Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 La Crosse, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team split a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) doubleheader with UW-Whitewater Monday afternoon at Copeland Park. The Eagles took the opener, 2-1, while the Warhawks came back to win the nightcap, 9-4. 

UWL, receiving votes in the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Collegiate Baseball and D3baseball.com Top-25 Polls, is now 20-12 overall and 15-5 in the WIAC. UW-Whitewater, ranked 17th in the ABCA/Collegiate Baseball Top-25 Poll and 18th on D3baseball.com, is 25-8 overall and 17-3 in the conference. The Warhawks will take their two-game lead in the WIAC standings to the final series of the year for both teams on May 3-4. UW-Whitewater will host UW-Stevens Point while UWL hosts Finlandia University (Minn.) in doubleheaders each day.    

In game one Monday, UWL's Zach Pronschinske (4-1) earned the complete-game win, allowing one run on six hits and one walk in 9.0 innings. He recorded a career-high 13 strikeouts after finishing with 12 in his last start against UW-Stout on April 23.  

Carson Youngquist put the Eagles on the scoreboard first as he hit his fourth home run of the season in the second inning to give UWL a 1-0 lead. Zach Carney led-off the third inning with a single and advanced to third on Nate Heili's single. Carney then scored when Cal Tully grounded into a double play for a 2-0 lead.

The score remained 2-0 into the sixth inning when UW-Whitewater tallied a run on two hits. Nick Santoro led-off with a double and advanced to third on a ground out. He then scored on a single by Cal Aldridge to the lead to 2-1. That would be all of the offense for the Warhawks as Pronschinske held UW-Whitewater to two baserunners over the final 3.0 innings.  

Michael Kaska (4-3) suffered the loss on the mound for UW-Whitewater, pitching 8.0 innings while allowing six hits and two runs while striking out ten.

Both teams finished with six hits, in a game lasting under two hours. Alex Robson went 2-for-3 for UWL. Santoro and Alex Doud each had two hits for UW-Whitewater.

The Warhawks opened the nightcap with six runs in the top of the first, highlighted by Connor Moroder's three-run home run. UW-Whitewater took a 7-0 lead in the second on Aldridge's solo home run. UWL cut the deficit to 7-2 in the bottom half of the inning on Jake McClellan's two-run home run. 
 
Both teams scored a run in the fourth with Noah Jensen's run-scoring single for UW-Whitewater and Youngquist's RBI double for UWL.  The Eagles cut the lead to 8-4 in the bottom of the sixth on McClellan's RBI single. UWL had the bases-loaded in the sixth with no outs, but only managed one run after hitting into an inning-ending double play. UW-Whitewater made it 9-4 in the seventh on pinch-hitter Cole Vento's solo home run. 

Jake Mizgalski (2-2) took the loss for UWL, pitching 1.0 inning, allowing five hits, six runs and one walk. James Witt went 8.0 innings, allowing 12 hits and three runs with three strikeouts. The Eagles finished with 10 hits with Brady Stolzman going 3-for-4 with two runs. McClellan and Robson each finished 2-for-4 with McClellan having three RBI.  Matt O'Sullivan (6-3) picked up the complete-game victory for UW-Whitewater, going 9.0 innings, allowing 10 hits, four runs and three walks with 12 strikeouts. The Warhawks had 17 hits in the nigthcap with Doud going 4-for-5. Nick Schrader and Noah Jensen each had three. 

UWL returns to action Wednesday, May 1 at The College of St. Scholastica (Minn.) in a doubleheader at 2 p.m.