Menomonie, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team earned a doubleheader sweep at UW-Stout Tuesday afternoon at Nelson Field. The Eagles won the opener, 3-2 in 17 innings, and the nightcap, 8-3 in five innings. The second game was called after five innings due to rain. UWL improves to 23-12 overall and 13-7 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while UW-Stout drops to 8-25 overall and 5-15 in the conference.

In the opener, UW-Stout took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second on Kasey Bass' solo home run. UWL responded with two runs on three hits in the top of the third to take a 2-1 lead. Nate Roethle started the inning with a bunt single and advanced to third on Zach Carney's double to center field. Shane Coker followed with a sacrifice fly to score Roethle to tie the game. Nate Heili then singled to left field scoring Carney with the go-ahead run.

The Blue Devils tied the contest in the bottom of the seventh on Hunter Merrill's two-out solo home run. UW-Stout stranded runners on second and third in the bottom of the ninth to force extra innings. The teams combined for seven hits in extra innings. UWL did not record a hit from the fifth inning until Alex Robson's two-out single in the 15th inning.

The game remained tied until the 17th inning when the Eagles' Carson Youngquist opened the inning with a single. He was replaced by pinch-runner Connor Cook. Cal Tully's sacrifice bunt moved Cook to second and Robson followed with an RBI single to center field knocking in Cook to give UWL a 3-2 lead. The Eagles had played a 16-inning game March 23, a 8-3 loss to sixth-ranked Concordia University Chicago (Ill.).

UW-Stout got a two-out single from Reid Akerman in the bottom of the 17th, but he was forced out at second base to end the game.

Caleb Willems (3-1) earned the win for UWL, pitching 9.0 innings in relief while allowing five hits with five strikeouts. Alex Schulte started, going 8.0 innings, allowing five hits and two runs with three strikeouts. The Eagles totaled 13 hits in the opener as Robson finished 3-for-7 with an RBI. Heili and Roethle each went 2-for-7.

Casey Ryan (1-2) suffered the loss for UW-Stout, going 3.0 innings in relief while allowing four hits, one run and one walk. Jack Donahue started for the Blue Devils, pitching 5.0 innings, allowing nine hits and two runs with two strikeouts. Brad Rindfleisch went 9.0 innings, not allowing a hit with one walk and three strikeouts. UW-Stout finished with 10 hits as Ben Vanhove, Bass, Merrill and Akerman each went 2-for-7.

UWL took a 3-0 lead in the top of the third inning in the nightcap. Heili's RBI double scored Roethle with the game's first run. Coker later scored on a UW-Stout error to make it 2-0 and Heili came in after Youngquist struck out swinging. The Eagles added five runs on six hits in the top of hte fourth. Coker had an RBI double, Heili a two-run single and Robson a run-scoring single.

UW-Stout tallied three runs on two hits in the bottom of the fourth on Jon Krueger's three-run home run scoring pinch-runner Joel Hollow and Bass. The Blue Devils stranded a pair of runners in the bottom of the fifth as the game was called due to the rain.

James Witt (3-0) earned the victory, going 2.0 innings, allowing four hits, three runs and two walks. Mason McMahon went 3.0 innings, allowing one hit while striking out five. UWL had eight hits with Heili and Robson each finishing 2-for-4. Heili had three RBI and scored twice while Robson had two RBI.

Zach Carlson (1-5) took the loss for UW-Stout, going 4.0 innings, allowing eight hits, eight runs (five earned) and two walks while striking out four. Tyler Seymour pitched 1.0 inning with one strikeouts. The Blue Devils finished with five hits with Jordan Wilson going 2-for-3.

UWL returns to action Friday, May 11 hosting number-one ranked UW-Whitewater in a conference doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.