WIAC Baseball Championship (presented by Culver's)

La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team (23-16) faces UW-Stevens Point (31-7) in the 2022 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championship (presented by Culver's) on Thursday, May 12. First pitch is scheduled for 10 a.m. at UW-Whitewater's Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium. Top-seeded UW-Whitewater (33-6) hosts fourth-seeded UW-Oshkosh (22-17) Thursday at 1 p.m. 

The losers of Thursday's opening two games will play in an elimination game Friday at 4 p.m. while the winners of the first two games will play Friday, May 13 at 10 a.m.  The tournament, which follows a double-elimination format, continues Saturday, May 14.  The tournament winner earns the league's automatic bid to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championships.  

UWL has won 11 of its last 14 games entering Thursday. The Eagles dropped three of four games at UW-Stevens Point earlier this season. The teams split a doubleheader on April 9 with UWL winning the opener, 12-6, before UW-Stevens Point took the nightcap, 15-14 in 13 innings. The Pointers swept the twinbill with the Eagles on April 10, by the scores of 2-0 and 13-3. 

The Eagles is 10-7 at home this year, 7-5 on the road and 6-4 on a neutral site. UWL finished 16-12 in WAC play.

UWL has advanced to the WIAC Championship game in six of the past eight tournaments, winning the title in La Crosse in 2012 and 2016.  The Eagles fell to UW-Stevens Point in 2013 and to UW-Whitewater in 2014, 2017 and 2019 in the championship game.  The tournament was not held in 2018 and 2020. UWL is appearing in the WIAC Championship for the 19th time in the 23 years of the league tournament, with a 24-27 all-time record.  Along with the title in 2012 and 2016, the Eagles captured the WIAC Championship in 2000.    

The Eagles and Pointers are meeting for the 17th time in tournament history. UW-Stevens Point is 12-4 against UWL in the WIAC Championships, including 12-8 last season.
 

Chris Schwarz is 426-299-2 (.587) in his 18th-year as UWL's head coach. The winningest coach in school history, Schwarz has led the Eagles to five appearances in the NCAA Division III Championships. UWL made back-to-back appearances in the NCAA III Baseball Championship in 2015 and 2016, advancing to the best-of-three championship series and a runner-up national finish in 2015. He earned his 400th career victory with UWL's 5-4 walk-off win over UW-Oshkosh on May 12, 2020. 

UWL enters the league championships hitting .314 while averaging 7.9 runs per game. Jack Olver is hitting .442 (72-of-163) while starting all 39 games and leading UWL in at-bats (163), hits (72), doubles (17) and sacrifice flies (8). He is second in home runs (7), RBI (43) and total bases (110) while ranking third in runs (39).

Mac Born has also started all 39 contests this season while hitting .366 (59-of-161) and leads the team in runs (48), triples (2), home runs (14), RBI (59) and total bases (115). He is second in at-bats (161) and hits (59) and tied for second in doubles (10) with Tommy Nelsen. Nelsen is hitting .357 (40-of-112) in 24 starts. 

UWL has compiled a 4.94 team earned run average this season with five complete-games and four shutouts. The Eagles are holding opponents to a .278 batting average while recording 346 strikeouts in 335.0 innings. Six different pitchers have recorded at least three wins this year with Caleb Matl and Alex Redman tied for the team lead with four.
 

Alex Mach, Jacob Bryant, Brady Schmitt and Chris Seveska each have three victories. Mach is 3-1 on the year with a 3.18 ERA while holding opponents to a .259 batting average. Matl is 4-3 with a 4.24 ERA and team-leading four saves. Opponents are hitting .232 against Matl. Bryant leads the Eagles in innings (54.2) and is tied for the team lead in complete-games (2) with Schmitt. Brady, Schmitt and Matl each have 51 strikeouts.