Eagles Sweep UW-Superior in WIAC Play

For Immediate Release: Saturday, April 4, 2009

La Crosse, Wis. – The UW-La Crosse baseball team improved to 3-1 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) with a doubleheader sweep of UW-Superior Saturday afternoon at North Campus Field. The Eagles won the opener, 14-4 in eight innings, and the nightcap, 14-5. UW-L is now 10-4 overall while UW-Superior fell to 7-9 overall and 0-2 in the WIAC. The Eagles have won 16 straight over the Yellowjackets and 46 of 47 overall.

In the opener, UW-L took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third as Matt Trocke had a run-scoring single to knock in Cory Poppitz who had singled to open the inning.

After the Yellowjackets tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the fourth on Brett Olson’s single, the Eagles tallied seven times in the bottom of the inning on the benefit of three hits. Poppitz and Tyler Peterson drew bases-loaded walks to make it 3-1. Trocke followed with a two-run single and Peterson scored on a UW-Superior error to give UW-L a 6-1 lead. Trocke later scored on a balk and Storm Gram finished the scoring with an RBI single to knock in Joey Casper.

UW-Superior cut the lead to 8-4 in the top of the fifth on Mitch Loegering’s three-run home run, but UW-L scored twice in the bottom of the inning. Poppitz had an RBI single and later scored on an error.

UW-L finished the scoring with two runs in the seventh and eighth innings. Casper had a sacrifice fly and Gram an RBI single in the seventh while Mickey Boyle and Peterson each had a sacrifice fly in the eighth.

Tim Larson (2-0) earned the win in the opener, going 6.0 innings, allowing six hits, four runs and three walks while striking out two. Zach Lauersdorf pitched the final 2.0 innings for the Eagles, allowing two hits with one strikeout.

Trocke and Gram each had three hits and a run scored in the first game. Trocke also had three RBI while Gram finished with two. Poppitz was 2-for-3 with three runs scored and two RBI while Peterson added two runs scored and two RBI. Sean Cory also scored twice.

TJ Wink (2-2) suffered the loss for the Yellowjackets, going 3.2 innings, allowing four hits, six runs (five earned) and two walks with one strikeout.

In the nightcap, UW-Superior took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on Calan Fougner’s two-run single. UW-L cut the margin to 2-1 in the bottom of the inning on Jay Fanta’s single scoring Trocke.

The Eagles scored six unearned runs in the second inning to take a 7-2 lead as Casper had a two-run single and Gram a two-run double. Fanta added an RBI double and Darren O’Donnell knocked in a run on a fielder’s choice.

Fanta hit a two-run home run and Poppitz had a sacrifice fly in the fourth to make it 10-2. UW-Superior tallied three runs in the top of the fifth with two scoring on wild pitches before UW-L added a run in the seventh and three more in the eighth. Gram had another RBI double in the seventh while Zach Harazin hit a pinch-hit three-run home run in the eighth.

Brandon Walczak (1-0) picked up the win for UW-L in game two, pitching 5.0 innings, allowing seven hits, five runs and two walks while striking out six. Garrett Scray went 3.0 innings, allowing two hits while Jeremiah Samuelson pitched 1.0 inning allowing two hits with one strikeout.

The top-five in UW-L’s order combined for 13 hits, nine runs and nine RBI in the nightcap. Fanta finished 4-for-4 with two runs scored and four RBI while Gram was 3-for-6 with two runs scored and three RBI. Casper was 3-for-5 with a run and two RBI and Trocke scored three times. Travis Kerr was 2-for-5 with a run scored.

Four different players had a hit for UW-Superior. Justin Saufley (3-2) took the loss, pitching 3.0 innings, allowing nine hits, 10 runs (three earned) and two walks with two strikeouts. The Yellowjackets committed six errors.

UW-L and UW-Superior are scheduled to play another twinbill Sunday, April 5 at noon.