UW-Whitewater, 15-4 and ranked tenth in the D3baseball.com poll, rode the left arm of Riley Tincher to a 5-1 victory over UW-Platteville in game one and a quality start from Jeff Donovan in an 8-2 win in the nightcap Wednesday afternoon at Prucha Field at Jim Miller Stadium in Whitewater. 

GAME ONE
Senior lefthander Riley Tincher allowed just one run on eight hits, walked none, and struck out eight in eight innings of work to give UW-W's bats plenty of time to push across enough runs.  

UW-W took an early lead.  Rightfielder Daniel Putnam led off with a double and moved to third on a passed ball.  Catcher Rob Coe doubled with one out to put the Warhawks on the board.

Third baseman Jared Fon began the fifth inning with a double, and was sacrificed to second by leftfielder Matt Beyer.  Second baseman David Cladis' sacrifice fly plated Fon.  Putnam followed with a single and stole second, and came all the way around on a Pioneer throwing error.  Three consecutive walks, the third to designated hitter Ryan Leavitt, gave UW-W its third run of the inning and a 4-0 lead after five.

Familiar names chipped in to score Whitewater's fifth run.  Fon doubled to lead off the sixth and Beyer's sacrifice bunt moved Fon to third.  Cladis got his second RBI of the game with another sacrifice fly. 

The Pioneers put one on the scoreboard in the seventh.  Third baseman Aaron Hopson doubled to start the frame, advanced to third on a single by DH Brad Milka, and came home when catcher Kevin Fessler singled to right.

Fon led all hitters in the game with a 3x4 line that included two doubles and two runs scored.  Putnam went 2x4, also with a pair of runs scored.  Hopson and centerfielder Cody Luther had two hits apiece for UW-P. Bill Oppriecht, 1-3, went six innings and took the loss for the Pioneers, who received two innings of one hit relief from Nate Poelmann.

Tincher upped his record to 5-1 with a no hit ninth from reliever Jack Larsen. 

GAME TWO
Pitchers have to be lovin' the "new" WIAC.  The new bat regulations mean that you can actually tell a well-pitched game by the score, and not by how long a starter survived the aluminum (steel, whatever) onslaught.  Whitewater's Jeff Donovan limited the Pioneers to one run on four hits in six innings, issuing two walks and striking out seven.  Relievers Matthew Roberts, Eric Schmitz, and Rob Coe each tossed an inning of relief.

UW-W scored all the runs they needed in the first inning.  Putnam, sporting a .573 on base percentage, led off with a double.  Coe doubled him in, and centerfielder Dylan Friend knocked Coe in with a single through the right side.  Add in a walk and a passed ball, and leftfielder Logan Peot made it pay with a two run single.  Cladis got his third RBI of the day with a single to bring in Peot, who had advanced to scoring position on a Pioneer error to score Whitewater's sixth run of the inning. 

A Brett Benesh single in the third got UW-P into the scoring column, but the Warhawks upped the margin with single runs in the fifth and sixth.  Platteville closed the scoring with a single run in the seventh.

Putnam, Friend, Cladis and first baseman Samuel Keller Jr. each had two hits for UW-W, with Putnam and Friend also scoring two.  Hopson again led Pioneer batters with a 2x5 game.  The Pioneers, 5-16 overall and 3-7 in the WIAC, used six pitchers in the game.

The Warhawks, 8-2 in the WIAC, have a pair of weekend doubleheaders at UW-Stout April 16-17.  Both twinbills will start at 12:00 in Menomonie.  The next home doubleheader is Thursday, April 21 at 1:00, with Concordia College (IL) visiting Prucha Field at Jim Miller Stadium on the north end of the UW-W campus.