La Crosse, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team split a doubleheader with The College of St. Scholastica (Minn.) Wednesday afternoon at Copeland Park. The Eagles won the opener, 8-7 on a walk-off sacrifice fly, while the Saints rallied with three runs in the ninth inning to earn a 7-6 victory in the nightcap.
UWL, receiving votes on this week's American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Collegiate Baseball and D3baseball.com Top-25 Polls, is now 21-13 on the season while St. Scholastica (Minn.) is 23-10. UWL is ranked third and St. Scholastica (Minn.) seventh in the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional released Wednesday.
Caleb Willems pitched his first career complete-game.
St. Scholastica (Minn.) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first in the opener as Lane Girtz scored on a Conor Wollenzien RBI single. Aaron Weber's sacrifice fly in the top of third scored Girtz with an unearned run to give the Saints a 2-0 advantage.
UWL came back in the bottom of the third to tie the game on
Carson Youngquist's two-out two-run home run to bring in
Brennan Schmitt. St. Scholastica (Minn.) scored four times in the top of the fifth. Tim Munn scored Girtz' ground out to give the Saints a 3-2 lead. Eric Pearson's RBI single made it 4-2 and Cody Venske had a two-run single for a 6-2 lead. The Eagles responded in the bottom half of the inning with three runs. Schmitt's RBI double knocked in Tully to make it 6-3 and
Brady Stolzman scored on Youngquist's ground out to cut the lead to 6-4.
Shane Coker later singled with two-outs to bring UWL to within 6-5.
Nate Heili's lead-off home run in the bottom of the sixth tied the game, 6-6. UWL took a 7-6 lead in the bottom of the eighth on Schmitt's two-out RBI single to knock in Heili. The Eagles were within out of the win in the top of the ninth when Pearson hit a solo home run to right field to tie the game, 7-7.
Parker Plum singled with one out in the bottom of the ninth and advanced to third on
Zach Carney's single. Heili was intentionally walked to load the bases and
Cal Tully followed with a sacrifice fly to left to score Plume with the winning run.
Caleb Willems (3-1) earned the win for UWL, pitching his first career complete-game. Making his second career start and first this season, Willems went 9.0 innings, allowing 12 hits, seven runs (six earned) and two walks while striking out six.
UWL finished with 15 hits as Heili went 3-for-5 with two runs and an RBI. Tully, Stolzman, Schmitt and Coker each had two hits. The top-five in the line-up, Heili, Tully, Stolzman, Schmitt and Youngquist, combined for 10 hits, seven runs and seven RBI.
Nate Heili had five hits and scored four runs Wednesday.
Grant Mergen (1-3) took the loss for St. Scholastica (Minn.), pitching 3.2 innings, allowing six hits, three runs and four walks while striking out two. Braydon Hanson started, going 5.0 innings, allowing nine hits, five runs and three walks with one strikeout. The Saints finished with 12 hits as Girtz, Wollenzien, Weber and Pearson each had two. The top-five in the Saints' line-up, Brad Fossum, Girtz, Wollenzien, Weber and Pearson had nine hits, six runs and five RBI.
St. Scholastica (Minn.) rallied to earn in the nightcap, scoring three runs in the top of the ninth. Trailing 6-4, pinch-runner Jeff LeMay scored on Cole Tyman's single to make it a one-run game. After Justin Fleming walked, pinch-runner Drew Sathrum scored on a UWL fielding error off a Mitchell Olson single to tie the game. Fossum followed with the go-ahead RBI single to knock in Olson.
St. Scholastica (Minn.) took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first as Weber walked with the bases-loaded and Pearson added a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0. UWL cut the deficit to 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth on Schmitt's solo home run.
The Saints took a 4-1 lead in the sixth on Wollenziens' two-out two-run single scoring Fleming and Fossum. The Eagles cut it to 4-2 in the sixth on Tully's single before and took the lead with four runs in the bottom of the eighth. Youngquist's infield single scored Heili to cut the lead to 4-3 and Schmitt followed with a three-run double to bring in Tully, Stolzman and Youngquist.
Will Monroe (1-1) took the loss for UWL, pitching 1.2 innings, allowing three hits, three runs (two earned) and two walks with three strikeouts.
Owen Olson started for the Eagles, going 5.2 innings, allowing seven hits, four runs and six walks while striking out seven.
Jack Mizgalski went 1.2 innings, allowing three hits and two walks with two strikeouts.
UWL finished with 13 hits in the nightcap as Tully and Schmitt each went 3-for-4. Schmitt had a game-high four RBI. Heili, Stolzman and Youngquist had two hits as the top-five in the line-up (Heili, Tully, Stolzman, Youngquist, Schmitt) combined for 12 hits as well as all six runs and six RBI.
Daniel Deitz (2-0) earned the win for St. Thomas (Minn.), going 1.2 innings, allowing one walk while striking out four. He struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth to secure the win. Aidan Zurn started, pitching 7.1 innings, allowign 13 hits, six runs and one walk with three strikeouts. The Saints also finished with 13 hits as Fossum went 6-for-6 with two runs and one RBI. Wollenzien and Olson each had two hits.
UWL returns to action Friday, May 3 hosting Finlandia University (Mich.) in a doubleheader at 11 a.m.
