La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team opened National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Regional play with a 10-0 win over Bethany Lutheran College (Minn.) Friday afternoon at Copeland Park. The Eagles, ranked 13th on this week's D3baseball.com Top-25 Poll, improve to 32-9 on the season and will play Bethel University (Minn.) in the winner's bracket on Saturday, May 20 at 2:30 p.m.  Bethel (Minn.) earned a 9-6 victory over Buena Vista University (Iowa) Friday. 

Bethany Lutheran (Minn.) drops to 25-10 overall and will play Buena Vista (Iowa) an elimination game Saturday, May 20 at 11 a.m. 

Isaiah Katz and Alex Mach combined on the shutout Friday, UWL's second shutout in NCAA Division III tournament history. The Eagles earned a 10-0 win over Saint John's University (Minn.) in the 2016 regional. Katz (7-0) earned the win Friday, going 7.0 innings, allowing three hits and one walk while striking out 12. The 12 strikeouts tied his career-high. Mach went 2.0 innings, recording six strikeouts. 

UWL took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Chris VandenHeuvel was hit-by-pitch to start the game and after moving to second on a passed ball, scored on Jack Olver's two-run home run to right-center field. 

The Eagles added to their lead with single runs in the second and third innings. Jordan Williams walked to lead-off the second and stole second with one out. He then stole third and scored on a Vikings' throwing error to give UWL a 3-0 lead. In the third, Ty Hamilton walked and advanced to second on Logan Pye's bunt single. Tim Urlaub's single loaded the bases with a single with no outs. After a strikeout. Williams' infield single scored Hamilton to make it 4-0. 

UWL tallied six runs in the seventh. Olver singled to start the inning and went to second on Anthony Vivian's groundout. Hamilton delivered an RBI single to knock in Olver for a 5-0 lead. Pye was hit-by-pitch and Urlaub followed with a run-scoring single to make it 6-0. George Seaman then hit a three-run home run to extend the lead to 9-0. Jack Moran walked with two outs, advanced to second on balk and scored on VandenHeuvel's single to finish the scoring. 

UWL finished with 10 hits in the win with Olver going 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI. Urlaub went 2-for-4 with a run and RBI while Seaman had three RBI. Seven starters recorded a hit for the Eagles. 

Gavin Jacobsen (1-3) suffered the loss for Bethany Lutheran (Minn.), pitching 5.0 innings, allowing five hits, four runs and three walks with five strikeouts. The Vikings were held to three hits with Brad Bickmann going 2-for-3. Bethany Lutheran (Minn.) only advanced one runner to third base.