WHITEWATER, Wis. - It was a tale of two games, at least offensively, for the Warhawk baseball team Friday as they opened up play in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship.  Game one took 3.5 hours but the Warhawks pulled out a ten-inning win, 15-14, over UW-Stout.  UW-W struggled to score in the second game, falling 12-3 to UW-La Crosse.   The Warhawks will play again on Saturday at noon against UW-Stevens Point in an elimination game.

Game one was a flurry of offense from both teams.  They combined for 29 runs on 43 hits including 15 doubles, one triple and four homeruns. 

UW-W took an early lead then fell behind 14-10 after Stout posted five runs in the top of the eighth and added two more in the top of the ninth. Trey Cannon (Palatine, IL/Palatine) got the Warhawk bats going in the bottom of the ninth with a one-out double to right center. Mike Mierow (Brookfield/Central) picked the perfect time for his first round-tripper of the season with a homer to left field to bring Whitewater to within two, 14-12. Adam Gregory (Edgerton/Edgerton) was hit by pitch and Nick Kuhlmann (Minneapolis, MN/Minneapolis Southwest) kept the offense going with a deep fly ball to center field that one hopped the center field fence for a ground-rule double. Dylan Friend (Burlington/Burlington) loaded the bases after taking a pitch to the upper arm and Mikole Pierce (DePere/DePere) drove in another run with a single to left center. Michael Gonzalez (Delavan/Delavan-Darien) put the pressure on the defense with a potential double play ball up the middle but legged out the fielder's choice to allow the tying run to score. 

The Blue Devils threatened in the top of the tenth but Austin Jones (Wauwatosa/Wauwatosa West) came in with two on and one out to shut down Stout. Jones forced a fielder's choice for the second out of the inning and a fly out brought the Warhawks back to the plate.

Casey Power (Ontario, Canada/Belle River) led off the bottom of the tenth with a single through the left side. Cannon followed with a single to center field to put two runners on. Mierow came through with a single to short right field that one hopped the fielder and Power came around third to score the game winning run without a play at the plate.

In their second game Friday the Warhawks fell behind 7-0 after five and a half innings of play.  Dylan Friend (Burlington/Burlington) hit a solo homer to start the sixth and two batters later Michael Gonzalez (Delavan/Delavan-Darien) belted a two-run homerun to breathe some life into the Warhawk bats.  The next two batters reached, but the rally was stifled when the next three batters sat down in order.

La Crosse continued to add to their lead with three in the seventh and two more in the ninth to make it 12-3, the final score.  The 2-3-4 batters for UW-W combined to go 7-for-13 in the game while the rest of the lineup went 1-for-23.

UW-W faced UW-L three times earlier this season and won all three.

On to Saturday where the Warhawks and Pointers will meet for the fifth time this season.  UW-W leads the season series 3-1.  The winner of that game will advance to the championship game against UW-La Crosse at 3:00 pm.  UW-L is 2-0 in the double-elimination tournament and whichever team prevails at noon, they will have to defeat the Eagles twice to claim the WIAC championship title and the automatic berth into the NCAA DIII tournament.