Box Score Appleton, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team earned a 12-3 victory over Emory University (Ga.) in an elimination game Saturday afternoon at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championship at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium.  The Eagles, ranked fourth on D3baseball.com, improves to 39-9 on the season.  UWL will face the loser of the game between the State University of New York Cortland and Trinity University (Texas) Sunday, May 29 at 4:30 p.m.  SUNY Cortland and Trinity (Texas) play Sunday, May 29 at 10 a.m.  With the loss, Emory (Ga.) ends its season at 34-12. The Eagles are ranked sixth on D3baseball.com.

Emory (Ga.) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first as David Coble scored on a Brian Hernandez single.  UWL tied the game in the bottom of the inning. Joel Zyhowski walked to start the inning and advanced to second after a failed pickoff attempt. He moved to third on Alex Cordova's groundout to shortstop and then scored on Taylor Kohlwey's groundout.  The Eagles took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second with Ben Morgan leading off with a single and advancing to second on Travis Buxton-Verstegen's sacrifice bunt.  Alex Brown singled to move Morgan to third, who then scored on Nate Heili's bunt single.

Emory (Ga.) regained the lead on Nick Chambers' two-run home run to make it 3-2 in the fourth.  UWL responded with seven runs on nine hits in the bottom of the inning to take a 9-3 lead as 12 batters came to the plate. Nine straight hits by the Eagles scored the runs. Heili's single scored Buxton-Verstegen to the game at 3-3 and a Zyhowski single scored Brown to give UWL a 4-3 advantage.  Cordova followed with a single to make it 5-3 and after a Kohlwey single loaded the bases, Justin Anderson's three-run double down the left field line made it 8-3.  Morgan's single knocked in Anderson to finish the scoring.

The Eagles added to their lead with three runs in the bottom of the fifth. Cordova's RBI triple scored Zyhowski for a 10-3 lead. Cordova and Kohlwey scored on a Emory (Ga.) error to make it 12-3.

Troy Kenkel (9-2) earned the win for UWL, pitching 6.0 innings, allowing six hits, three runs and two walks while striking out four.  James Witt pitched 1.0 inning, allowing two hits with two strikeouts while Caleb Willems went 2.0 innings, recording three strikeouts.

All nine starters recorded a hit for the Eagles, including seven players with at least two, as the team finished with 18 overall.  Anderson went 3-for-5 with three RBI while Heili finished 3-for-4 with two RBI. Both players scored once.  Zyhowski, Cordova, Kohlwey, Morgan and Brown each finished with two hits.  Zyhowski scored three runs with Cordova and Kohlwey each adding two.

Kohlwey extended his hitting streak to 51 games with a bunt single in the bottom of the third.

Hans Hansen (9-2) took the loss for Emory (Ga.), pitching 3.1 innings, allowing 12 hits, nine runs and one walk with one strikeout.  The Eagles totaled eight hits with Hernandez finishing 3-for-4 with an RBI. Coble went 2-for-5 with a run scored while Chambers went 1-for-2 with a two-run home run.

UWL returns to action Sunday, May 29 at 4:30 p.m. versus SUNY Cortland or Trinity (Texas).