Whitewater, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team used strong pitching and defense to lead them past UW-Whitewater 3-2 in game one of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) III Super Regional Friday afternoon.  

THE BASICS

• Result: UW-La Crosse 3, UW-Whitewater 2
• Location: Prucha Field at Jim Miller Stadium, Whitewter, Wis. 
• Records: UW-La Crosse 36-14, UW-Whitewater 38-9
• National Ranking: UW-Whitewater is ranked fifth and UW-La Crosse 15th on this weeks D3baseball.com Top-25 polls. 
• Up Next:  The Eagles and Warhawks will play game two of the best of three series on Saturday at 11 a.m. An if necessary game three would happen 45 minutes after game two if UW-Whitewater wins. The winner of the NCAA III Super Regional will punch their ticket to the NCAA III College World Series. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• After a 1, 2, 3 top of the first inning, the Eagles got the scoring going in their half of the first inning. Nate Witte and Chris VandenHeuvel led off with back-to-back walks. After a fly out by Mac Born moved Witte to third, George Seaman walked to load the bases. Anthony Vivian then grounded out to first which scored Witte to give UWL a 1-0 lead. Jack Olver then singled to score both VandenHeuvel and Seaman to extend UWL's lead to 3-0. 
• Neither team would threaten to score until the top of the fifth inning when UW-Whitewater scored two runs. Sam Paden led off with a double and advanced to third when Dominik McVay reached on an error. After a strikeout, Aaron Holland hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Paden and move McVay to third. After a two-out walk to Matt Scolan, Eli Frank singled to score McVay and cut UW-Whitewater's deficit to 3-2. 
• UWL would put runners on the corners with two outs in the bottom of the sixth but UW-Whitewater starting pitcher Michael Hilker Jr. would get a fly out to right field to end the Eagles threat. 
• In the top of the seventh inning, UWL's starting pitcher Tyler Schmitt would record the first two outs via ground balls. Schmitt then hit  Scolan and walked Holland to put runners at first and second base. UWL's Caleb Matl would be brought in out of the bullpen and get a fly out to right field to end the Warhawks scoring chance.
• Isaiah Katz would come on in relief to start the eighth inning for the Eagles and give up a single to Adam Cootway. After a fly out to right field for the first out, Eagles catcher Tim Urlaub caught Cootway trying to steal second for out #2. Andy Thies would then double for the Warhawks; however, Katz would strikeout Paden to end the inning. 
• Katz would give give up a two out single in the top of the ninth inning but that would be it as he struck out Scolan for the final out of the game. 

FROM THE BOX SCORE

• Offensively, UWL finished with three runs on six hits and three walks. . 
• Witte led the Eagles offensively going 2-for-3, with a walk and a run scored. 
• Olver finished 1-for-4 with two RBIs. 
• Schmitt (5-3) earned the win on the mound for the Eagles as he allowed two runs (both unearned) on four hits and four walks while striking out six in 6.2 innings. Katz (1) picked up his first save by pitching the final two innings and allowing three hits while striking out two. 
• The Warhawks scored two runs on seven hits and four walks.
• Hilker Jr. (8-1) suffers his first loss of the season as he allowed three runs on six hits and three walks while striking out four in eight innings of work. 
• Cootway finished 2-for-4 while Holland and Frank each had a hit and an RBI for the Warhawks.