Box Score

VERONA, Wis. – The Edgewood College baseball team's regular season finale got off to a bit of a rocky start, but the Eagles came back to top UW-Platteville and push their winning streak to a modest three games. After the Pioneers plated two runs in the first inning, the Eagles bounced back, and took a 5-2 lead only to see UW-Platteville comeback to tie the game at five in the seventh. Alex Jaskulski gave the lead back to the Eagles in the bottom of the seventh and Joe Gura closed out the 7-5 victory in the ninth.

UW-Platteville (11-29) started the game with a bang as Levi Ney singled up the middle to score Tyler Jacobson who was hit by a pitch to leadoff the game. Trevor Kattre followed with a triple to score Ney and put the Pioneers up 2-0.

The Edgewood College offense got on the board in the bottom of the inning, however. Jaskulski sparked a two out rally with a single to center field, and advanced to third on a Mike Selvaggi single. Jake Zadra extended his hitting streak to 14 games when he laced a double to right center that scored Jaskulski and cut the deficit to one. The Eagles (17-21) then grabbed a 3-2 lead with a pair of unearned runs in the second inning.

The Eagle offense struck again with two outs in the third inning as Jake Zadra ripped his first home run of the season to left center. On the very next pitch, Ryan O'Dell crushed a home run of his own to right field, giving the Eagles a 5-2 lead after three innings.

It looked as though UW-Platteville was in great position to make a comeback in the fourth inning as they loaded the bases with just one out. Jon Lewerke drove in Topher Scheerer to cut the Pioneer deficit to just two runs and keep the bases loaded. However, Eagle pitcher Brad Clark induced a fly out and got a ground out to end the threat and keep the Eagle lead at 5-3. The Pioneers loaded the bases again in the fifth inning, but could not scratch out a run as Tony Ales got a fly out and strike out to get out of the jam.

The Pioneers sparked another rally in the seventh inning as Ney was hit by a pitch to leadoff the frame. With runners on second and third, Evan Greco ripped a double to right field to score one and cut the deficit in half. Kattre then scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at five.

The tie was short lived, however, as Zach Creekmore leadoff the bottom of the inning with a walk. Creekmore promptly stole second and Jaskulski drove him in with a single to right center. After Jaskulski stole second, Zadra placed a single in right center to score him and give the Eagles a 7-5 lead.

Taylor Hillmann pitched the eighth inning for the Eagles and gave up one hit, but stranded the runner to keep the lead intact. Joe Gura came on to pitch the ninth and worked around a pair of walks to get his fifth save of the season. With that save, Gura tied the Edgewood College school record for saves in a season and in a career.

The Pioneers left 13 runners on base while the Eagles left seven runners on base. Edgewood College also had the edge in hits with 13 while the Pioneers had 10.

Jaskuski and Zadra led the Eagle offense, combining for seven of the Eagles' 13 hits. Jaskulski went 4-for-4 with two runs scored and one run batted in while Zadra went 3-for-4, drove in three runs a scored one more. Zadra has reached base safely in 25 straight games, which is within one of the school record. Casey Geissberger pitched one-third of an inning and earned his third win of the season.

Edgewood College will next be in action on Thursday in the Northern Athletics Conference Tournament. The fifth seeded Eagles will play second seed Benedictine University at Tiedmann Field in Oshskosh at 4:00 p.m. The rest of the six-team tournament will take place at Marian University in Fond du Lac.