La Crosse, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team split a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) doubleheader with UW-Stevens Point Friday afternoon at Copeland Park. UWL took the first game, 6-5, but dropped game two, 14-3 in 7 innings.

UWL is now 15-4 overall and 8-2 in the WIAC. UW-Stevens Points, ranked 20th on this week's d3baseball.com Top-25, moves to 11-7 overall and 3-3 in conference play.
 

In the first game, the Pointers scored first as they got a two-run home run from Payton Nelson in the top of the third inning. UWL would get a run back in the bottom of the third inning when Jack Moran drove in a run as he reached on a fielders choice. UW-Stevens Point would then extend their lead in the fourth inning as they scored three runs on three hits to lead 5-1. Logan Homolka doubled to drive in a run while Logan Matson scored a run with a single and Jakob Boos drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.

UWL would respond in their half of the fourth inning with three runs of their own to cut their deficit to 5-4. Logan Pye led off the fourth with a double and advanced to third on a single by Ty Hamilton. Mac Born then singled to score Pye. Jack Olver then singles to score Hamilton and George Seaman singled to score Olver.

The score would remain 5-4 until the eighth inning when the Eagles scored two runs. Anthony Vivian led off the eighth inning with his eighth home run of the season to tie the game at five. Hamilton followed that up with a double and scored with one out on a single by Olver.

Tucker Bouche, who came on in relief, would retire the Pointers in order in the ninth to earn his third win of the season. Bouche (3-0) pitched the final two innings for the Eagles and gave up just one hit while striking out three. Isaiah Katz started the game for the Eagles, allowing five runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out five in 6.0 innings.

UWL finished the game with 11 hits including four hitters with two hits apiece. Hamilton, Born, Olver and Seaman all had two hits for the Eagles. Olver drove in two runs while Pye, Vivian, Born and Seaman each drove in a run.

UW-Stevens Point finished with nine hits and were led by Anthony Tomczak and Brenden Canterbury with two hits apiece. Austin Syvertson (1-2) suffered the loss for the Pointers as he came on in relief to allow two runs on two hits in 1.0 innings.
 

In the second game, both teams scored in the first inning. Bradley Comer put the Pointers on the board first with a two-run home run. UWL scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning on two hits and two walks. With one out, Pye and Vivian both walked. Then with two outs, Olver doubled to score Pye while Seaman singled to score both Vivian and Olver.

The Pointers took a 4-3 lead in the fourth inning on an RBI double by Tyler Soule and an RBI single by Trent Van Ess. Then in the sixth, UW-Stevens Point scored five runs on two hits including a two-run scoring single by Nelson. UW-Stevens Point added five more runs on five hits and two errors in the seventh inning to make it 14-3.

The Eagles finished with three hits in game two including one by Olver, Seaman and Born. Owen Deprez (2-1) suffered the loss for the Eagles giving up four runs on four hits and one walk in 3.0 innings of work.

UW-Stevens Point totaled 13 hits. They were led by Van Ess who was 4-for-5 with three RBI and three runs while Comer was 3-for-4 with three RBI. Mason Weckler (3-1) earned the win for the Pointers as he allowed three runs on three hits and two walks while striking out six in 5.0 innings.

The two teams will be back in action on Saturday, April 8 with a doubleheader starting at noon.