The University of
Wisconsin-Platteville baseball team dropped a doubleheader to host
UW-La Crosse, 11-1 and 3-0 on Saturday in La Crosse to begin WIAC
play.
The Pioneers (3-13, 0-2 WIAC) held
an early 1-0 advantage in the first game before the host Eagles
scored seven times and sent 10 batters to the plate in the second
inning. UW-La Crosse added to its lead with a three-run seventh and
a run in the eighth for the win.
The Eagles (10-6, 2-0 WIAC) entire
lineup had a hit in the first game, including Jay Fanta, Corey
Geary and Adam Cordova, who each had three hits to pace a 17-hit
attack for UW-La Crosse. Cordova and Jordan DeBoer each had three
RBIs in the win.
Cordova drove in two of his three
runs in the bottom of the second to put UW-La Crosse ahead 2-1
early into the inning. The Eagles added to their lead with three
RBI singles and a RBI double in the inning.
With a 17-hit attack at the plate,
UW-La Crosse starting pitcher Tim Verthein overcame six walks to
limit the Pioneers to just three hits and struck out seven to
improve to 2-3 in a seven-inning stint.
Pioneer starter Bill Oppriecht went
six innings and struck out four in the loss to fall to 1-3.
In the nightcap, UW-La Crosse did
its damage again in the second inning with two runs and an
insurance run in the eighth for the 3-0 shutout win over the
Pioneers.
In the loss for the Pioneers, who
had six hits, they stranded 10 baserunners including runners on
second and third in the first two innings and the seventh and ninth
inning.
Eagles' starter Garrett Scray went
the distance for the six-hit shutout and struck out 12 to raise his
record to 3-2. Pioneers' starter Shane Murphy was the
tough-luck loser to fall to 2-3, scattering four hits and striking
out two.
In the second inning, a RBI double
by Corey Geary and a successful suicide squeeze bunt Brett Jacobson
plated two runs for the home team.
Murphy kept UW-La Crosse off the
scoreboard for the remainder of his outing. The Eagles did add an
insurance run off reliever Bobby Patton in the
eighth on a RBI double by pinch-hitter Zach Harazin.
The same two teams will meet up
again on Sunday at noon at North Campus Field on the campus of
UW-La Crosse.
