La Crosse, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team captured the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championship (presented by Culver's) with a 14-5 victory over UW-Whitewater Sunday afternoon at Copeland Park.  The Eagles, ranked fourth on this week's D3baseball.com Top-25 Poll, improve to 34-8 overall while the Warhawks, ranked 15th in the nation, drop to 29-14.  The 34 overall wins for UWL are tied for second in single-season school history.  The Eagles also won 34 games in 2012 while winning a school record 36 games in 2015.

With the win, UWL receives the WIAC's automatic bid to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championship.  The Eagles had earned the championship's top-seed after winning its 14th regular-season title in school history.  The championship tournament title is the third (2000, 2012) for UWL since its inception in 1998. UWL won the 2000 title with a 6-2 victory over UW-Stevens Point and the 2012 crown with a 9-1 win over UW-Whitewater.
 
Regional pairings will be announced late Sunday or early Monday by the NCAA Division III.  UWL will host the Midwest Regional starting Wednesday, May 18 at Copeland Park.

UWL improved to 5-1 on the season versus UW-Whitewater after going 3-1 in the team's four-game regular-season series April 30-May 1 at Copeland Park, and earning a 5-2 victory in the WIAC Championship Saturday, May 14.
 
UW-Whitewater got on the scoreboard in the top of the first Sunday.  Daytona Brayden singled to open the game and advanced to third on a stole base and UWL throwing error.  He then scored on a Jordan Kuczynski groundout to give the Warhawks a 1-0 lead.
 
UWL answered back in the bottom of the first as 10 batters came to the plate with the first seven reaching base. Joel Zyhowski singled to start the rally and advanced to second on an Alex Cordova walk. Taylor Kohlwey followed with a three-run home run to right field to give the Eagles a 3-1 lead. Kohlwey extended his hitting streak to 45 games with the home run, the third-longest hitting streak in NCAA Division III history.
 
Justin Anderson and Carter Hoffman followed with walks before an Alex Brown single up the middle knocked in Anderson to make it 4-1.  Nate Heili later doubled down the left field line to score Hoffman and Travis Buxton-Verstegen for a 6-1 advantage.

Kohlwey reached on a UW-Whitewater fielding error with one out in the bottom of the second and scored on Anderson's two-run home run to right center field to give UWL an 8-1 lead.
 
UW-Whitewater scored twice in the top of the fourth on Matt Wary's solo home run and Bryden's RBI double. Blake Fleischmann's solo home run in the fifth inning cut UWL's lead to 8-4.  UWL responded with three runs in the bottom of the fifth as Buxton-Verstegen and Zyhowski walked and scored on Cordova's triple to make it 10-4. Cordova came in on the play after a Warhawks' throwing error.
 
Cal Aldridge home run in the top of the sixth for UW-Whitewater cut the deficit to 11-5, but UWL scored three times on four hits in the bottom of the eighth. Zyhowski singled to start the inning and stole second. He came in on Kohlwey's triple down the left field line for a 12-5 lead. The triple completed the cycle for Kohlwey, who had doubled in the fourth and singled in the fifth. He became the third player in school history, including the first since 1996, to hit for the cycle, joining Gordon Borchart and Matt Goebel. Borchart completed the cycle versus Saint Mary's University (Minn.) May 14, 1941 while Goebel hit for the cycle against Concordia-St. Paul (Minn.) April 13, 1996.
 
The Eagles scored their final two runs in the eighth as Kohlwey came in on a Warhawks' throwing error and Hoffman scored on Buxton-Verstegen's RBI single.
 
Jameson Lavery (7-1) earned the win for UWL Sunday, going 6.0 innings, allowing nine hits and five runs while striking out six. Brock Rude picked up his fourth save of the season, pitching 3.0 innings, recording five strikeouts.
 
The Eagles recorded their 20^th game this season with at least 10 runs in a game and their 34^th game with at least 10 hits as the team finished with 15. Seven starters had a hit for UWL Sunday, including four players with at least two. Kohlwey finished 4-for-5 with three runs and four RBI while becoming the seventh player in WIAC history to hit for the cycle.  He is the first player to accomplish the feat since Eric Fritz of UW-Stevens Point at UW-Oshkosh April 14, 2010.

Zyhowski went 3-for-4 Sunday with three runs while Buxton-Verstegen finished 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI.  Brown went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Six players scored at least two runs for the Eagles.
 
Austin Jones (0-1) suffered the loss for UW-Whitewater.  He did not record an out, allowing five runs, three hits and three walks. The Warhawks totaled nine hits as Bryden finished 4-for-5.
 
UWL will host the NCAA III Midwest Regional starting Wednesday, May 18.