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Box Score 2 Auburndale, Fla. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team opened its 2015 season splitting two games against nationally-ranked opponents Sunday. The Eagles, receiving votes on the D3baseball.com Top-25 Poll, opened with a 10-0 victory in seven innings over 24th-ranked Eastern Connecticut State University before falling 5-3 to 23rd-ranked Rowan University (N.J.).
Versus Eastern Connecticut State, UW-L's
Ben Cejka and
Jameson Lavery combined on the four-hit shutout. Cejka earned the win for the Eagles, pitching 6.0 innings, allowing four hits and one walk while striking out seven. Lavery went 1.0 inning with two strikeouts.
UW-L tallied three runs in the top of the first inning.
Taylor Kohlwey, the 2014 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Co-Position Player of the Year and a 2015 D3baseball.com Preseason All-America, started the season with a lead-off home run. The Eagles'
Alex Cordova made it 3-0 with a two-out two-run single scoring
Justin Anderson and
Travis Buxton-Verstegen.
UW-L added a run in the top of the second as Kohlwey and
Joel Zyhowski hit back-to-back doubles with one out. Buxton-Verstegen made it 5-0 in the top of the fifth on an RBI groundout to score Zyhowski.
The Eagles scored five times in the top of the seventh. Anderson hit a two-run home run;
Bryce Barsness hit a sacrifice fly to score a run while Cordova added an RBI triple and
Nic Barnes an RBI single.
Eight of nine starters had at least one hit for UW-L as the Eagles finished with 15 hits in the game. Kohlwey and Buxton-Verstegen both went 3-for-4 with Kohlwey scoring three times and Buxton-Verstegen twice. Zyhowski, Anderson and Cordova each had two hits. Cordova had a team-high three RBI while Anderson scored twice.
Against Rowan (N.J.), UW-L took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning as Cordova doubled and advanced to third on a passed ball. He then scored on a Barsness single. The Profs took their first lead of the game with a pair of runs in the top of third on Monny Strickland's RBI double and Ryan Pavlik's RBI groundout.
Rowan (N.J.) added a run in the fourth inning on Johnny Dunn's single and two more in the fifth on a Casey Grimes RBI single and Kevin McMenamin coming in on a wild pitch. UW-L cut the deficit to 5-2 in the bottom of the fifth as Anderson scored on Buxton-Verstegen's sacrifice fly. The Eagles made it 5-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning as Anderson came into score on a Barsness sacrifice fly. UW-L left two runners on base in the bottom of the eighth and ninth innings.
Shane Adler suffered the loss for UW-L, pitching 4.2 innings, allowing six hits and five runs (three earned) while striking out two.
Caleb Boushley went 4.1 innings in relief for the Eagles, allowing three hits and two walks with seven strikeouts.
UW-L finished with 11 hits in the contest. Anderson went 3-for-5 with two runs scored while Kohlwey finished 2-for-5 and extended his hitting streak to 31-games dating back to last season. Barsness had two RBI versus Rowan (N.J.).
UW-L returns to action Monday, March 16 versus Washington & Jefferson College (Pa.). The Eagles and Presidents will play a junior varsity game at 8:10 a.m. (Central) and a varsity game at 10:30 a.m. (Central).
