PENSACOLA, Fla. – The No. 15 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater baseball team snapped a three-game losing streak Friday night with a 9-1 victory over St. Thomas (Minn.) in a non-conference contest at Blue Wahoos Stadium.
The Warhawks (2-4 overall) broke through offensively with 11 hits and scored six runs in the bottom of the fifth to increase a one-run lead to seven.
Sophomore Westin Muir earned his second win of the season, allowing only three hits and one run with nine strikeouts in six innings of work. Freshman Hayden Fox tossed two scoreless innings in relief, and junior Riley Gruetzmacher tossed a scoreless ninth.
Junior centerfielder Alex Doud reached base three times and finished with two hits and two runs batted in. Senior second baseman Nick Schrader posted two hits and one run scored, and senior third baseman Cal Aldridge collected two hits, one walk, two runs scored and one RBI.
Sophomore right fielder Bryan Sturdevant registered two hits, two runs scored and one RBI and was on base four times, and junior first baseman Ben Wilkins finished with two hits, one run scored and one RBI.
The Tommies (4-2) plated the first run in the top of the second, but the Warhawks responded with two in the bottom half on a run-scoring single to center by Wilkins and a sacrifice fly by freshman left fielder Zach Campbell.
Muir didn't allow a run over the next three frames, including the fourth, when he left runners at the corners after inducing a popup with two outs.
UW-Whitewater broke the game open with one out in the bottom of the fifth. Doud smashed a run-scoring double to the left-center gap to make it 4-1. After a passed ball sent Doud to third, senior catcher Mike Aiello bunted him in to score to make it a four-run advantage.
Sturdevant drove home Aiello with a base hit, and freshman designated hitter Matt Korman hit a dribbler down the third base line to plate another run.
Sophomore shortstop Nick Santoro capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly to right.
Aldridge crushed his third homer of the season in the eighth on a massive drive just left of centerfield.
The Warhawks continue play in Florida Sunday against Kalamazoo (Mich.) at 10 a.m. Central Time at the Lake Myrtle Complex in Auburndale, Fla.
UW-Whitewater played three games inside Blue Wahoos Stadium thanks to Blue Wahoos owner Quint Studer, a 1973 UW-W graduate.