Menomonie, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team earned a doubleheader sweep at UW-Stout Friday afternoon at Nelson Field.  The Eagles, ranked 19th on this week's D3baseball.com Poll, won the opener 15-5 in seven innings and the nightcap, 7-4.  UW-L improves to 29-9 overall and 20-2 in the WIAC while UW-Stout falls to 17-21 overall and 6-16 in the conference.  The 29 overall victories sets a single-season school record for UW-L.  The Eagles finished 27-14 in 2000.

In Friday's opener, the Eagles took a 4-0 lead in the top of the second inning.  Brett Jacobson made it 2-0 with a two-run double while Corey Geary had an RBI single and Cole Cefalu a sacrifice fly.  The Blue Devils cut the lead to 4-2 in the bottom of the inning on a pair of unearned runs.

UW-L made it 6-2 in the top of the third as Jay Fanta stole home and Jacobson had a sacrifice fly, but UW-Stout tallied a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning as Ryan Gangestad hit a solo home run and Ben Yaucher had an RBI groundout.  The Eagles scored twice in the fourth and once in the fifth to lead 9-4.  Adam Cordova hit a run-scoring single and Fanta an RBI double in the fourth while Brooks Braga had a sacrifice fly in the fifth to score Trevor Burmeister.

After UW-Stout's AJ Yusten homered in the bottom of the sixth, UW-L scored six times in the seventh.  Jacobson opened the inning with a home run and Braga had a sacrifice fly.  Fanta later hit a grand slam to knock in Cefalu, Braga and Cordova.

Tim Verthein (5-4) earned the win for UW-L, going 6.0 innings, allowing seven hits, five runs (three earned) and one walk while striking out two.

Fanta and Jake Paulson each finished 3-for-5 with Fanta scoring three times and recording five RBI.  Paulson scored twice.  Geary was 3-for-3 with two runs and an RBI.  He also had a walk.  Cefalu, Braga and Jacobson each had two hits with Braga recording two runs and two RBI.  Jacobson scored twice and finished with four RBI.  UW-L had 18 hits in the opener.

Tyler Hamann (2-4) took the loss for UW-Stout, pitching 3.1 innings, allowing eight hits, eight runs (seven earned) and one walk with four strikeouts.

Yusten finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI.

In the nightcap, UW-Stout took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third on Jake Duske's sacrifice fly to score Jake Lunow.  UW-L tied the game in the top of the fourth as Fanta scored on Burmeister's RBI groundout.  The Blue Devils took the lead in the fourth on Colin Pechacek's RBI single and Jon Schoch hit a two-run double in the sixth to make it 4-1.

UW-L tallied five runs in the seventh to take its first lead of the game. Ben Morgan scored on a wild pitch to cut the lead to 4-2 and Cordova and Fanta later hit RBI singles to tie the contest.  Jacobson gave UW-L the lead on a single and Burmeister added another RBI single to make it 6-4.  Zach Harazin gave the Eagles a 7-4 lead in the top of the ninth on a run-scoring single knocking in Jordan DeBoer.

Zach Lauersdorf (6-0) picked up the win for the Eagles, pitching 4.0 innings in relief.  He alloed two hits and two walks with five strikeouts.  Garrett Scray started for UW-L, going 5.0 innings, allowing eight hits, four runs (three earned) and one walk while striking out five.

Cordova, Fanta, Burmeister and Geary each had two hits in Friday's nightcap.  Fanta also scored twice while Burmeister had two RBI.  UW-L finished with 15 hits.

With his five hits in Friday's doubleheader, Fanta set a career record for hits at UW-L.  He now has 222 hits, breaking the record of 221 held by Andy Podmolik (2004-07).

John Ewald (1-3) took the loss for the Blue Devils.  He faced three batters in the seventh, allowing two hits, three runs and a walk.

Schoch finished 3-for-4 with a run scored and two RBI.

The teams wrap up their regular seasons with a doubleheader Saturday, May 5 at noon.