Whitewater, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team fell 11-1 in eight innings at UW-Whitewater in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championship (presented by Culver's) Saturday night at Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium. UWL drops to 28-15 while UW-Whitewater improves to 34-10 and clinches the tournament title with the win.
Both teams will await word for an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Championships. The field will be announced Monday, May 13 at 11 a.m.
UW-Whitewater, ranked 14th on this week's D3baseball.com Top-25 Poll, took a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning Saturday night. Mike Aiello and Cal Aldridge each had run-scoring singles for a 2-0 lead and Connor Moroeder's two-run double made it 4-0.
The Warhawks added to their lead with a pair of runs in the third as Noah Jensen had an RBI single and later scored on an Eagles' error.
UWL, receiving votes on this week's D3baseball.com Top-25 Poll, cut the lead to 6-1 in the bottom of the fourth.
Brady Stolzman walked and scored on
Alex Robson's RBI double. Robson was later thrown out at home on a
Mitch Sutton single to end the inning.
Alex Doud's RBI single in the fifth gave UW-Whitewater a 7-1 advantage and the Warhawks scored four times in the eighth, highlighted by Aiello's two-run single.
Owen Olson (1-1) took the loss for UWL. He went 2.2 innings, allowing eight hits and six runs (four earned) with two strikeouts.
Caleb Willems went 4.2 innings in relief, allowing seven hits and four runs while striking out three. Willems became UWL's all-time leader in appearances (55), breaking a tie with
Cory Anderson (1995-98).
Jack Mizgalski went 0.2 of an inning Saturday, allowing two hits, one run and one walk while striking out one. The Eagles had eight hits in the contest with Sutton going 2-for-3.
Jim Perkins (2-0) picked up the win for UW-Whitewater, going 6.0 innings, allowing seven hits, one run and two walks while striking out five. The Warhawks had 17 hits in the game. Six starters had at least two hits with Nick Santoro, Jensen and Doud each finishing with three. Nick Schrader, Aiello and Moroder had two each. Jensen and Aiello each had three RBI while Aldridge, Schrader and Jensen each scored twice.
