UW-Whitewater, ranked seventh and ninth in the two national Division III polls, upped its win streak to seven and overall mark to 25-3 with a doubleheader sweep, 10-2 and 7-3, over Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin Thursday.  Warhawk senior Suzanne Gersich (Wadsworth, IL/Warren), who drove in a run in both games, broke the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference career RBI record.

game one box score

game two box score

UW-W scored all the runs it would need, four, in the first inning of game one.  The Warhawks had just three timely hits, but one run came in on a sacrifice fly, one scored on an error, one crossed after a wild pitch, and Kate McDonnell (Aurora, IL/West Aurora) singled in the fourth run.  Gersich tied  the WIAC RBI mark held by Jill Schoenike of UW-Eau Claire at 155 with a solo home run in the second inning.  That upped her school record to 34 career home runs.  Nicole Bothun (Fort Atkinson/Fort Atkinson) brought in three more in the third with her second homer of the season, and the Warhawks made it 10-0 with two more in the fourth.  Lawrence scored twice in the bottom of the fourth, but the game was stopped after five innings because of the run differential rule.  Brittany LeBeau (Worth, IL/Richards) raised her record to 5-1, giving up five hits and two walks while striking out two.

Whitewater took the early lead again in game two, with Gersich driving in one with a single in the first, and Bothun following suit in the second.  Lauren Cruz (Des Plaines, IL/Maine West) hit her team high eighth home run in the third to score two more, making it 4-0.  Lawrence cut the margin in half with two in the fourth, but Lauren Rankins (Marengo, IL/Marengo) got one back for UW-W with a RBI single in the fifth, and Ashley Smith (Elgin, IL/St. Edward Catholic) drove home two in the sixth with her second home run of the year.  Lawrence ended the scoring with one in the bottom of the sixth.  Stacy Bahr (Racine/Park), 6-1, picked up the win with three innings of one hit, one run relief.  The UW-W offense totaled fourteen hits in the game, led by Gersich's 4x4, tying the most hits by a Warhawk in a game this season.

UW-W, 10-0 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, will return to league play Saturday and Sunday, hosting doubleheaders both days at 12:00.  UW-Superior will be at van Steenderen Field Saturday and UW-Eau Claire Sunday.  Van Steenderen Field is north of Williams Center and west of Perkins Stadium on the UW-W campus.

For additional information:  Brenda Volk, UW-W coach