La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team earned a doubleheader sweep of UW-Platteville Wednesday afternoon at Copeland Park. The Eagles won the opener, 16-12, and the nightcap, 12-11. UWL improves to 16-9 overall and 8-4 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while UW-Platteville drops to 6-22 overall and 0-12 in the conference. 

WIth the two wins, UWL completed the four-game season series sweep of UW-Platteville. The Eagles earned a pair victories (17-1, 7-4) over the Pioneers April 11 at Copeland Park.

UWL scored in each of the first six innings in the opener, including five in the bottom of the first. The Eagles' first six batters reached base to start the game. Nate Heili's RBI single gave UWL a 1-0 lead to score Zach Carney who doubled to start the game. Mitch Sutton's two-run single later in the inning knocked in Heili and Brennan Schmitt. 

UW-Platteville tallied three runs in the top of the second to cut the deficit to 5-3, but UWL responded in the bottom of the inning as Cal Tully and Heili scored on Sutton's two-out double that was lost in the sun by the Pioneers' left fielder. 

Carney's RBI single in the bottom of the third made it 8-3 while Luke Schmitt and Nate Roethle had run-scoring singles in the fourth to give UWL a 10-3 lead. The Pioneers scored three runs in the top of the fifth to cut the lead to 10-6. Shane Coker's bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the sixth gave the Eagles an 11-6 lead and Brennan Schmitt's two-run single scoring Carney and Heili in the sixth made it 13-6. 

UW-Platteville's Ross Krist hit a two-out three-run home run in the top of the seventh to cut it to 13-9 and Collin Mormann's two-out RBI double in the top of the eighth made it 13-10. The Pioneers had the tying run at the plate in the eighth, but Josh Moses flew out to deep right field to end the inning. 

Heili hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth to make the score 16-10. UW-Platteville got a pair of runs in the top of the ninth to finish the scoring. 

Travis Berg (2-1) earned the win in the opener for UWL, pitching 5.0 innings, allowing seven hits, six runs (five earned) and three walks while striking out five. 

The Eagles finished with 16 hits as all nine starters recorded at least one. Sutton finished 4-for-6 with four RBI and one run while Heili went 3-for-3 with two walks, four RBI and five runs. His five runs tied a single-game school record. Carney and Tull each finished with two hits with Carney scoring three times. Brennan Schmitt had two RBI. 

Cal Krafcheck (1-5) took the loss for UW-Platteville, allowing four hits, five runs and one walk while not recording an out. The Pioneers used six pitchers in the game. Eight of nine starters had a hit for UW-Platteville as the team finished with 14 overall. It marked the team's third straight game with at least 10 runs (all losses). Connor Crotty went 3-for-5 with two RBI while Mormann, Moses, Krist and Brennan Kearney each had two hits.

In the nightcap, UWL scored three times in the bottom of the first as Heili had a two-run double and Brennan Schmitt and RBI single. The Eagles added to their lead in the bottom of the third with a run-scoring double by Sutton and RBI groundout by Coker. A two-run single by Coker in the bottom of the fourth gave UWL a 7-0 advantage. Heili's two-run single in the bottom of the fifth scored Ethan Gerstner and Carney for a 9-0 lead. 

UW-Platteville scored five runs in the top of the sixth to cut the lead to 9-5, highlighted by a two-run double from Krist and two-run single by Jonny Kelso. UWL responded in the bottom of the inning on back-to-back two-out RBI doubles from Tully and Heili for a 11-5 advantage. The Pioneers came back with four runs on four hits in the top of the seventh to cut it to 11-9. Jack Dwyer's RBI single in the bottom half of the frame gave the Eagles a three-run lead.

The Pioneers scored a pair of runs in the top of the ninth as Moses was hit-by-pitch with the bases-loaded and Krist drew a bases-loaded walk. UW-Platteville stranded the bases loaded to end the game as Crotty flied out to right field.
 

Alex Schulte (1-0) earned the win in his first career start. He went 5.0 innings, allowing six hits, three runs (one earned) and one walk with seven strikeouts. Mason McMahon picked up his second save of the year, pitching 0.2 of an inning, allowing one walk while striking out one.

UWL set a season-high with 19 hits as Hehli went 4-for-5 with five RBI and two runs. Tully and Sutton each had three hits while Carney had two. Tully, Sutton and Carney each scored twice. Coker had three RBI.

Darren Strasburg (0-3) suffered the loss for UW-Platteville, pitching 1.2 innings, allowing five hits, three runs (two earned) and one walk with two strikeouts. The Pioneers had 13 hits with Kelso and Kearney each finishing with three. Mitchell Susa and Brendon Reifsteck had two hits with Susa scoring three times. Kelso and Krist each had three RBI.

The teams combined for 51 runs and 62 hits in the doubleheader, including 18 extra-base hits (15 doubles).

Heili hit .875 (seven-for-eight) in the doubleheader for UWL with nine RBI and seven runs while Sutton hit .583 (seven-of-12) with five RBI and three runs. Tully hit .500 (five-of-10) with four runs. Carney scored five runs in the twinbill.

UWL returns to action Friday, April 27 facing the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) in Rochester, Minnesota starting at 5 p.m. The teams will complete their suspended game from March 6 and then play one nine-inning game.