La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team earned a doubleheader split with 20th-ranked UW-Stevens Point Saturday afternoon at Copeland Park. The Pointers, ranked 20th on this week's D3baseball.com Top-25 Poll, took the opener, 12-3, before the Eagles came back to win the nightcap, 12-6.
The Eagles are now 16-5 overall and 9-3 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Pointers are 12-8 overall and 4-4 in the conference.
Ty Hamilton had five hits in the doubleheader.
UWL took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning in Saturday's opener.
Logan Pye singled with one out and went to third on
Anthony Vivian's two-out double.
Ty Hamilton followed with a single up the middle scoring Pye and Vivian.
UW-Stevens Point took the lead with four runs in the top of the fourth. Logan Homolka and Trent Van Ess singled to start the inning. After a strikeout and pop-out, Jakob Boos delivered a two-run double to tie the game. Payton Nelson walked and Bradley Comer followed with an RBI single to score Boos to give UW-Stevens Point a 3-2 lead. Anthony Tomczak then drove in Nelson to make it 4-2.
The Eagles responded in the bottom of the inning on Vivian's solo home run to cut the deficit to 4-3. The Pointers got the run right back in the top of the fifth on a solo home run from Van Ess to extend their lead to 5-3.
UW-Stevens Point scored three times in the top of the seventh, twice in the eighth and twice in the ninth to take a 12-3 lead. In the seventh, Brenden Canterbury reached on a error with one out and went to second on Homolka's single. Van Ess greeted relief pitcher
Tucker Bouche with an RBI double to score Canterbury and Homolka later scored on a passed ball while Van Ess scored on the same play on an Eagles' throwing error. Boos scored on a UWL fielding error in the top of the eighth to make 9-3 and Nelson came in on Comer's sacrifice fly. Homolka scored on a wild pitch and Van Ess on Logan Matson's double play to finish the scoring.
Anthony Vivian had a home run and double in the opener.
Tyler Schmitt (3-1) suffered the loss for UWL, pitching 4.0 innings, allowing five hits, four runs and three walks while striking out three. The Eagles finished with 13 hits in the opener as Vivian, Hamilton and
Tim Urlaub each had two. Vivian scored twice while Hamilton finished with two RBI.
Nick Paulsen (2-0) earned the win for UW-Stevens Point, going 5.0 innings in relief, allowing five hits with five strikeouts. Tyler Beyer started for the Pointers, going 4.0 innings, allowing eight hits and three runs. UW-Stevens Point totaled 12 hits with Van Ess going 4-for-5 with four runs and two RBI. Homolka finished 3-for-5 with three runs. Boos had two hits, two RBI and two runs while Nelson also scored twice.
In the nightcap, UWL took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second on
Jordan Williams' sacrifice fly to score Pye. The Eagles got four RBI singles in the third to take a 5-0 lead. Pye walked with two outs with Hamilton advancing to second.
George Seaman followed with a run-scoring single to make it 2-0.
Mac Born's single scored Pye for a 3-0 lead and after a Pointers' pitching change,
Ben LaRonge and Williams delivered RBI singles to knock in Seaman and Born.
UW-Stevens Point got a pair of two-run home runs in the top of the fourth to cut the lead to 5-4. Boos walked to lead-off the inning and came in on Nelson's two-run home run. Comer then walked and after a Tomczak fielder's choice, Van Ess hit a two-run home fun to make it a one-run game.
After starting pitcher
Owen Anderson stranded the bases loaded in the top of the sixth, UWL scored five times in the bottom half of the inning to take an 10-4 lead.
Jack Moran scored as Hamilton reached first on a UW-Stevens Point fielding error to make it 6-4. Pye followed with an RBI double and Seaman a run-scoring single. Williams and Moran then drew bases-loaded walks for a 10-4 lead.
George Seaman had four RBI, three hits and three runs in the nightcap.
Comer's RBI single for UW-Stevens Point in the top of the seventh cut the lead to 10-5, but Seaman's two-run home run in the bottom of the inning gave UWL a 12-5 lead. In the top of the eighth. Kyle Finger's single scored Tyler Soule in the top of the eighth to make it 12-6, but the Pointers left the bases loaded as Nelson lined out to third to end the inning.
Owen Anderson (2-2) earned the win in the nightcap, going 6.0 innings, allowing three hits, four runs and four walks.
Caleb Matl picked up his third save of the season, pitching 3.0 innings, allowing four hits, two runs and one walk while striking out six.
The Eagles totaled 14 hits in the nightcap as eight started recorded at least one. Hamilton finished 3-for-6 with three runs and one RBI while Seaman went 3-for-5 with three runs and four RBI. Olver went 2-for-6 with a run and LaRonge 2-for-3 with an RBI and two walks.
JD Schultz (2-1) took the loss for UW-Stevens Point. He went 2.2 innings, allowing five hits, five runs (two earned) and three walks while striking out four. The Pointers had seven hits with Comer going 2-for-4. Nelson and Van Ess each had two RBI.
UWL returns to action Thursday, April 13 with a non-conference doubleheader at St. Olaf College (Minn.) at 2:30 p.m.
