Too much Cole Cefalu in game one. 

The pitchers appeared to have everything under control in game one.  UW-L's Kevin Johnson kept UW-W off the board on three hits over the first four innings, and Matthew Roberts (Manitowoc /Roncalli) was even stingier with the hits, yielding just one in that span.

With two out in the top of the fifth, Marty Herum (River Falls/River Falls) was hit by a pitch.  Ryan Leavitt (Merrill/Merrill) pushed him to third with a single and Herum came home when UW-L botched a throw on an attempted steal.  The Eagles came back in their half of the first with the tying run.

Whitewater went ahead 4-1 with three runs in the seventh.  Jared Fon (Germantown) doubled in one, another scored on an Eagle error, and Andrew Bauer (Hartland /Arrowhead) drove in the third run of the inning with a single.  La Crosse responded with four runs in their half of the frame, all of them touching home on Cole Cefalu's grand slam, his fourth homer of the season, giving the Eagles a 5-4 advantage.

Whitewater shortstop David Cladis (Joliet, IL/Joliet Catholic) led off the eighth with his first home run of the season to knot the game 5-5.  In the bottom of the ninth Zach Harazin led off with a single and Jordan DeBoer bunted the pinch runner, Connor Krohn, to second.  Krohn moved up to third on a ground out, then scored when Cefalu's two out single went into centerfield.

Fon and catcher Fred Gromalak (Kettle Moriane/Kettle Moraine) had two hits each for UW-W, with Whitewater totaling nine.  La Crosse also had nine hits, with four players accounting for two each, none bigger than the two by Cefalu.  Zach Lauersdorf upped his record to 5-0 with 2.2 innings of relief for UW-L, and Eric Schmitz (Fond du Lac/Fond du Lac), 4-2, took the loss with 1.2 innings of relief work for the Warhawks.

UW-L had five two out RBI's, Whitewater one, and the Eagles batted .400 with runners in scoring position while UW-W went 1-9.

And too much Brooks Baraga in game two.

Whitewater got out in front in game two again, with Fon pushing one across with a ground out.  The Eagles plated two in their half of the inning, both coming in on a double to left center by DH Adam Cordova.   

Brooks Baraga's two out, two run home run in the second increased the La Crosse lead to 4-1.  Herum, Leavitt and Bauer combined for a run in the fourth to cut the La Crosse lead in half, 4-2.  In the fifth UW-W used four consecutive two-out singles to tie the game 4-4.

Cefalu struck again in the La Crosse sixth, stroking a two run, two out double to put the Eagles up again, 6-4.  Baraga ended the Eagle scoring with his second home run of the game, for the last two runs.  Fon made it closer with a two run home run in the ninth, but reliever Skyler Debiltzen came on to retire the last three batters.

Tom Kerndt (Lansing, IA/Lansing), 2-1, started and took the loss with 5.2 innings of work for UW-W.  Mark Kowalke, the second of four Eagle hurlers, got the win and Debiltzen earned the save.  Herum led the UW-W offense, going 3x4 including two doubles, scoring twice and adding a stolen base.  Four UW-L players had two hits each out of the team's total of ten.

UW-Whitewater, which lost twice to La Crosse on Saturday, had not lost a four-game weekend series in a decade.

Whitewater is 18-11 overall and 8-6 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.  UW-L is 22-8, and 14-2 in league play.

UW-W will travel to Platteville Wednesday for a doubleheader with the Pioneers.  The next action at home will be Saturday-Sunday, April 28-29, with UW-Stevens Point visiting.  The doubleheaders will start at noon both days at Prucha Field at Miller Stadium.  Prucha-Miller is west of Warhawk Stadium and northwest of Williams Center on the north end of campus.