Auburndale, Fla. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team extended its winning streak to three with a 18-5 victory in seven innings over Illinois Wesleyan University Thursday morning. The Eagles improved to 5-2 on the season while the Titans drop to 7-2.
UWL, receiving votes on this week's D3baseball.com Top-25 Poll, scored in five of the seven innings Wednesday. The Eagles tallied four times in the top of the first.
Brennan Schmitt's single scored
Nate Heili with the game's first run.
Alex Robson followed with an RBI single to knock in
Shane Coker. Schmitt and Robson later scored on a pair of balks by Illinois Wesleyan. The Titans cut the lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the first on Nick Figus' single to score John Bosco. The Eagles scored a run in the top of the second for a 5-1 lead with
Nate Roethle coming in on a
Zach Carney single. IWU cut it to 5-2 in the bottom of the third on Gino Cavalieri's single, but the Titans left the bases loaded to end the inning.
The Eagles responded in the top of the fourth with five runs for a 10-2 lead. Coker and
Brady Stolzman each had run-scoring singles in the inning while
Brennan Schmitt had an RBI double,
Luke Schmitt a bases-loaded walk and
Jack Dwyer a sacrifice fly. After the Titans made it 10-3 in the bottom of the fourth on Cavalieri's double, the Eagles scored twice in the top of the fifth on
Brennan Schmitt's run-scoring triple and Robson's RBI single. Stephen Billington's single in the bottom of the fifth for IWU to make it 12-4.
UWL scored six runs on three hits in the top of the sixth. Coker had an RBI single while
Brennan Schmitt added a two-run single and
Luke Schmitt a two-run double. IWU finished the scoring on Brandon Skopnick's single in the bottom of the seventh.
Setting season-highs in runs (18) and hits (18), UWL had seven players with at least two hits in the game.
Brennan Schmitt finished 4-for-5 with four runs and five RBI while Coker went 3-for-6 with four runs and two RBI. Heili, Carney, Robson,
Luke Schmitt and Stolzman each had two hits. Heili, Carney, Robson and Roethle each scored twice.
The Eagles' 18 runs are the most since scoring 18 against Ripon College (Wis.) on March 15, 2016. UWL's 18 hits on Thursday are the most since finishing with 21 at St. Olaf College (Minn.) on May 2, 2017.
Justin Scoville (1-0) earned the win, pitching 1.2 innings in relief. He allowed two hits.
James Witt started for the Eagles, going 4.1 innings, allowing 11 hits, four runs (three earned) and one walk while striking out five.
Josh Barker pitched 1.0 inning, allowing three hits and one run with two strikeouts.
IWU finished with 16 hits as Bosco, Figus and Cavalieri each had three. Jacob Houghton and Billington had two hits. Nick Brune (1-1) suffered the loss for the Titans, going 3.0 innings, allowing 10 hits, 10 runs (seven earned) and two walks with three strikeouts.
UWL returns to action Friday, March 16 versus Benedictine University (Ill.) at 11:30 a.m. (Central). UWL and Benedictine (Ill.) will also play a junior varsity game at 8 a.m. (Central).
