UW-L Completes Series Sweep at UW-Superior; Earns WIAC Tournament Berth

For Immediate Release: Monday, May 5, 2008

Superior, Wis. – The UW-La Crosse baseball team earned a WIAC doubleheader sweep at UW-Superior Monday afternoon at Ted Whereatt Field. The Eagles won the opener, 2-1, and the nightcap, 20-12. UW-L improves to 19-18 overall and 12-12 in the WIAC while UW-Superior falls to 15-23 overall and 4-20 in the conference. The Eagles swept the four-game series with the Yellowjackets after earning two wins Sunday.

With the victories, UW-L clinched the fourth seed for the WIAC Tournament and will face top-seed UW-Whitewater at 10 a.m. Friday in Wisconsin Rapids. The tournament follows a double-elimination format.

In the opener Monday afternoon, Britton Wolf (2-4) pitched a complete-game for UW-L. He went 9.0 innings, allowing seven hits, one run and three walks with five strikeouts. Wolf held the Yellowjackets to one extra-base hit.

UW-L took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fifth as Cory Poppitz scored on Josh Weber's sacrifice fly. UW-Superior tied the contest in the bottom of the inning on Sean Cummings' RBI double. The Eagles' Mike Schmidt hit a solo home run in the top of the sixth to make it 2-1, which proved to be the eventual winning run.

Schmidt was 3-for-4 with a run scored and RBI while Darren O'Donnell and Tyler Peterson had the other two hits for UW-L.

Bill Ryan (2-2) took the loss for UW-Superior, pitching 5.2 innings, allowing four hits, two runs (one unearned) and two walks while striking out two. Joe Collier went 3.1 innings, allowing one hit and one walk with three strikeouts. Seven different players had a hit for the Yellowjackets.

In the nightcap, the teams combined for 32 runs and 32 hits. UW-L led 1-0 after the top of the first on Dusty Otto's RBI groundout, but UW-Superior tallied three runs in the bottom of the inning. Billy Tafs had a run-scoring single. The Eagles took a 5-3 lead with four runs in the top of the second, highlighted by Erick Muhlenbeck's two-run single. UW-Superior scored five times in the bottom of the second and added one more in the third to lead 9-5. Cummings had a two-run home run in the second.

UW-L cut the lead to 9-6 in the fourth inning on Storm Gram's RBI groundout and the Eagles tied the game with three runs in the fifth. Tyler Peterson had a two-run home run in the fifth. UW-L took a 14-9 lead with five runs in the sixth, highlighted by Tony Peterson's three-run home run.

Tony Peterson had a two-run double in the seventh to score O'Donnell and Gram to make it 16-9 before UW-Superior had a three-run rally in the bottom of the inning to cut the margin to 16-12. UW-L finished the scoring with four runs in the ninth. Tony Peterson had an RBI single.

Mike Brehm (3-1) picked up the win for the Eagles, pitching 5.0 innings, allowing five hits, three runs (two earned) and one walk with four strikeouts. Tony Peterson started for UW-L, going 1.0 inning, allowing six hits, seven runs and two walks with one strikeout. Brandon Walczak pitched 2.0 innings, giving up five hits, two runs and two walks while striking out one. Steve Henes pitched the ninth inning, giving up one hit and one walk.

Tony Peterson was 3-for-5 at the plate with three runs scored and six RBI while Weber was 3-for-5 with two runs and an RBI. Muhlenbeck was 3-for-6 with a run scored and three RBI while O'Donnell finished 2-for-3 with four runs and an RBI. Tyler Peterson scored three times and had two while Poppitz had two RBI.

Every starter scored a run and had an RBI for UW-L.

Ryan Sepion suffered the loss for the Yellowjackets, going 2.1 innings, allowing five hits, six runs (five earned) and one walk. TJ Wink started, pitching 1.1 innings, giving up one hit, five runs (four earned) and one walk with one strikeout. He also hit two batters. Paul Schlangen was 4-for-5 for UW-Superior with three runs scored and three RBI while Tafs also finished 4-for-5 with two RBI. Cummings was 2-for-5 with three runs and two RBI.

UW-L returns to action Friday, May 9 as it faces UW-Whitewater in the WIAC Tournament. First pitch is scheduled for 10 a.m. at Witter Field in Wisconsin Rapids.