Whitewater, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball squad earned a 4-2 victory over North Park University (Ill.) in an elimination game at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Midwest Regional Thursday afternoon at Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium. The Eagles (34-10) advance play Friday, May 18 at 10 a.m. versus the loser of the UW-Whitewater/University of St. Thomas (Minn.) contest.  North Park ends its season at 32-14.

The Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third.  Trevor Burmeister singled to start the inning and went to second on Garrett Novinski's sacrifice bunt.  Corey Geary followed with a double as Burmeister went to third.  Burmeister then scored on a Vikings' fielding error on Cole Cefalu's at-bat.  After Geary stole third and Cefalu second, Brooks Braga walked to load the bases, but Adam Cordova struck out and Jay Fanta flied out to right field to end the inning.

North Park scored a pair of runs in the top of the fourth to take a 2-1 lead.  Ryan Javech singled to start the inning and went to second on Garrett Scray's throwing error on a failed pickoff attempt.  Tony Sanchez singled to put Javech on third base with no outs.  Joe Belmonte then hit an RBI single up the middle to score Javech and tie the game.  Scray then struck out Kyle Williams and retired Joel Bonnett on a foul ball to right field.  Mike Coduto gave North Park a 2-1 lead with a run-scoring single up the middle to knock in Sanchez.  Eric Sousanes grounded out to Scray to end the inning.

UW-L came right back in the bottom half of the frame to regain the lead with a pair of runs.  Zach Harazin opened with a single and Jordan DeBoer walked.  Burmeister then sacrificied both runners over with a bunt.  Novinski tied the game at 2-2 on a sacrifice fly to score Harazin.  Geary followed with a single to move DeBoer to third base and Cefalu hit an RBI single to knock in DeBoer to give the Eagles a 3-2 lead.  Braga flied out to center field to end the inning.

The Eagles made it 4-2 in the bottom of the seventh.  Cefalu opened the frame with a single and went to third on Braga's single.  Pinch-hitter Jake Paulson struck out, but Fanta knocked in Cefalu with an RBI groundout to second base to give UW-L a two-run lead.

Scray (7-3) earned the win for UW-L, pitching a complete-game.  He went 9.0 innings, allowing 10 hits, two runs and one walk while striking out three.

Cefalu (2-for-3) and Harazin (2-for-4) both finished with two hits for the Eagles.  Each player scored a run while Cefalu had two RBI.

Nick Soldano (9-2) took the loss for North Park.  He pitched 8.0 innings, allowing eight hits, four runs and three walks with six strikeouts.

Matt Rice finished 3-for-4 for the Vikings while Javech was 2-for-4 with a run scored.

UW-L returns to action Friday, May 18 at 10 a.m. in an elimination game versus UW-Whitewater or the University of St. Thomas (Minn.).