La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team earned a doubleheader sweep of Saint Mary's University (Minn.) Wednesday at Copeland Park in the Eagles' home opener.  The Eagles won the opener, 4-3, and the nightcap, 7-3, in improving to 11-3 on the season. The Cardinals drop to 9-8 on the season.

UWL, ranked 11th on this week's D3baseball.com Top-25 Poll, have won seven straight overall.  The Eagles improved to 56-10 (.848) since starting to play their home games at Copeland Park in 2014.

Chris Schwarz now has 299 career victories in his 13th season at UWL, improving to 299-220-1 (.576) overall. He is the school's career leader in wins.

Saint Mary's (Minn.) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth in Wednesday's opener with Ben Buerkle scoring on Bob Kinne's RBI groundout. The Cardinals made it 2-0 in the top of the seventh as Jake Barry came in on Justin Weinberg's groundout.

UWL's first 12 batters were retired until Alex Robson's single in the bottom of the fifth. The Eagles broke through in the bottom of the eighth, scoring four runs with two outs. Brennan Schmitt and Sam Prissel singled followed by a Joel Zyhowski single to knock in Schmitt to cut the Cardinals' lead to 2-1.  Nate Heili's RBI double scored Prissel with the tying run and Zyhowski and Heili both scored on a Saint Mary's (Minn.) throwing error for a 4-2 advantage. 

The Cardinals' Joe Seegers singled with two outs in the top of the ninth to score Matthew Piechowski to cut it to 4-3, but UWL's Brock Rude recorded the final out on a strikeout. 
Rude (1-0) earned the win for UWL, pitching 3.0 innings in relief. He allowed five hits, two runs and one walk while striking out six. Mason McMahon started for the Eagles, going 6.0 innings, allowing five hits, one run and one walk with three strikeouts. UWL had five hits in the game.

Austin Jacobs (1-2) took the loss for Saint Mary's (Minn.), pitching 2.0 innings, allowing four hits and four runs (two earned) with one strikeout. R.J. Brown started for the Cardinals, going 6.0 innings, allowing one hit and two walks while striking out five. Saint Mary's (Minn.) finished with 10 hits as Seegers went 3-for-5 with an RBI.

After Saint Mary's (Minn.) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on Kinne's single in the nightcap, UWL scored six runs over the next four innings.  The Eagles tied the game in the bottom of the first as Zyhowski scored on a Cardinals' fielding error.  UWL tallied two runs in the second inning as Schmitt scored on a throwing error and Prissel came in on Heili's sacrifice fly to make it 3-1.  Schmitt's RBI single scored Brady Stolzman in the bottom of the third for a 4-1 lead and Alex Barnard came in on the play after a Saint Mary's (Minn.) fielding error.

UWL took a 6-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth without the benefit of a hit with Heili scoring on a throwing error.

The Cardinals cut the deficit to 6-3 in the top of the sixth on Buerkle's two-run home run, but the Eagles made it 7-3 in the bottom of the seventh on a double steal with Barnard stealing second and Alex Brown home. Saint Mary's (Minn.) left two runners on base in the eighth and ninth innings.

Travis Stahulak (1-1) picked up the win for UWL, pitching 5.0 innings, allowing seven hits, one run and one walk with two strikeouts. Connor Cook went 3.0 innings, allowing three hits, two runs and one walk while striking out one while Caleb Willems pitched 1.0 inning, allowing one hit and one walk with two strikeouts.

UWL totaled nine hits as Zyhowski, Heili, Stolzman and Schmitt each had two. Seven different players scored a run.

Eli Morison (1-3) suffered the loss for Saint Mary's (Minn.), going 2.1 innings, allowing five hits, five runs and three walks with one strikeout. The Cardinals had 11 hits in the nightcap with Seegers, Buerkle and Kinne each finishing with two.

UWL returns to action Sunday, April 2 at The College of St. Scholastica (Minn.) for a doubleheader at 1 p.m.