No. 4 UW-Whitewater Completes Weekend Sweep Over No. 15 UW-La Crosse

The No. 4 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater baseball team posted two more solid performances Sunday afternoon to defeat 15th-ranked UW-La Crosse twice in a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest at Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium.

 

The Warhawks (16-2 overall, 4-0 WIAC) earned a dramatic 4-3 victory in the opener before completing a four-game, weekend sweep over UW-La Crosse with a 6-2 triumph in the nightcap.

 

In the first game, junior first baseman Blake Fleischman led off the bottom of the 12th with a walk-off, solo home run to deep right field to give UW-Whitewater a dramatic victory.

 

The two teams combined to leave 22 runners on base in the three-hour, 33-minute affair.

 

After the Eagles (10-9, 0-4) opened scoring with two in the top of the fourth, the Warhawks got one back in the bottom half of the frame on a solo homer by senior second baseman Steve Chamberlain.

 

UW-La Crosse took a 3-1 advantage in the top of the fifth, but UW-Whitewater tied the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the sixth on Chamberlain's second solo homer of the game and a run-scoring groundout by sophomore catcher Mike Aiello.

 

Senior Westin Wuethrich, who started and pitched eight strong innings, got out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the top of the eight, inducing a lineout before posting his ninth and 10th strikeouts of the contest to end his outing.

 

Senior Mike Nompleggi tossed the last four innings to pick up his second win of the year.

 

Fleischman and Chamberlain each collected three hits, and senior shortstop Jordan Kuczynski registered two hits and scored a run.

 

In Game 2, the Warhawks plated three runs in the third, and senior pitcher Ankur Shah pitched around two errors in the eighth inning and tossed a 1-2-3 ninth inning for the complete-game win. The left-hander scattered seven hits and struck out six to improve to 3-0 on the year.

 

Fleischman recorded his fourth home run of the weekend, a solo shot down the left field line, and finished 2-for-2 with two walks, three runs scored and two RBI. Junior centerfielder Brett Krause totaled two hits and one RBI, and Chamberlain contributed two hits and one RBI.

 

Kuczynski and sophomore left fielder Matt Wary also plated runs for UW-Whitewater, which extended its win streak to six games.

 

The Warhawks host Concordia (Wis.) for a single game Tuesday at 3 p.m. at Miller Stadium.