Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Platteville, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team, ranked 24th on this week's American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Top-25 Poll, dropped a pair of games at UW-Platteville Tuesday afternoon at Kendall Murray Field.  The Eagles fell, 8-5, in the opener, and 3-2 in the nightcap.  UW-L drops to 18-10 overall and 11-7 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while UW-Platteville improves to 20-10 overall and 11-3 in the conference.

The Pioneers took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning in the opener on a pair of RBI groundouts from George Jester and Todd Wienkes. The Eagles cut the margin to 2-1 in the top of the third.  Alex Cordova walked with one out and advanced to second on a groundout.  He then scored on Justin Anderson's RBI single. 

UW-Platteville added to its lead with a pair of unearned runs in the third as Jester stole home and Wienkes scored on a UW-L error to make it 4-1.  UW-L cut the lead to 4-3 in the top of the fifth on RBI singles from Taylor Kohlwey and Ben Morgan, but UW-Platteville scored its third unearned run of the game in the bottom of the inning as Collin Deboer came in on an error for a 5-3 advantage.

The Eagles tied the game at 5-5 in the top of the sixth.  Travis Buxton-Verstegen doubled to star the inning and advanced to third on Joel Zyhowski reached on a fielder's choice bunt.  After a Pioneers' pitching change, Buxton-Verstegen scored on Carter Hoffman's sacrifice bunt with Zyhowski moving to second.  Cordova followed with another sacrifice bunt to move Zyhowski to third with two outs and Kohlwey's single tied the game knocking in Zyhowski.

UW-Platteville tallied three runs in the bottom of the eighth.  Kyle Reinhart singled to start the inning and advanced to second on Max Meitzler's sacrifice bunt.  Reinhart went to third on a wild pitch before Jonny Frese grounded out for the second out of the inning.  Zack Iverson walked and Casey Schroeder was hit-by-pitch to load the bases. Deboer then doubled home all three runners for a 8-5 lead.

Jake Stern (2-2) suffered the loss for UW-L, pitching 2.0 innings, allowing three hits, three runs and one walk with one strikeout.  Caleb Boushley started for the Eagles, going 6.0 innings, allowing seven hits, five runs (two earned) and two walks while striking out four.

UW-L finished with 14 hits in the game, leaving 10 runners on base.  Seven starters had at least one hit, including five players with multiple hits.  Cordova finished 3-for-3 with two runs while Anderson went 3-for-5 with an RBI.  Kohlwey, Morgan and Buxton-Verstegen each had two hits with Kohlwey finishing with two RBI.

Austin Daniels (5-2) earned the win for UW-Platteville, pitching 3.0 innings, allowing four hits with one strikeout.  Trevor Hall recorded his third save of the season, pitching 1.0 inning, allowing one hit.  Riley Vandenberg started for the Pioneers, going 5.0 innings, allowing nine hits, five runs and two walks with three strikeouts.  Deboer, Jester and Reinhart each had two hits with Deboer finishing with two runs scored and three RBI.

In the nightcap, UW-L took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first as Anderson singled with two outs and scored on Morgan's double.  UW-Platteville tied the game in the bottom of the second without the benefit a hit.  Wienkes walked to start the inning, stole second and advanced to third on Reinhart's groundout.  Meitzler's sacrifice fly scored Wienkes.  The Pioneers took a 3-1 lead in the third inning on Tanner Galeazzi's RBI double and after Wienkes was hit-by-pitch with the bases-loaded.

The Eagles cut the deficit to 3-2 in the top of the eighth.  Anderson doubled with two outs and came in on Morgan's single.  UW-L had the tying run on second with two outs in the top of the ninth, but failed to score.

Sawyer Johnson (0-1) took the loss for UW-L, pitching 2.1 innings, allowing two hits, three runs and three walks with one strikeout.

The Eagles were limited to five hits in the nightcap.  Anderson finished 2-for-4 and scored both runs for UW-L while Morgan went 2-for-4 with both RBI.

Ben Zwitter (1-0) earned the win for UW-Platteville, going 8.0 innings, allowing five hits and two runs while striking out five.  Hall picked up his second save of the day and fourth of the season, pitching 1.0 inning.  He allowed one walk with one strikeout.  Deboer and Meitzler each had two hits for the Pioneers.

UW-L returns to action Saturday, April 25 hosting UW-Superior for a WIAC doubleheader starting at noon at Copeland Park.