Winter Haven, Fla. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team fell 5-4 to William Paterson University (N.J.) Monday afternoon at the Russmatt Central Florida Invitational. The Eagles, ranked seventh on D3baseball.com, drop to 3-2 on the season while the Pioneers improve to 5-2-1.

William Paterson (N.J.) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second before UWL tied the game in the bottom of the second with Nate Roethle scoring on Alex Brown's sacrifice fly.

The Eagles scored twice in the bottom of the third for a 3-1 lead. Nate Heili scored on a Pioneers' error and Joel Zyhowski came in on Roethle's RBI single.

The Pioneers tied the game with runs in the fourth and fifth innings. The Eagles took a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the sixth as Brennan Schmitt scored on Heili's sacrifice fly.  William Paterson (N.J.) tallied twice in the top of the eighth to secure the victory.

Caleb Willems (0-1) suffered the loss for UWL, pitching 3.1 innings, allowing two hits, two runs and one walk with three strikeouts. Connor Cook started for the Eagles, going 4.0 innings, allowing four hits, two runs and two walks while striking out two.

UWL finished with 12 hits.  Roethle went 3-for-5 while Schmitt and Mitch Sutton each finished 2-for-4.  Six starters recorded a hit.

UWL returns to action Tuesday, March 14 facing Webster University (Mo.) at 11 a.m. The teams will play a junior varsity game Tuesday starting at 8:30 a.m.