Whitewater, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team fell 18-7 in eight innings in the first game of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tournament (presented by Culver's) Thursday afternoon at UW-Whitewater's Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium. The Eagles drop to 23-17 on the season while the Pointers, ranked 17th on D3baseball.com, improve to 32-7.

UWL will play at 4 p.m. Thursday against the loser of the UW-Oshkosh/UW-Whitewater game. UW-Stevens Point advances to the winner's bracket and will play at 10 a.m. Friday versus the winner of UW-Oshkosh/UW-Whitewater.

Appearing in the WIAC Tournament for the 19th time in the 23 years it has been held, UWL has advanced to the league championship game six of the past eight seasons. 

UW-Stevens Point took a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the second. Lucas Luedkte led-off with a home run for the first run of the game. Logan Matson later hit a two-run home run to make it 3-0 and Matt Baumann scored on Payton Nelson's fielder's choice. The Pointers added a pair of runs in the third on Matson's RBI single and Baumann's RBI double for a 6-0 lead.  

UWL cut the lead to 6-3 with three runs in the fourth inning. Jack Olver singled and went to second after George Seaman walked with one out. Tommy Nelsen followed with three-run home run. 

UW-Stevens Point came right back in the bottom of the inning with five runs, including a two-run home run from Jakob Boos. Baumann added a two-run double and Nelson delivered an RBI single for an 11-3 lead. Kyle Finger's solo home run in the fifth gave the Pointers a 12-3 advantage. 

The Eagles scored four times in the top of the eighth on Seaman's grand slam, scoring Tim Urlaub (hit-by-pitch), Olver (walk) and Mac Born (walk). The Pointers tallied six runs in the eighth on Finger's sole home run, Aaron Simmons' three-run home run and Bradley Comer's two-run home run. 

Alex Mach (3-2) suffered the loss, allowing 12 hits, nine runs and two walks while striking out two in 3.2 innings. UWL finished with seven hits in the game with Nelsen going 2-for-4 with three RBI and Born 2-for-3 with a run. Seaman had four RBI and scored twice. 

JD Schultz (3-3) picked up the victory for UW-Stevens Point, going 7.1 innings, allowing five hits, five runs and three walks with eight strikeouts. The Pointers recorded 19 hits as all nine starters recorded at least one. Baumann went 4-for-5 with three runs and three RBI while Finger finished 4-for-5 with four runs and two RBI. Matson finished 2-for-3 with three RBI and three runs. Nelson, Comer and Luedtke each had two hits. Comer and Luedtke each scored twice.