UW-Whitewater opened Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a doubleheader split with UW-Platteville Tuesday at Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium in Whitewater.  The Warhawks won game one 21-4 in eight innings, but lost game two 4-3 to move to 11-3 overall.  The Pioneers are 4-10 overall and 1-1 in WIAC action.

Game one was shortened to eight innings because of the WIAC's ten-run rule stating that a game is to be stopped if one team is 10 or more runs ahead of its opponent after seven or more innings of play.  UW-W accomplished that feat in the eighth, scoring 8 runs on six hits to take a 21-4 advantage.

UW-W collected 21 hits in the first game and scored in all but one inning. Four different Warhawks collected three or more hits in the affair with Mikole Pierce (DePere/DePere) leading the way with four.  The Warhawks hit four homeruns and five doubles en route to victory.  Jared Fon (Germantown/Germantown) accounted for two homers and leads the team with four this season.  Casey Power (Ontario, Canada/Belle River), Kyle Haen (Madison/Edgewood) and Fon each nabbed four RBIs apiece while Michael Gonzalez (Delavan/Delavan-Darien) and Adam Gregory (Edgerton/Edgerton) each notched three.

Scott Plaza (Arlington Heights, IL/Prospect) went the distance for UW-W striking out seven while walking just one.  Plaza improves to 2-1 this season with a 3.91 ERA and leads the team with 24 strikeouts.

The offensive firepower the Warhawks had in game one disappeared for game two.  UW-Platteville starter Mike Boushley limited UW-W to just three runs on nine hits en route to his second victory of the season.

The Pioneers scored three in the bottom of the third on a three-run blast over the left field wall by first baseman Zach Demmon.

The Warhawks got one back in the top of the fifth when Nick Kuhlmann (Minneapolis, MN/Minneapolis Southwest) scored on a Pierce sacrifice fly.  UW-P got that run back and went up 4-1 in the bottom of the sixth scoring on a passed ball.

UW-W was able to get within one with two runs in the top of the eighth but the Pioneers squeaked out of the inning with a bases loaded lineout to remain ahead 4-3.  Tyler Nelson came on in the ninth to earn the save sitting down the Warhawks 1-2-3.

Dylan Friend (Burlington/Burlington) and Kuhlmann were the only Warhawks to tally multiple hits in the second game, each going 2-for-4.  Kuhlmann added a run and an RBI to his performance.

Connor Hurst (Waunakee/Waunakee) pitched five and two-thirds for UW-W giving up just six hits and four runs, none earned.  Curtis Morgan (Green Lake/Green Lake) finished the game on the mound for the Warhawks and did not give up a single hit.

UW-W returns to the diamond on Sunday, April 6 when they host a doubleheader with St. Scholastica beginning at 1 pm.