), total sacrifices (59) and hit-by-pitch (49).

Scott Plaza (7-2) earned the win for UW-Whitewater Thursday, pitching 6.0 innings, allowing 10 hits and three runs with five strikeouts. 

All nine starters had a hit for the Warhawks, including six players with at least two hits.  UW-Whitewater finished with 16 hits overall. Mierow had a game-high three hits while Kuhlmann, Friend, Pierce, Gonzalez and Gregory each recorded two hits.  PIerce finished with five RBI while Friend and Bersch each scored three times.