La Crosse, Wis. - An explosive offensive attack led the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team to a doubleheader sweep of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville by the scores of 20-13 and 11-1 (seven innings) on Sunday afternoon at Copeland Park. With the two wins, UWL improves to 10-8 overall and 6-2 in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) play while UWP falls to 9-12 overall and 4-4 in the WIAC.

Game one saw both teams score early and often.  Both teams scored in the first inning as UWP scored on a Ross Krist RBI single to make it 1-0. UWL responded in its half of the first by scoring three runs on two hits including a two-run home run by Brennan Schmitt. The Pioneers would retake the lead in the second inning as they scored four runs on two hits and five walks to take a 5-3 lead.

UWL would get a run back in the third inning as Schmitt scored on a passed ball; however UWP scored in the fourth to take a 6-4 lead. UWL tied the game up at 6-6 in the fourth inning and took a 9-6 lead in the fifth. Connor Roesler, Zach Carney, and Nate Heili all drove in a run in the fifth inning. The Pioneers took a 12-9 lead in the sixth inning as they scored six runs on five hits including a two-run double by Mitchell Susa.
 

The Eagles got RBI singles from Jake McClellan and Carney to tie the game up at 12-12 in the sixth inning. Susa drove in a run with a single in the seventh inning to give UWP a 13-12 lead, but it would be the last time it would lead in the game. The Eagles exploded for six runs on four hits in the seventh inning to take an 18-13 lead. Tommy Nelsen and Heili provided the biggest hits as Nelson hit a two-run home run and Heili drove in two with a double. The Eagles capped off the scoring in the eighth inning by scoring two more runs to push the score to 20-13. Nelsen drove in a run with a double and later scored on a wild pitch.

Will Monroe (1-0) picked up the win for the Eagles on the mound as he pitched the final 3.0 innings. Monroe allowed one run on three hits while striking out two. Ty Strzelczyk started the game on the mound for UWL, but lasted just 1.1 innings as he gave up five runs on four hits and five walks. Scottie Gordon (1-2) came on in relief for the Pioneers and suffered the loss as he gave up six runs on five hits in 1.0 inning of work.
 

The 20 runs scored by the Eagles are the most since scoring 24 against Anderson University (Ind.) on March 12, 2016. Schmitt finished game one with four hits, four runs scored and two RBI.  Four other UWL players finished with two hits, including Heili, Sutton, Nelsen and McClellan. Heili and Nelsen also drove in three.

The Eagle offense continued their big day in game two as they scored six runs in the first two innings to take a 6-0 lead. Carney led off the first with a triple and scored on a single by Heili.  Heili advanced to second on a wild pitch, third on a single by Schmitt and scored on a wild pitch. Schmitt then scored on a single by Cal Tully. UWL got back-to-back run scoring singles from Schmitt and Sutton in the bottom of hte second after Dwyer had scored on a wild pitch.

Roesler drove in a run in the third inning with a single to push UWL's lead to 7-0. The score remained that until the fifth when UWL got a run on an RBI single from Heili. The Pioneers would get on the board in the top of the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Josh Moses after Jonathan Kelso's triple. UWL would cap the scoring in the seventh inning as it scored two runs on errors that ended the game with a score of 11-1 in seven innings.  

Garrett McGraw (1-3) got the win on the mound for the Eagles as he allowed one run on four hits while striking out eight in 6.0 innings of work. Bryce Wesling pitched a perfect seventh inning. Russell Lundius (1-1) suffered the loss for the Pioneers as he allowed seven runs on seven hits while striking out two in 2.0 innings.

Heili, Schmitt and Jake McClellan led the Eagles' offense with two hits each. Heili also drove in three runs and scored twice while Schmitt and McClellan each had an RBI and run scored. 

UWL returns to action Wednesday, April 10 with a doubleheader at UW-Stout at 1 p.m.