La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team rallied to earn a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) doubleheader split with UW-Whitewater Sunday night at Copeland Park. UW-Whitewater took the opener, 14-3 in seven innings, before UWL came back to earn an 11-10 victory in the nightcap. The game two loss snapped UW-Whitewater's winning streak at 14.
UWL, receiving votes in the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Collegiate Baseball and D3baseball.com Top-25 Polls, is now 19-11 overall and 14-4 in the WIAC. UW-Whitewater, ranked 17th in the ABCA/Collegiate Baseball Top-25 Poll and 18th on D3baseball.com, is 24-7 overall and 16-2 in the conference.
UW-Whitewater took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first in the opener on Cal Aldridge's two-out home run. The Warhawks added three runs in the second. Nick Santoro hit an apparent grand slam with two outs, but was called out after missing home plate. The triple scored three runs for a 4-0 lead.
Jake McClellan had five RBI in Sunday's doubleheader.
UWL cut the lead to 4-3 in the bottom of the fourth with three runs on four hits.
Jake McClellan's two-out single scored
Mitch Sutton and
Alex Robson followed with a two-run double knocking in
Shane Coker and McClellan.
UW-Whitewater added a pair of runs in the top of the fifth on Aldridge's two-run home run for a 6-3 lead. The Warhawks sent 13 batters to the plate in the sixth to score eight runs. Aldridge connected on his third home run of the game, scoring Nick Schraeder. Santoro and Nick Schraeder each had two-run singles in the inning.
Mason McMahon (3-3) suffered the loss for UWL, pitching 5.0 innings, allowing four hits, eight runs and eight walks while striking out nine. The Eagles finished with nine hits with Robson,
Nate Heili and
Cal Tully each having two.
Westin Muir (5-0) earned the win for UW-Whitewater, throwing a complete-game. He went 7.0 innings, allowing nine hits, three runs and one walk with seven strikeouts. The Warhawks totaled nine hits with Aldridge going 3-for-3 with two walks, three home runs and five RBI. Santoro had two hits and five RBI.
In the nightcap, UW-Whitewater took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first on back-to-back home runs with two outs. Mike Aiello's two-run home run opened the scoring and Noah Jensen followed with a solo home run to make it 3-0. The Warhawks made it 4-0 in the second on Santoro's RBI single and 5-0 in the third on Matt Korman's run-scoring single.
UWL cut the deficit to 5-2 in the bottom of the fourth on Coker's RBI groundout and McClellan's run-scoring single. The Eagles sent 10 batters to the plate in the bottom of the fifth, scoring five runs on six hits to take the lead.
Brady Stolzman's single cut the lead to 5-3 and McClellan hit a two-out three-run double to give UWL a 6-5 lead.
Zach Carney followed with an RBI single to make it 7-5.
UW-Whitewater responded with four runs in the top of the seventh to regain the lead. Korman's sacrifice fly provided the go-ahead run while Connor Moroeder followed with an RBI single for a 9-7 lead. Aiello's fielder's choice knocked in a run in the top of the seventh to make it 10-7.
UWL rallied with three runs in the bottom of the eighth to force a 10-10 tie. Sutton's RBI single scored Carney to make it a one-run game and Stolzman's two-run single knocked in Heili and Tully to tie the game. The Eagles scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. Carney singled with one out and advanced to second on Heili's single. Both runners moved up a base on a passed ball and Robson, pinch-hitting in the game, followed with a sacrifice fly to score Carney with the winning run.
Brady Stolzman went 4-for-5 with three RBI and two runs in the nightcap.
Caleb Willems (2-1) earned the win for UWL, pitching 3.2 innings, allowing eight hits, three runs (one earned) and one walk while striking out one.
Connor Cook started, going 5.1 innings, allowing 10 hits, seven runs and five walk while striking out four. The Eagles had 19 hits in the game as Stolzman went 4-for-5 with three RBI and two runs. Carney finished 3-for-3 with two runs and an RBI while McClellan went 2-for-5 with four RBI and one run. Heili finished 3-for-6 while Tully and Sutton each had two hits.
Matt O'Sullivan (5-3) suffered the loss for UW-Whitewater, going 1.0 inning, allowing two hits and one run (unearned) with two strikeouts. Connor Spear started, pitching 4.2 innings, allowing 10 hits, six runs and two walks while striking out three. He had not allowed a run in his first 27.0 innings this season prior to Sunday's start. UW-Whitewater finished with 18 hits in the nightcap with Santoro, Aiello and Moroder each having three. Jensen, Korman and Alex Doud each had two hits. Aiello finished with four RBI while Korman had two.
The teams return to action Monday, April 29 with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. at Copeland Park.
