UW-Whitewater extended their winning streak to eight games with a doubleheader sweep of UW-Superior Sunday at Prucha Field at Miller Stadium in Whitewater. The Warhawks rallied from 3-0 and 5-2 deficits in game one to win 7-5, and came back from 8-7 in game two to win 11-8. The Warhawks swept the Yellowjackets in the season series and improve to 15-3 overall and 6-0 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. UW-Superior is now 7-12 overall and 0-4 in the WIAC.
In game one a bases loaded triple by Superior shortstop Matt Remund in the top of the first made it 3-0 in favor of the visitors.
A solo homerun by UW-W centerfielder Dylan Friend (Burlington/Burlington) in the bottom of the third made it 3-1, and two more runs in the bottom of the fourth tied the game at three.
Superior answered with two in the top of the fifth to regain the lead 5-3, but their lead didn't last long as the Warhawks scored three in the bottom half of the frame to take a 6-5 advantage. Mikole Pierce (DePere/DePere) drove in two of the Warhawk runs in the fifth and Steve Bartlein (South Milwaukee/South Milwaukee) drove in the other.
UW-W added an insurance run in the seventh when Marty Herum (River Falls/River Falls) led off the inning with a solo shot to right field.
Starting pitcher Matt Roberts (Manitowoc/Roncalli) kept the 'Jackets silent in the eighth before giving way to Colin Grove (Beloit/Beloit Memorial). Grove got into a spot of trouble in the ninth, but managed to get out of it to earn the save. Roberts struck out eight Superior batters in the game and Grove struck out two more. Roberts improves to 4-0 this season.
Superior flipped the script on the Warhawks in game two, coming back on two different occasions. UW-W scored two in the first and three in the second to take a 5-0 lead. The Yellowjackets fired back with five in the top of the third to tie the game.
UW-W regained the lead in the next inning on an RBI double by Andrew Bauer (Hartland/Arrowhead), and extended the lead to 7-5 with an RBI single by Friend one batter later.
Superior tied the game again in the top of the sixth with two runs on two hits and an error. They then took the lead in the top of the eighth scoring on a single through the right side of the infield.
Down 8-7 in the bottom of the eighth, the Warhawks tied the game when Superior pitcher Dan Genrich balked with runners on second and third. After intentional and unintentional walks, the Warhawks found themselves with the bases loaded and one out. Bartlein came through big blooping a ball over the first baseman's head into shallow right to plate two runners. JT Schneider (Oak Creek/Oak Creek) followed with a sacrifice bunt that scored one more to make it 11-8.
Tom Kerndt (Lansing, IA/Lansing) came into the game in the ninth for middle reliever Cody Steed (Janesville/Craig) and struck out the side to earn the save. Steed got the win in his first appearance of the season.
Herum went 4-for-7 on the day with three RBIs and five runs scored, meanwhile extending his team leading hitting streak to ten games.
The Warhawks will look to extend their eight game winning streak on Wednesday, April 10 when they host UW-Platteville in a doubleheader beginning at 1 pm. The two teams met on April 3 with the Warhawks winning both games, 8-5 and 4-3.