AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The No. 1 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater baseball team combined a six-run second inning with sound pitching Tuesday to defeat Elmhurst (Ill.) 7-3 in a non-conference affair at Lake Myrtle Park.
The Warhawks (5-1) tallied six runs on six hits in the second frame to give freshman pitcher Lake Bachar more than enough run support.
Bachar earned the win, his first of the year, with six innings of solid work. The right-hander finished with 10 strikeouts, the most in one game by a UW-Whitewater pitcher this season, and held the Bluejays (5-6) to just six hits.
Sophomore left-hander Ankur Shah tossed two innings in relief of Bachar, and sophomore righty Matt Langlie wrapped up the contest with a scoreless ninth inning.
Senior second baseman Nick Kuhlmann and senior shortstop Mikole Pierce led the Warhawks with three hits apiece. Senior left fielder Kyle Haen tallied two runs batted in and scored a pair.
Bachar was dominant over the first two innings, striking out five of the first six batters he faced, including the first three.
In the bottom of the second, senior third baseman Adam Gregory singled with one out, and senior catcher Mike Mierow and freshman centerfielder Daytona Bryden followed with consecutive bunt base hits to load the bases.
After a walk by freshman right fielder Kyle Jones plated Gregory from third, Kuhlmann knocked in a run with a sharp single to right to make it 2-0.
Haen then knocked in two more with a double, and after a walk by Pierce, senior first baseman Casey Power singled through the left side. One run on the hit, and another touched home on an error by the left fielder to increase the advantage to 6-0.
Elmhurst cut its deficit to five with a run in the top of the sixth, but UW-Whitewater responded in the bottom half as Pierce one-hopped the right field fence with a two-out, run-scoring triple.
The Bluejays tallied twice in the top of the eighth and threatened with two outs in the top of the ninth, but Langlie induced a fielder's choice ground ball to end the contest.
The Warhawks, ranked first in the nation by the American Baseball Coaches Association and third by D3baseball.com, take on consensus No. 4 St. Thomas (Minn.) Wednesday in a doubleheader starting at 10 a.m. Central Time at Lake Myrtle Park.