La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team split a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) doubleheader with UW-Whitewater Friday afternoon at Copeland Park. The Eagles earned a 5-2 victory in the opener before the Warhawks came back to win the nightcap, 19-2. UWL, receiving votes on D3baseball.com, is now 6-4 overall and 1-3 in the WIAC while UW-Whitewater, ranked 16th on D3baseball.com, is 9-2 overall and 3-1 in the conference.

UWL took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first in the opener. Jordan Williams singled with one out and advanced to second on a wild pitch. After a strikeout, Mac Born tripled to right-center field with two outs to score Williams. 

UW-Whitewater scored twice in the fourth on a two-run single from Ben Wilkins to knock in Jacob DeMeyer and Ryan Norton. 

The Eagles retook the lead in the bottom of the fifth with a pair of runs. Connor Roesler had an infield single with one out and moved to third on Zach Carney's double. Roesler then scored on a UW-Whitewater throwing error off the bat of Williams. Pinch-hitter Colton Schraepfer knocked in Carney with a sacrifice bunt to gave UWL a 3-2 lead.

UW-Whitewater loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the seventh on a pair of singles off UWL starter Sawyer Philips. Alex Mach came into relief and after walking the first batter to load the bases, struck out the next three hitters to end the inning. 

Carney's RBI single in the bottom of the sixth scored Shane Coker to give the Eagles a 4-2 advantage. Roesler finished the scoring with a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth. 

Phillips (2-1) picked up the win for UWL, pitching 6.0 innings, allowing 10 hits, two run and three walks with five strikeouts. Mach earned the save, going 3.0 innings, allowing one walk while striking out five. 
 

The Eagles had nine hits in the opener with Carney finishing 3-for-5. Born and Roesler each went 2-for-3 with Born recording a double and triple. Roesler hit the solo home run and finished with two runs overall. 

Donovan Brandl (1-1) suffered the loss for UW-Whitewater, pitching 5.2 innings, allowing six hits, four runs (two earned) and one walk while striking out five. The Warhawks finished with 10 hits as Brandl went 3-for-5 and Sam Vomhof 2-for-3. 

UW-Whitewater scored nine runs on seven hits in the top of the first in the nightcap. Zach Campbell had a pair of doubles in the inning while scoring twice. Matt Korman had a two-run double. The Warhawks added to their lead in the second on a Bryan Sturdevant RBI single. UW-Whitewater tallied five times in the fourth with Korman connecting on a two-run single and DeMeyer a two-run double. UW-Whitewater added two runs in the fifth and two in the sixth.

UWL avoided the shutout with two runs in the seventh. The Eagles recorded their first hit of the game on a Spencer Hans single to start the seventh. Born followed with a single to move Hans to second, who then advanced to third on Colin Kleffman's fielder's choice. Jack Olver then singled home Hans and Ty Hamilton's groundout later scored Kleffman.

Ben Byom (0-1) took the loss for UWL, pitching 0.2 of an inning, allowing six hits, seven runs (six earned) and one walk with one strikeout. The Eagles finished with three hits. 

Connor Spear (1-0) earned the victory for UW-Whitewater. He went 5.0 innings, allowing two walks while striking out seven. The Warhawks finished with 21 hits. DeMeyer went 4-for-6 with four RBI while Bryan Sturdevant went 4-for-5 with two RBI and three runs. Nick Santoro finished 3-for-4 with three runs while Zach Campbell went 3-for-4 with three runs and three RBI. Korman had four RBI.

UWL returns to action Tuesday, April 6 with a WIAC doubleheader at UW-Platteville at 1 p.m.