UW-Whitewater, ranked tenth in the D3baseball.com poll, defeated twenty-fifth ranked Concordia Chicago 7-6 Thursday at Prucha Field at Jim Miller Stadium in Whitewater.  UW-W is 21-5 and Concordia is 20-5.

As has been the pattern in recent games, UW-W got on the board first, and early.  A sacrifice fly by Rob Coe and a double by Andrew Eichstaedt put the Warhawks up 2-0 in the first inning. 

The Cougars used their next at bat to knot the score, using three consecutive singles to load the bases.  One run came in on a double play, and leftfielder Brendan Schultz brought in another with the fourth single of the inning.

Concordia first baseman Ryan Pacyga untied the knot with his fourth home of the season in the top of the third to put the Cougars in front 3-2.

A one out double by Eichstaedt started the bottom of the third.  Coe picked up his second RBI by singling him in, and designated hitter Samuel Keller Jr's first triple of the season put the Warhawks back in front 4-3.

Schultz singled for Concordia in the fourth, and second baseman Robert Weis doubled with two outs to even the score at 4-4.

It took just one pitch to break the tie, as leftfielder Matt Beyer put a ball over the left field fence for his first home run of the season.

This was turning into a game that ruined concession sales with fans afraid they would miss something as Cougar shortstop Eric Ignatowski singled in two runs to put Concordia back in front 6-5 in the fifth.

For the first time in the game the teams were held scoreless back to back, with UW-W in the bottom of the fifth and Concordia the top of the sixth posting zeros on the scoreboard.

But that was it.  Back to normal, at least normal for this game, in the sixth with UW-W combining a walk, a double by Jared Fon and a run producing fly ball off Beyer's bat.  Centerfielder Dylan Friend put UW-W back in front, 7-6, with a RBI single.

Noteworthy in this game, both teams failed to score in the seventh -- and the rest of the way. 

Justin Lambert upped his record at 4-1 with four and a third innings of one run relief.  Jeff Donovan moved from first base to the mound with one out and a man on second in the ninth.  Donovan struck out the first batter he faced and induced a ground ball from the second.  Garett Balind, the second of three Cougar pitchers, is 1-1 after taking the loss.

Daniel Putnam, batting .528 coming in to the game, went 2x4 for UW-W.  Eichstaedt and Keller also contributed two hits each.  Thomas Gier, Concordia's third baseman, led all batters with a 3x5 day that included a run scored.

Thursday's matchup was originally scheduled to be a doubleheader, but Concordia requested the change to a single game because of conference commitments.

UW-W will return to Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play Wednesday, April 27 at 1:00, hosting UW-Platteville for a twinbill.  All home games are played at Prucha Field at Jim Miller Stadium on the north end of the Whitewater campus.

For additional information:  John Vodenlich, UW-W coach, 262-472-1420 or vodenlij@uww.edu