The UW-Whitewater baseball team, ranked tenth in the latest D3baseball.com poll, improved to 16-5 overall and 9-3 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference after a split with UW-Stout on Sunday in Menomonie, Wisconsin at Nelson Field.  The Blue Devils won game one 14-8 while the 'Hawks turned the tables winning game two 13-8.  Stout is now 9-12 and 4-5.

Whitewater scored first in game one on a sacrifice fly to left by catcher Rob Coe that scored Andrew Eichstaedt.  The Blue Devils responded with a run in the bottom of the first to knot the score and then took a two run advantage after plating two runs in the bottom of the second.

The Warhawks regained the lead scoring three in the top of the third.  The first run was plated again by the bat of Rob Coe who grounded out but scored Daniel Putnam.  The other two runs came courtesy of senior first baseman Jeff Donovan's second homerun of the year, plating himself and Eichstaedt.

The seesaw battle continued as Stout scored four in the bottom of the fourth to regain the advantage at 7-4.  The Blue Devils scored all four runs by way of the long ball, including two solo home runs.

The 'Hawks tied things up at 7-7 after three more runs in the top of the seventh.  Putnam knocked in the first run on a single through the right side, Eichstaedt plated the second on a liner up the middle and Coe pushed the third across on a single through the left side.

Then the Stout bats exploded in the bottom of the seventh as the Blue Devils recorded seven runs to take the lead 14-7.

UW-W was able to push another run across in the top of the ninth, but the Devils held on to victory in game one.

Lefty Riley Tincher took the loss, only his second of the season, as he surrendered nine runs while striking out five.

The Warhawks scored five runs on three hits in the first inning to set the tone for game two.  UW-Stout fought back to tie the score after two runs in the first and three in the second.

Dylan Friend's sacrifice fly in the third plated Sam Keller to give UW-W a 6-5 lead, but the Devils again tied the score in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI double to right center.

A leadoff homer by Jeff Donovan in the top of the fifth gave the Warhawks their third lead of the game, but it was matched by the Blue Devils first batter in the bottom half of the inning to once again tie the score.

A Putnam single in the top of the sixth plated Matt Beyer and the Warhawks never looked back.  With an 8-7 lead going into the seventh, UW-W scored three more in the top of the seventh and two more in the eighth while giving up just one run as they went on to win 13-8.

The top of the Warhawk order (Putnam, Eichstaedt, Coe and Donovan) went 17-for-37 on the day for a .459 average.  They accounted for 12 runs, 14 RBI and 5 walks.  Putnam (.522) and Donovan (.420) are the only two every game starters for the Warhawks batting over .400, but Coe (.385) and Eichstaedt (.349) are doing damage at the plate as well.

Donovan not only had a great day at the plate, he pitched in game two and earned the victory.  Donovan went eight innings and struck out eleven.  He is 7-0 this season with an ERA of 3.55.

UW-W will play UW-Stout again on Monday in Menomonie in a doubleheader beginning at noon.