Eagles Split Non-Conference Doubleheader at Gustavus Adolphus

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, April 21, 2009

St. Peter, Minn. – The UW-La Crosse baseball team split a non-conference doubleheader at Gustavus Adolphus College (Minn.) Tuesday afternoon at Gustie Field. The Eagles, behind a season-high 19 hits, won the opener 15-2, but the Gusties came back to take the nightcap, 7-4. Both games were seven-innings.

UW-L is now 17-11 on the season while Gustavus Adolphus is 14-16.

In the opener, eight of nine starters in the Eagles' line-up had at least one hit, including four from Jay Fanta who finished 4-for-5 with two runs, a double, a home run and three RBI. Cory Poppitz was 3-for-4 with two runs scored while Joey Casper finished 2-for-4 with three runs and two RBI. Tyler Peterson was 2-for-2 with a run and two RBI and Lance Poppy had a triple, two runs scored and three RBI.

Zach Lauersdorf (1-1) earned the win for UW-L, pitching 6.0 innings, allowing six hits, two runs (one earned) and two walks while striking out two. Jeremiah Samuelson went 1.0 inning with two walks allowed.

Gustavus Adolphus took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first before UW-L tallied four times in the top of the third. Travis Kerr tied the game on an RBI single and Matt Trocke gave the Eagles a 2-1 advantage on a fielder's choice. Fanta then doubled to drive in two runs. The Gusties cut the lead to 4-2 with a run in the bottom of the third before the Eagles' Peterson knocked in Casper with a run-scoring single for a 5-2 lead. UW-L added five runs in the fifth, four in the sixth and one more in the seventh. Casper was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, Poppy had a three-run triple and Peterson a sacrifice fly in the fifth.

In the sixth, Fanta hit a solo home run to make it 11-2 while Casper had a run-scoring single and Mickey Boyle a two-run double. Zach Harazin finished the scoring with an RBI single in the seventh.

UW-L took a 1-0 lead in the second inning of the nightcap as Harazin scored on a wild pitch. Gustavus Adolphus tied the game in the bottom of the inning on a bases-loaded walk to Alan Woitas. The Gusties then tallied five runs on six hits in the bottom of the fifth to lead 6-1 highlighted by Matt Morgan's two-run single.

The Eagles came right back to make it 6-4 with three runs in the top of the sixth on Storm Gram's RBI single and Poppy's two-run single, but the Gusties got one of those runs back in the sixth on a UW-L error.

UW-L loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the seventh, but failed to score.

Josh Weber, Casper and Darren O'Donnell each had two hits for the Eagles while Poppy had two RBI. Levi Adank (1-2) suffered the loss, pitching 1.0 inning, allowing six hits and five runs while striking out one. Garrett Scray started for UW-L, going 4.0 innings, allowing two hits, one unearned run and four walks with one strikeout. Brandon Walczak went 1.0 inning, allowing one hit and one run with two strikeouts.

UW-L returns to action Saturday, April 25 at UW-Oshkosh in a WIAC doubleheader starting at noon.