The UW-Whitewater baseball team, ranked seventh in the country, picked up a doubleheader sweep, 11-8 and 8-3, of UW-La Crosse Sunday at Jim Miller Stadium at Prucha Field in Whitewater.  The Warhawks defeated UW-L in a twinbill on Saturday as well completing the series sweep of the Eagles.  The Warhawks are 28-5 overall and 19-2 in the WIAC while UW-L falls to 15-14 overall and 7-8 in the WIAC.

Photo Gallery (courtesy of Crystal Meyer, available for purchase)

Picking up where they left off Saturday, the Warhawks pounded out fifteen hits in each game.  Including Sunday's doubleheader, the Warhawks have reached double digits in hits in the last six games.  In that span UW-W has totaled 94 hits and 79 runs.

The first game featured six lead changes and thirteen errors.  UW-L took the first lead on a sacrifice fly in the top of the first to make it 1-0.

An inning and a half later JT Schneider (Oak Creek/Oak Creek) singled through the left side of the infield and plated both Logan Peot (Suamico/Bayport) and David Cladis (Joliet, IL/Joliet Catholic).  The next batter, Michael Gonzalez (Delavan/Delavan-Darien), singled to score Schneider, and Dylan Friend (Burlington/Burlington) followed with a double to bring Gonzalez home and give UW-W a 4-1 lead.

La Crosse tied the game in the third and took the lead, 5-4, in the fourth on a solo homerun by Brooks Braga.

It was Whitewater's turn to take the lead in the sixth scoring on an error and another Gonzalez single to make it 6-5.

The seesaw battle continued as the Eagles scored three in the top of the seventh to take an 8-6 advantage.

UW-W answered with one run in the bottom of the seventh and then took the lead for good with four more runs in the eighth.  Dylan Friend (Burlington/Burlington) hit a two-run homer to highlight the Warhawks' final inning.

Curtis Morgan (Green Lake/Green Lake) earned the victory for UW-W, pitching the final inning and a third and giving up no hits and no runs while striking out one.  Morgan is 2-0 this season.

Game two lacked the drama of game one but UW-W continued to hit the ball well.  That, coupled with the fact that UW-W starter Tom Kerndt (Lansing, IA/Lansing) did not give up a hit until the fifth inning, had the Warhawks in control all game.

Steve Bartlein (South Milwaukee/South Milwaukee) drove in the first run of the game in the first inning to give UW-W a 1-0 lead.  Mike Mierow (Brookfield/Central) doubled in a run in the fourth to make it 2-0, and one batter later Schneider drove in another on a ground out.

The Eagles scored one in the fifth when Ben Morgan hit his first homerun of the season, but UW-W got that run back in the bottom of the frame when Bartlein singled in his second RBI in the game.

With a 4-1 lead in the seventh the Warhawks used five hits to plate three more and make it 7-1.  Another run in the eighth made it 8-1, an almost insurmountable lead the way Kerndt was pitching.

La Crosse did not go down quietly.  Kerndt took the mound in the ninth to go for the complete game but hit a speed bump when he walked the first two batters and gave up a single to the third.  Colin Grove (Beloit/Beloit Memorial) came on in relief and held the Eagles to just two more runs before snuffing out their comeback.  Kerndt is 6-1 this season.

UW-W recorded six doubles in the second game, Mikole Pierce (DePere/DePere) had two.  JT Schneider (Oak Creek/Oak Creek) collected five hits, two runs, and four RBIs in the doubleheader.

The Warhawks remain in first place in the WIAC with two games to play.  The Warhawks will host UW-Platteville on May 8.  If they win one of the two against the Pioneers or UW-Stevens Point loses one of their next eight, UW-W will clinch the WIAC regular season title.

The Warhawks will host St. Scholastica on Wednesday, May 1 in a doubleheader beginning at 4 pm.