La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team dropped both games of a doubleheader to sixth-ranked Concordia University Chicago (Ill.) Friday in the Eagles' home opener at Copeland Park. UWL fell 8-3 in 16 innings in the opener and 14-8 in the nightcap. The Eagles, receiving votes on this week's D3baseball.com Top-25 Poll, drop to 6-5 on the season. Concordia Chicago (Ill.), ranked sixth on D3baseball.com, improves to 12-3.

CUC scored five runs in the top of the 16th to earn the 8-3 victory in the opener. Zach Pronschinske retired the first two batters on strikeouts, but Bryan VanDuser followed with a two-out double. Joe Silva and Jacob Frank walked to load the bases and Mitch Wilson drew another walk to drive in the go-ahead run. Keegan Tyrell then hit a two-out grand slam to make it 8-3. 

UWL took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first Friday. Nate Heili reached on a fielding error to start the inning followed by Zach Carney being hit-by-pitch. Heili and Carney stole third and second on a strikeout. Brennan Schmitt followed with a ground-out to score Heili with the game's first run. The Eagles took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth on Heili's solo home run to right field. 

The Cougars cut the lead to 2-1 in the top of the sixth as Jose Mercado scored on Wilson's fielder's choice.  CUC tied the game in the top of the eighth with the help of two UWL errors.  Silva scored an unearned run on Wilson's two-out single to tie the game. 

CUC took a 3-2 lead in the top of the ninth. Kevin Coppin reached on a throwing error and advanced to second on the play. He scored after Kevin Garcia reached on another UWL throwing error.  UWL tied the game in the bottom of the ninth. Brady Stolzman doubled down the left field line to start the inning. He was replaced by pinch-runner Jake Hall. Luke Schmitt then walked and Cal Tully followed with a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third. Nate Roethle's single scored Hall with the tying run. Heili walked to load the bases with one out, but Carney hit into an inning ending double play. 

UWL had 12 hits in the game with Heili and Carney each finishing with three. Heili scored twice. The Eagles left 16 runners on base.

Pronschinske (1-1) took the loss for UWL, pitching 1.0 inning, allowing two hits, five runs and three walks while striking out three. Mason McMahon went 6.0 innings, allowing two hits, one run and three walks with 14 strikeouts. The 14 strikeouts is tied for sixth-most in single-game school history. Dave Benedict had a school record 18 strikeouts versus Winona State University (Minn.) on May 22, 1950.  Caleb Willems pitched 9.0 innings in Friday's opener, allowing eight hits, two runs (both unearned) and three walks with eight strikeouts. UWL recorded 25 strikeouts in the game.  

CUC also totaled 12 hits in the opener with Silva went 5-for-7 with two runs. Alex Meyers (3-0) picked up the win for the Cougars, pitching 2.0 innings, allowing two hits and one walk with one strikeout. Keaton Conner started for CUC, going 7.0 innings, allowing four hits, two runs (one earned) and three walks while striking out five.  Mike Formella pitched 6.0 innings in relief, allowing six hits, one run and three walks with three strikeouts. 

In the nightcap, CUC scored five runs in the top of the second, highlighted by Frank's three-run home run. The Cougars took a 7-0 lead with a pair of runs in the fourth. UWL got on the board in the bottom of the fourth with three runs. Brennan Schmitt had an RBI double while later scoring on Alex Robson's groundout.

The Cougars responded in the top of the fifth with three runs to take a 10-3 lead. VanDuser had a two-run single in the inning. The Eagles scored twice in the bottom of the inning on a Heili double and Robson sacrifice fly.

VanDuser added an RBI single in the top of the seventh to make it 11-5 and CUC added three runs in the ninth with Silva and Wilson each recording a run-scoring triple. UWL finished the scoring with three runs in the bottom of the ninth as Peyton Henry and Ethan Gerstner drew bases-loaded walks and Heili had an RBI single.

UWL had nine hits in the game with Heili finishing 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI.

Connor Cook (0-3) suffered the loss for the Eagles, pitching 2.0 innings, allowing four hits, five runs (four earned) and two walks with two strikeouts.

CUC finished with 17 hits as VanDuser went 5-for-6 with five RBI and two runs.  Eight of nine starters had a hit.

Brian Musielak (1-1) earned the win for the Cougars, going 3.0 innings in relief while allowing two hits and two walks with two strikeouts.

UWL returns to action Friday, March 30 hosting College of St. Scholastica (Minn.) at 1 p.m.