La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team split a non-conference doubleheader with St. Olaf College (Minn.) Thursday afternoon at North Campus Field.  The Eagles won the opener, 6-3, before the Oles came back to win the nightcap, 6-3.  UW-L, ranked 22nd on this week's D3baseball.com Top-25 Poll, is now 23-9 on the season.  St. Olaf is 12-23.

UW-L had its 11-game winning streak snapped with the loss in Thursday's nightcap. The 11-game winning streak was the longest since 1979.  UW-L also suffered its first home loss of the season Thursday, wrapping up its regular season at 13-1 at North Campus Field.

In the opener, St. Olaf took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Chris Paradise opened the game with a single and scored on Dylan Porter's double.  The Oles had the bases-loaded with no outs, but failed the score.

UW-L took a 3-1 lead in the bottom half of the inning.  Cole Cefalu singled to start the inning followed by a Brooks Braga double.  Adam Cordova then hit a three-run home run to give the Eagles a 3-1 lead.

The Eagles added a pair of runs in the bottom of the third.  Cordova and Jay Fanta opened the inning with singles and later scored on ground outs from Zach Harazin and Garrett Novinski.

St. Olaf cut the lead to 5-2 in the top of the fourth on Nick Denn's home run.  The Oles made it 5-3 in the sixth on pinch-hitter Dan Lee's RBI single to score Erik Nelson.  St. Olaf had the bases loaded in the sixth, but Skyler Debilzen struck out Paradise to end the inning. The Eagles got the run right back in the bottom of the inning on Fanta's run-scoring single to knock in Cefalu.

Mark Kowalke (4-0) earned the win, pitching 5.0 innings, allowing six hits, two runs and two walks while striking out three.  Debilzen picked up the save, his third on the season.  He went 1.1 innings with two strikeouts.

Cordova and Cefalu each finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored.  Cordova also had three RBI.  Fanta and Jordan DeBoer each went 2-for-4 with Fanta finishing with a run scored and RBI.

Alex Lampert (3-6) suffered the loss for St. Olaf.  He went 5.2 innings, allowing 12 hits, six runs and three walks while striking out four.

Paradise was 2-for-4 with a run scored.

In the nightcap, St. Olaf scored five times in the top first, including four unearned runs.  Andy Bartz walked with the bases loaded and Nick Kulla was hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded.  David Slazwedel had a two-run single.

UW-L cut the lead to 5-2 with two runs in the bottom of the second on Jake Paulson's run-scoring triple and Corey Geary's run-scoring single.

Brady Sand hit a solo home run in the top of the third to give St. Olaf a 6-2 lead.  The Eagles cut the lead to 6-3 in the fourth as Braga walked with the bases loaded.

Kyle Watson (3-2) picked up the win for St. Olaf, pitching 3.1 innings in relief.  He allowed three hits, one run and four walks while striking out four.  Joey Voss earned his first save, going 2.0 innings, allowing one hit with two strikeouts.

Sam Maus was 2-for-4 with a run scored for the Oles.

Ben Cejka (1-1) took the loss for UW-L, pitching a complete-game.  He went 7.0 innings, allowing seven hits, six runs (two earned) and three walks while striking out seven.

Paulson was 2-for-2 with two runs scored and an RBI while Geary finished 2-for-3 with an RBI.
 
UW-L returns to action Saturday, April 28 at UW-Superior beginning at noon.