In a battle at the top of the WIAC standings UW-Whitewater dropped a pair of games Saturday in La Crosse, falling to UW-L 6-3 and 5-3.  La Crosse is 12-2 in league play, Whitewater 8-4 with the teams scheduled for another doubleheader in La Crosse Sunday.

The teams matched scoreless innings until La Crosse used a walk, a stolen base and a single to take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth.  UW-W used a similar method, walk, passed ball and a Michael Gonzalez (Delavan/Darien) infield single to tie the game in the top of the fifth.

In the top of the sixth Dylan Friend (Burlington/Burlington)'s triple scored Matt Beyer (Janesville/Parker), and Marty Herum (River Falls/River Falls) singled in Friend to give the Warhawks a 3-1 lead.  That lead was short lived, as La Crosse tied the game with two in the bottom half of the frame.  The Eagles scored twice with just two hits, also receiving some help from UW-W in the form of a walk, a balk, and two wild pitches.

UW-L pushed across the winning run in the home half of the seventh, with a double and a single putting runners at the corners.  The winning run then scored on a wild pitch.  Run number five in the game came in on the third hit of the inning, and the Eagles' final run came home on a Warhawk error.

Kyle Stewart (Onalaska/Onalaska) took the loss for UW-W, his first of the season after opening with seven straight wins.  The Warhawk offense totaled five hits, and no player had more than one, although Steve Bartlein (South Milwaukee/South Milwaukee) reached base twice on walks.  La Crosse had eight hits, with three players collecting two apiece.  Tim Verthein went all nine innings, allowing two earned runs, walking two and striking out five to make his record 3-4 for UW-L.

Eagle cleanup hitter Jay Fanta led off the second with a home run to put UW-L on the board first.  Whitewater centerfielder Dylan Friend (Burlington/Burlington) followed in the next half inning with his third round-tripper of the season to knot the score 1-1.   Brooks Braga's two out, two run home run in the third put UW-L back in front 3-1.  The Eagles added two more in the fifth to increase their lead to 5-1.

Friend started a comeback with a leadoff double in the eighth.  Three UW-L errors helped Friend score and led to another run, and the Warhawks left runners on second and third, as they closed to within 5-3.  

Whitewater loaded the bases in the ninth with one out, but an "at em" ball ended the game with a double play.

Friend and Jared Fon (Germantown) had two hits each for the Warhawks, out of a team total of seven.  Starter Aaron Leitner (Chilton/Chilton), who went 4.2 innings, took the loss.  Michael Huckabay (Jefferson/Jefferson) pitched 3.1 innings of one hit relief, with no walks and four strikeouts.  Fanta and leftfielder Trevor Burmeister were both 3x4 for UW-L.  Garrett Scray went the first seven innings to raise his record to 4-3, with Zach Lauersdorf picking up his third save.

UW-W, twentieth in the D3baseball.com poll and twenty-ninth in Division III according to Collegiate Baseball, is 18-9 overall.  UW-L is 20-8.

The Warhawks' next home action will be April 28-29, hosting UW-Stevens Point in doubleheaders both days at 12:00.  Prucha Field at Miller Stadium is west of Perkins Stadium and northwest of Williams Center on the north end of campus. 

For additional information:  UW-W coach John Vodenlich