Box Score Appleton, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team fell 8-3 to State University of New York Cortland in an elimination game at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championship Sunday night at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium.  The Eagles, ranked fourth on D3baseball.com, finishes 39-10 on the season. SUNY Cortland, ranked first on D3baseball.com and the defending NCAA III champion, improves to 43-7 and will play Trinity University (Texas) Monday, May 30.

UWL's 39 wins is a single-season school record, breaking the mark of 36 in 2015.  The Eagles went 1-2 at this year's NCAA III Championship, making their second straight appearance and second in school history at the national championship. 

The Eagles finished national runner-up in 2015, falling to SUNY Cortland in the best-of-three championship series. 

Along with the school record for wins (39), UWL set single-season school records for batting average (.370), slugging percentage (.427), runs (452), hits (648), doubles (125), triples (25) and RBI (396).

UWL took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning Sunday night. Justin Anderson doubled to start the inning and advanced to third on Carter Hoffman's infield single. Ben Morgan followed with a run-scoring single to knock in Anderson.  Travis Buxton-Verstegen's sacrifice bunt moved both runners into scoring position, but the next two batters were retired.

SUNY Cortland took its first lead of the game with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth. Fabio Ricci singled and scored on Steven Figueroa's double to tie the game. Austin Clock followed with a RBI single to give the Red Dragons a 2-1 lead. Marcos Perivolaris then doubled, but UWL starter Jameson Lavery retired the next three batters to end the inning.

The Eagles tied the game in the bottom of the fifth as Morgan singled with one out, stole second and scored on Alex Brown's two-out single.

The Red Dragons regained the lead in the top of the fifth with two runs. Conrad Ziemendorf had a bunt single to start the inning and went to second on Ricci's walk.  Brock Rude came into pitch for UWL. After a flyout, SUNY Cortland recorded a double steal to put runners in scoring position.  Clock then followed with a two-out two-run single to make it 4-2.

SUNY Cortland added three runs in the top of the sixth. Ziemendorf and Ricci had RBI singles and Ziemendorf later scored on a double steal for a 7-2 advantage.

Anderson's two-out solo home run in the bottom of the eighth cut the lead to 7-3. The Eagles then loaded the bases with two outs on singles from Hoffman and Morgan and walk from Buxton-Verstegen, but Brown lined out for the third out of the inning.

SUNY Cortland added a run in the ninth on Clock's RBI single.

Lavery (8-2) suffered the loss for UWL, pitching 4.1 innings, allowing seven hits, four runs and two walks with two strikeouts. Rude went 1.2 innings, allowing three hits, three runs and three walks with one strikeout. Logan Mallek pitched 3.0 innings, allowing three hits and one run with three strikeouts.

The Eagles totaled 10 hits with Morgan finishing 3-for-4 with a run scored and RBI.  Anderson went 2-for-4 with two runs and the solo home run while Hoffman finished 2-for-4.  Taylor Kohlwey went 0-for-5, ending his 51-game hitting streak. The 51-game hitting streak ranks second in single-season NCAA III history.

Jeff Cooke (8-1) earned the win for SUNY Cortland, pitching 7.2 innings, allowing nine hits, three runs and one walk with four strikeouts. Turner Parry earned his sixth save of the season, going 1.1 inning, allowing one hit and one walk.

The Red Dragons finished with 13 hits with Zimendorf, Figueroa and Clock each having three.