UW-L Completes Series Sweep of UW-Superior

For Immediate Release: Sunday, April 5, 2009

La Crosse, Wis. – The UW-La Crosse baseball team improved to 5-1 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) with a doubleheader sweep of UW-Superior Sunday afternoon at North Campus Field. The Eagles won the opener, 7-5, and the nightcap, 10-4. UW-L is now 12-4 overall while UW-Superior is 7-11 overall and 0-4 in the WIAC after the Eagles swept the four-game series.

In the opener, UW-L scored its first six runs with two outs. The Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second on Travis Kerr’s home run and made it 3-0 with a pair of runs in the third. Matt Trocke scored on a UW-Superior error and Sean Cory had an RBI single to score Jay Fanta. Fanta had an RBI single and Cory a run-scoring double in the bottom of the fifth to give UW-L a 5-0 lead. Trocke then made it 6-0 with an RBI triple in the sixth to score Tyler Peterson.

Bryant Rude

UW-Superior scored its first run in the top of the eighth on Mitch Loegering’s solo home run, but UW-L got the run back in the bottom of the inning as Lance Poppy’s sacrifice fly. The Yellowjackets tallied four times in the top of the ninth. Alex Lagadin scored on a UW-L error to make it 7-2 and Mike Labelle hit a three-run home run to cut the lead to 7-5 with one out. After Logering singled, the Eagles’ Steve Henes came in and walked Paul Schlangen, but got Sean Cummings to fly into a double play to preserve the win.

Bryant Rude (2-0) picked up the win for UW-L, going 6.0 innings, allowing four hits and two walks while striking out eight. Henes earned his second save of the season. Trocke, Cory and Cory Poppitz each had two hits for the Eagles. Trocke also scored twice and finished with an RBI while Cory had two RBI and Poppitz scored once.

Blake Danielson (1-3) suffered the loss for the Yellowjackets, pitching 6.0 innings, allowing eight hits, six runs (four earned) and two walks with six strikeouts. Loegering was 3-for-4 with a run scored and RBI while Schlangen and Lagadin each had two hits. Labelle finished with three RBI.

In the nightcap, UW-L took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the third as Fanta had a two-run single and Cory an RBI fielder’s choice. Sean Cummings hit a solo home run in the top of the fourth for UW-Superior to cut the lead to 3-1, but the Trocke and Storm Gram had run-scoring singles in the bottom of the fourth to make it 5-1.

Matt Trocke

Darren O’Donnell had an RBI single in the seventh for a 6-1 lead before UW-Superior scored two times in the eighth. Schlangen had a sacrifice fly to knock in a run and Rhett Williamson scored on an Eagles’ fielding error.

Peterson hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth for UW-L and Trocke followed with a solo home run to make it 9-3 and Cory added an RBI single. Williamson finished the scoring in the top of the ninth for UW-Superior with a single to score Lagadin.

Ross Benitz

Ross Benitz (4-2) earned the win for UW-L, going 7.0 innings, allowing four hits, one run and one walk while striking out three. Trocke finished 5-for-5 with three runs scored and two RBI while Cory was 3-for-5 with a run scored and two RBI. Gram, Fanta and O’Donnell each had two hits. Fanta and Peterson finished with two RBI while Gram and Poppy scored twice.

Tim Bouvine (1-3) suffered the loss, pitching 6.2 innings, allowing 11 hits, six runs (five earned) and one walk with three strikeouts. Cummings and Lagadin each had two hits for UW-Superior.

UW-L returns to action Thursday, April 9 at UW-Whitewater in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.