La Crosse, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team earned a doubleheader sweep of Finlandia University (Mich.) Friday afternoon at Copeland Park, winning 7-0 and 15-2 (seven innings). UWL improves to 23-13 overall and 17-5 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while Finlandia (Mich.) falls to 4-30 overall and 1-21 in the WIAC. 

UWL is receiving votes on this week's American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Collegiate Baseball and D3baseball.com Top-25 Polls. The Eagles are ranked third in the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional.   

In the first-ever meeting between the two teams, UWL's Brady Stolzman singled in the first inning and scored on a two-out double by Carson Youngquist for an early 1-0 lead. Youngquist and Brennan Schmitt each had two-out hits to drive in a run in the third to make it 3-0. The Eagles scored three times in the fourth on RBI singles from Nate Heili and Cal Tully and a Brady Stolzman sacrifice fly for a 6-0 lead. Alex Robson finished the scoring with his first career home run in the fifth. 

Mason McMahon (4-3) earned the win on the mound for UWL as he allowed two hits and five walks while striking out 10 in 5.0 innings of work. McMahon's 10 strikeouts are a season-high and helped him become UWL's all-time leader with 229 strikeouts. Caleb Boushley (2015-17) held the previous record with 227. UWL had 10 hits in the opener with Youngquist, Schmitt and Robson each finishing with two. 

Steve Gubertl (0-3) suffered the loss for Finlandia (Mich.), pitching a complete-game. He went 8.0 innings, allowing 10 hits, seven runs and two walks while striking out one. Patrick Coles had both of the Lions' hits in the opener.  

UWL sent 12 batters to the plate in the bottom of the second inning in the nightcap, scoring eight runs on seven hits and one Finlandia (Mich.) error. Ethan Gerstner had a two-run single and Stolzman a three-run double in the inning. Heili's sacrifice fly in the third made it 9-0 and the Eagles added five runs in the fourth. Schmitt hit his team-leading fifth home run of the season while Gerstner and Heili each hit two-run home runs. 

Finlandia (Mich.) got on the board in the fifth on RBI singles from Joey Krug and Seth Gosse. Jack Dwyer hit a pinch-hit home run in the fifth for UWL to finish the scoring. 
 

Connor Cook (5-1) picked up the victory, going 5.0 innings, allowing seven hits, two runs and three walks while striking out eight. Wes Sommers pitched 2.0 innings, allowing one hit with two strikeouts. UWL finished with 12 hits in the nightcap as Heili, Schmitt, Robson and Gerstner each had two. Heili scored twice and had three RBI while Schmitt had two runs and two RBI. Gerstner finished with a game-high four RBI while Zach Carney scored three times. 

Will Thompson (0-4) took the loss for Finlandia (Mich.), going 1.1 innings, allowing seven hits, eight runs (seven earned) and three walks. The Lions had eight hits in the nightcap with Coles and Krug each having two.

UWL returns to action Saturday, May 4 hosting Finlandia (Mich.) in a doubleheader starting at noon on Senior Day.