Whitewater, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team advanced in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tournament (presented by Culver's) with a 14-12 win in an elimination game at fifth-ranked UW-Whitewater Thursday night at Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium.

The Eagles improve to 24-17 on the season and will play Friday, May 13 at 1 p.m. versus the loser of the UW-Oshkosh/UW-Stevens Point game to be played Friday at 10 a.m. UW-Whitewater, ranked fifth on D3baseball.com, falls to 33-8 on the year and will await word for an at-large bid to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championships. The field will be announced Monday, May 16. 

It was UWL's first win over UW-Whitewater this season after the Warhawks earned a four-game series sweep April 15-16 in La Crosse.

UWL took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning Thursday. Zach Carney singled to start the game and went to second as Jack Olver walked. Carney advanced to third on Mac Born's fielder's choice to put runners on the corners. Tommy Nelsen followed with a sacrifice fly to score Carney with the first run of the game. 

UW-Whitewater scored seven times in the bottom of the third. Ryan Norton's solo home run tied the game at 1-1. Jacob DeMeyer's RBI double scored David Rubin to give the Warhawks a 2-1 lead. Nick Paget and Zach Campbell each had run-scoring singles for a 4-1 lead and Matt Scolan later hit a three-run home run to give UW-Whitewater a 7-1 advantage. 

The Eagles cut the lead to 7-6 with two runs in the fourth and fifth innings and one in the sixth. In the fourth, Born's two-run double knocked in Connor Roesler and Carney to make it 7-3. Roesler had an RBI double and Carney added an RBI single to cut it to 7-5 in the fifth. Nelsen came in on Tim Urlaub's single to make it 7-6 in the top of the sixth. 

The Warhawks took a 10-6 lead with three runs in the bottom of the sixth. DeMeyer's run-scoring single made it 8-6 and Paget's two-run double gave UW-Whitewater a three-run lead. 

UWL cut it to 10-9 in the seventh. Carney singled with one out and went to second on Olver's single. Born followed with a three-run home run to make it a one-run game. 

UW-Whitewater added to its lead with a pair of runs in the eighth on Scolan's two-run single. 

UWL rallied with five runs in the top of the ninth. Carney and Olver walked to start the inning and Born's second three-run home run of the game tied the game, 12-12. After a strikeout, George Seaman gave the Eagles a 13-12 lead with a solo home run. Urlaub doubled and pinch-hitter Jonathan Wizner followed with an RBI single for a 14-12 lead. UW-Whitewater got a lead-off single in the bottom of the ninth, but Brady Schmitt retired the next three batters to earn the victory. 

All nine starters recorded a hit for UWL as the team finished with a season-high 22. Carney went 4-for-5 with four runs while Born finished 3-for-5 with a double, two home runs and eight RBI. The eight RBI is second in single-game school history. John Knispel finished with a school record nine RBI against UW-Eau Claire on May 4, 1951. Born's two home runs Thursday gives him 16 on the year, breaking Vinny Rottino's school record of 15 set in 2002.

Urlaub, Roesler and Colton Schraepfer each had three hits Thursday with Olver, Born and Roesler scoring twice. 
 

Brady Schmitt (4-2) earned the win in relief, pitching 2.0 innings, allowing three hits and one run with one strikeout. 

UW-Whitewater finished with 17 hits, including three each from DeMeyer, Scolan and Norton. Scolan had a team-high five RBI. Paget, Campbell and Rubin each finished with two hits while DeMeyer, Paget, Campbell, Norton and Rubin each scored two runs. 

Nick Rector (1-1) suffered the loss. He pitched 2.1 innings, allowing five hits, five runs and two walks with four strikeouts.