UW-L Splits Second Straight Doubleheader at UW-Whitewater

For Immediate Release: Friday, April 10, 2009

Whitewater, Wis. – The UW-La Crosse baseball team split its second straight WIAC doubleheader at UW-Whitewater Friday afternoon at Prucha Field. After falling 6-3 in the opener, the Eagles came back to take the nightcap, 9-6. The teams had split a twinbill Thursday.

UW-L is now 14-6 overall and 7-3 in the WIAC while UW-Whitewater, ranked 25 th in the American Baseball Coaches Association Division III Poll, is 14-7 overall and 6-4 in the conference.

In the opener, the Warhawks took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first as Ryan Leavitt scored on Kevin Zalnis’ groundout. Sam Petrasko then scored on a Bryant Rude wild pitch to make it 2-0. UW-L took a 3-2 lead with three runs in the top of the sixth on Jay Fanta’s three-run home run. Travis Kerr and Storm Gram scored on the hit.

UW-Whitewater came right back in the bottom of the inning to take a 4-3 lead on Ben Kuhlmann’s two-run home run. The Warhawks added solo runs in the seventh and eighth innings. Matt Beyer stole home in the seventh while Rob Coe had an RBI single in the eighth.

Rude (2-1) suffered the loss, pitching a complete-game for UW-L. He went 8.0 innings, allowing nine hits, six runs (four earned) and two walks while striking out two. Gram finished 2-for-3 with a run scored while Fanta was 1-for-4 with the three-run home run. The Eagles were held to three hits.

Jason Hooper (3-1) earned the victory for UW-Whitewater, pitching 8.2 innings, allowing three hits, three runs (none earned) and three walks with five strikeouts. Doug Hanson retired the final batter to pick up the save.

UW-Whitewater took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth in the nightcap on a Zalnis single. UW-L tied it in the next half-inning on Matt Trocke’s single to score Lance Poppy. Leavitt had an RBI single to regain the lead for the Warhawks in the bottom of the fifth, but Kerr’s single tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the sixth.

Nick Rechlitz gave UW-Whitewater a 3-2 advantage with a two-run single in the sixth, but UW-L then scored six unearned runs in the top of the seventh to take the lead for good. Sean Cory reached on catcher’s interference to the game at 3-3 and Cory Poppitz followed with a two-run single off Hanson to make it 5-3. Kerr walked with the bases-loaded for a 6-3 lead and Trocke finished the scoring with a two-run single to make it 8-3.

UW-Whitewater scored for the fourth straight inning in the bottom of the seventh on Kuhlmann’s single. Kerr gave UW-L a 9-4 lead with a two-out single in the top of the ninth before UW-Whitewater scored twice in the bottom of the inning on two-out RBI singles from Coe and Rechlitz. Levi Adank then retired Travis Wessels on a groundout with the bases-loaded to end the game.

Ross Benitz (5-2) picked up the victory for UW-L, pitching 6.0 innings, allowing six hits, three runs and four walks with three strikeouts. Adank recorded his second save, going 3.0 innings, allowing five hits, three runs and two walks while striking out two.

Kerr was 2-for-4 and Trocke 2-for-5 while both players finished with three RBI. Cory and Poppy each scored twice.

Aaron Dott (3-3) took the loss, pitching 6.1 innings, allowing three hits, six runs (two earned) and eight walks while striking out seven.

UW-L returns to action Wednesday, April 15 at UW-Platteville at 1 p.m.