UW-Whitewater opened Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a doubleheader sweep of UW-Superior on Saturday at Prucha Field in Whitewater to improve to 9-2 overall and 2-0 in the WIAC. The 'Hawks won game one 6-2 and game two 17-1. Superior falls to 3-8 and 0-2 in conference play.
In game one UW-Whitewater jumped on the scoreboard first in the bottom of the second when Matt Beyer singled in Travis Wessels who reached base by hitting his third double of the season in the previous at bat. Superior stifled another Warhawk scoring opportunity when they threw Daniel Putnam out at the plate on a grounder to the second baseman by Andrew Eichstaedt with no outs in the third.
The Yellowjackets fired back with one run in the top of the fourth on back-to-back-to-back singles to start the inning. The UW-W defense did throw out the go ahead run on the third single as rightfielder Putnam hit David Cladis on the cutoff who fired home to gun down the runner.
Another double by Wessels in the bottom of the fourth resulted in another Warhawk run. Wessels stole third, and on the attempt to throw him out, the UW-Superior catcher launched the ball into left field allowing Wessels to score and UW-W to take the lead 2-1.
Four runs in the bottom of the seventh gave UW-W a 6-1 lead. Dylan Friend started the inning by singling to left field. Cladis followed with a sacrifice bunt that was mishandled by Superior allowing Friend to score from first and Cladis to advance to second. Putnam followed with his third hit of the game, a single that scored Cladis. Eichstaedt, the next batter, bunted himself on to base and Rob Coe followed with a sacrifice bunt that was intended to move the runners over, but another Superior error resulted in the bases loaded. Brent Young followed with a grounder that resulted in Putnam be thrown out at the plate, but the bases remained full. Wessels came through in the next at bat with a single through the left side that scored two and gave UW-W a cushion that was more than enough to last the game.
Superior tacked on a run in the top of the ninth, but relief pitcher Mathew Roberts ended the rally and preserved the Warhawk win. Justin Lambert pitched eight innings for UW-W, striking out five while giving up eight hits and one run while walking two. Lambert earned the win and is 2-0 this season.
Game two started with Warhawk fans on the edge of their seat right away in the top of the first. Colin Grove struck out the first batter, walked the second, gave up a single to the third, struck out the fourth and walked the fifth to load the bases. Grove escaped any early damage by getting the final out on a pop up to center field.
The 'Hawks wasted no time getting on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first as Putnam led off with a double and Eichstaedt followed with his first homer of the year to give UW-W a 2-0 lead. Two batters later Jeff Donovan hit his second triple of the year and Ryan Leavitt followed with a single to plate Donovan and give the 'Hawks a 3-0 lead. Leavitt advanced to second on a passed ball and an error on a hit by Wessels put runners on the corners with one out. A wild pitch followed allowing Wessels to advance to second and Leavitt to score. UW-W finished the inning with a 4-0 lead.
UW-W doubled up their lead in the bottom of the second scoring four runs in a variety of ways: a single, a double, a ground out, and a passed ball.
It snowballed from there as UW-W continued to pile up runs including six more in the third, one in the fourth and two in the fifth.
Superior did tack on a run in the top of the seventh to bring the final score to 17-1 before the game ended by virtue of the ten run rule after seven innings.
Grove only pitched one inning before giving way to Kyle Lee who pitched five and surrendered no runs and two hits while striking out two. Lee earned the win and improved to 2-0 this season.
Putnam continued his dominance at the plate going 7-for-10 on the afternoon scoring three runs and notching one RBI. Putnam is hitting .604 this season and has an eleven game hitting streak. In those eleven games he has had eight multi-hit games.
Eichstaedt and Wessels also had strong days for UW-W. Eichstaedt went 6-for-9, scored four runs and knocked in four. Eichstaedt is currently boasting a seven game hitting streak. Wessels went 5-for-9, scored three runs, and tallied 3 RBI.
UW-Whitewater will play UW-Superior again on Sunday in a twinbill beginning at noon at Prucha Field in Whitewater.
For additional information, John Vodenlich, 262-472-1420