UW-La Crosse plans to eliminate baseball and men's tennis later this year.

UW-La Crosse chancellor Joe Gow broke the news on Friday. "Regrettably, I am writing now to let you know that we are moving to discontinue our baseball and men's tennis programs. I use the phrase 'moving to' because WIAC rules require us to discuss any plans to delete a sport with the WIAC commissioner and chancellors before formally ending a program. Next Wednesday the WIAC chancellors group will confer by telephone and at that point I will provide my colleagues with formal notification of our plans," said Gow.

"As bad as I feel, we are part of the institution, we are part of the state and we are on the table to be discussed for elimination like any unit on campus," said Joe Baker, UW-La Crosse's athletic director. UW-La Crosse has to make $400,000 in cuts because of the ongoing uncertainty about whether unionized state employees will give back a 2 percent increase as requested by Gov. Jim Doyle, said Gow. 

"We've assessed the situation and don't feel it is likely unions will give back their pay increase, and that is their right," he said.

Eliminating the teams will save the university $60,000 by not paying salaries, team travel, training and equipment, said Bob Hetzel, vice chancellor for administration and finance and university advancement UW-La Crosse.

Dropping baseball isn't new. UW-Eau Claire and UW-River Falls have dropped it. The Chronicle of Higher Education recently reported the trend, highlighting several universities that eliminated or considered cutting the sport.

UW-La Crosse chose baseball over other sports for the large travel bills it racks up during the season as the weather isn't always ideal, said Gow. UW-La Crosse last year had to clear the snow off the baseball field for practice, costing $5,000, said Gow.

Men's tennis was chosen as it is not a WIAC conference championship sport, said Baker. UW-La Crosse kept women's tennis over men's because it is trying to bring the athlete ratio closer to the campus ratio of 60 females to 40 males to comply with Title IX, said Baker. Currently, UW-La Crosse has 52 percent male athletes and 48 percent females, said Baker.