La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team split a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) doubleheader with UW-Stout Sunday afternoon at Copeland Park. The Blue Devils won the opener, 18-2, while the Eagles took the nightcap, 7-4. UWL is now 16-13 overall and 5-7 in the WIAC while UW-Stout is 7-20 overall and 4-8 in the conference.

In the opener, UW-Stout set single-season highs for runs (18) and hits (21) in snapping a nine-game losing streak to UWL. The Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on Brady Stolzman's triple to score Joel Zyhowski. The Blue Devils tied the game in the top of the second on Ben Vanhove's RBI double to knock in Jon Krueger who had doubled to start the inning.

UW-Stout's Noah Brown hit a three-run home run in the top of the third to make it 4-1. The Blue Devils tallied single runs in the fourth and fifth innings, two in the sixth and eighth innings and eight runs in the ninth.

All nine starters recorded at least one hit and scored at least one run in the opener. Brown finished 4-for-6 with five RBI and three runs while Vanhove went 3-for-6 with five RBI and one run. Jack Hemsath finished 4-for-5 with two runs while Derek Graves went 3-for-6 with two runs and four RBI.

Tyler Christensen (4-0) earned the win for UW-Stout, pitching 8.0 innings, allowing five hits, one run and three walks while striking out two. He allowed four hits the first two innings, but only one through the next six innings.

Travis Stahulak (2-2) suffered the loss for UWL, going 2.0 innings, allowing six hits, four runs and two walks with four strikeouts. The Eagles used five pitchers in the game. Six different players had a hit for UWL.

In the nightcap, UWL took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on Nick Pescheck's single scoring Nate Heili. Joel Hollow's three-run home run in the top of the fourth gave UW-Stout a 3-1 lead. A Matt Emmer sacrifice fly in the fifth inning made it 4-1 before UWL scored six runs over the next four innings. The Eagles cut the lead to 4-3 in the bottom of the fifth on Pescheck's RBI single and Brennan Schmitt's sacrifice fly. UWL took a 5-4 lead in the sixth inning after Sam Prissel scored on a wild pitch to tie the game and Heili's sacrifice fly scored Zyhowski with the go-ahead run.

UWL added to its lead in the seventh after Pescheck scored on a UW-Stout fielding error and Zyhowski finished the scoring with a solo home run in the eighth. UW-Stout loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the ninth, but Hollow lined out to second base to end the game.

Caleb Willems (1-2) earned the win in relief for the Eagles, pitching 3.0 innings, allowing four hits with two strikeouts. Caleb Boushley picked up his first save, pitching 1.0 inning, allowing two hits and one walk. Connor Cook started, going 5.0 innings, allowing five hits, four runs and one walk while striking out six.

UWL had 12 hits in the nightcap with Heili and Pescheck each finishing with three.

Brad Rindfleisch (0-1) took the loss for UW-Stout, pitching 2.0 innings in relief. He allowed four hits and three runs (none earned) with one strikeout. Luke Eide started, going 5.0 innings, allowing seven hits, three runs and one walk.  The Blue Devils finished with 11 hits as Emmer, Hemsath, Hollow and Graves each had two.

UWL returns to action Tuesday, April 25 hosting Milwaukee School of Engineering (Wis.) at 3:30 p.m. for one nine-inning game.