La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team earned a doubleheader sweep of UW-Stout Thursday afternoon at Copeland Park. The Eagles won the opener, 11-5, and the nightcap, 6-1 to improve to 4-0 on the season. The Blue Devils drop to 1-3 on the year.
UWL, receiving votes on this week's D3baseball.com Top-25 Poll, has won 25 of the last 28 meetings with UW-Stout.
Jonathan Wizner went 5-for-8 with five runs Thursday.
UW-Stout scored four runs in the top of the first on four hits. Alex Jinkins walked to start the game and went to third on Hunter Merrill's double. Riley Boushack followed with a two-run single to give the Blue Devils the early lead. After a Charlie Sykowny single put runners on first and second, UWL recorded the first out of the game on a strikeout. Nolan Harke's RBI single scored Boushack for a 3-0 lead and Szykowny later scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-0.
The remained 4-0 until UWL tallied five runs on five hits in the bottom of third.
Zach Carney walked to lead-off the inning and stole second. He scored on
Jonathan Wizner's single to get the Eagles on the board.
Shane Coker followed with a single to advance Wizner to second. Both runners stole a base to get in scoring position. After Mac born walked to load the bases,
Jordan Williams delivered a two-run single to knock in Wizner and Coker to cut the UW-Stout lead to 4-3.
Ethan Gerstner's double scored Born to tie the game. After a UW-Stout pitching change,
Parker Plume singled to knock in Williams to give UWL a 5-4 lead.
UWL added to its lead with four runs in the fourth to take a 9-4 lead.
Jack Kelly doubled to start the inning and advanced to third on Wizner's base hit. Kelly came in on Coker's fielder's choice to make it 6-4. After Born singled, Williams' single to center field scored Coker for a three-run Eagles' lead. Born and Conner Roesler later delivered RBI singles in the inning to make it 9-4.
Born's RBI double in the bottom of the fifth scored Wizner to give UWL a 10-4 lead. Coker delivered a run-scoring single in the bottom of the seventh to knock in Kelly for a 11-5 lead. UW-Stout got a run-scoring from Boushack in the top of the ninth to knock in Colin Hageman.
Zach Pronschinske (1-0) earned the win for UWL, pitching 7.0 innings, allowing six hits, four runs and five walks while striking out seven.
Parker Plume had three hits in the opener.
The Eagles finished with a season-high 18 hits in the opener as all nine starters recorded at least one. Wizner went 3-for-4 with two runs and one RBI while Gerstener and Plume each went 3-for-5. Gerstner had two RBI and Plume one. Coker, Born and Williams each had two hits and scored twice with Williams finishing with three RBI, Coker two and Born one. Kelly scored twice.
Ethan Kjellberg (0-1) suffered the loss for UW-Stout, pitching 2.1 innings, allowing seven hits, five runs and two walks with one strikeout. The Blue Devils totaled eight hits in the opener with Merrill, Boushack and Szykowny each finishing with two hits and one run scored. Boushack had three RBI.
In the nightcap, UW-Stout took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third. Merrill walked with one out and advanced to second as Joel Thimsen reached on a UWL error. Both runners advanced a base on a balk and Merril scored on Szykowny's RBI groundout.
UWL took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth. Kelly reached on a fielding error and stole second. He advanced to third on Wizner's single. Coker followed with a run-scoring single to knock in Kelly to tie the game, 1-1. After Wizner stole third and Coker second, Williams delivered a single to left center to score both runners for a 3-1 lead. The Eagles added to their lead with two runs in the bottom of the sixth. Wizner singled with one out and scored on Coker's triple down the right field line. Coker scored on the play after a UW-Stout throwing error.
Shane Coker finished with five hits, four RBI and four runs Thursday.
Wizner reached on an error to start the bottom of the eighth and later scored on a Blue Devils' wild pitch. UW-Stout left two runners on base in each of the last three innings.
Jack Mizgalski (2-0) earned the win for UWL, pitching 7.0 innings, allowing five hits, one unearned run and three walks while striking out six.
UWL totaled six hits in the nightcap with as Coker finished 3-for-3 with two runs and two RBi while Wizner went 2-for-4 with three runs. Williams had two RBI.
Brock Burg (0-1) took the loss for UW-Stout, going 6.0 innings, allowing six hits, five runs (four earned) and one walk with two strikeouts. The Blue Devils had six hits with Boushack going 2-for-4.
UWL returns to action Saturday, March 27 hosting UW-Platteville at 1 p.m.
