Whitewater, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team dropped a 10-7 decision to UW-Whitewater Friday afternoon at Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium in an elimination game at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Midwest Regional.  The Eagles finish their season at 34-11 while the Warhawks improve to 31-16 and will play Friday at 7 p.m. versus Aurora University (Ill.) or St. Norbert College (Wis.).  UW-L set a single-season record with its 34 victories this year.

The Eagles also set a school record with 21 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) wins this season.  UW-L finished 21-2 in the conference, winning its first outright league title since 1978.  The team also won its second WIAC Tournament title (2000) this year.

The Eagles rallied for six runs with two outs in the top of the ninth and had the game-tying run at the plate at the end of the game.  Brett Jacobson opened the ninth with a double and went to third with two outs.  Corey Geary knocked in Jacobson with a single to make it 10-2.  Cole Cefalu and Brooks Braga followed with singles to load the bases and Adam Cordova hit a three-run double to score Geary, Cefalu and Braga to cut the lead to 10-5.

Jay Fanta drew a walk and UW-Whitewater starter Kyle Stewart was replaced by Matthew Roberts.  The Eagles' Zach Harazin walked to load the bases and Jacobson delivered his second double of the inning, knocking in Cordova and Fanta to make it 10-7 with Harazin moving to third.  Roberts then retired Trevor Burmeister on a fly ball to left field to end the game.

UW-Whitewater took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first.  Dylan Friend singled with one out and scored on Jared Fon's two-run home run.  The Warhawks added a run in the third on an RBI single from Michael Gonzalez to lead 3-0.

UW-L cut the lead to 3-1 in the top of the fourth.  Cordova tripled to open the inning and later scored on a wild pitch.  UW-Whitewater made it 4-1 in the bottom of the fourth as Brandon Egnarski scored on a UW-L error.

Egnarski walked with the bases loaded to make it 5-1 in the fifth inning.  Gonzalez then scored on a wild pitch and Friend hit an RBI single to give the Warhawks a 7-1 lead.  UW-Whitewater took a 10-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh on Matt Beyer's three-run home run before UW-L scored six times in the ninth.

Kevin Johnson (5-1) suffered the loss for UW-L, pitching 4.0 innings, allowing nine hits, seven runs (six earned) and one walk while striking out five.  Skyler Debilzen pitched 0.1 of an inning with one walk.  Zach Lauersdorf went 3.2 innings, allowing five hits, three runs and one walk with four strikeouts.

Cordova finished 3-for-5 with two runs and three RBI for the Eagles while Jacobson went 2-for-5 with a run scored and two RBI.  Cefalu was 2-for-5 with a run scored.

Stewart (8-2) earned the victory for UW-Whitewater, going 8.2 innings, allowing 12 hits, seven runs and one walk with seven strikeouts.  Roberts pitched 0.1 of an inning, allowing one hit and one walk.

Eight of nine starters had a hit for the Warhawks.  Friend (3-for-5) and Gonzalez (3-for-4) each had three hits while Ryan Leavitt (2-for-5) and Egnarski (2-for-3) had two hits.