Three runs in the eighth and three more in the ninth pushed the Warhawks past Washington and Jefferson 12-8 on Monday in Winterhaven, Florida.  The Warhawks improve to 7-1 overall and Washington and Jefferson falls to 2-1.

Box Score

The Presidents opened up the bottom of the first with four runs to take an early lead.  It wasn't long until the game was back where it started, tied, as UW-W answered with four of their own in the top of the second.  Rob Coe (Appleton/North) singled to start the inning and then advanced to second on a wild pitch.  Two batters later, Fred Gromalak (Kettle Moriane/Kettle Moraine) walked to put runners on first and second.  Mike Kenseth (Milwaukee/West Allis Hale) then singled to bring in Coe and then Matt Beyer (Janesville/Parker) followed with a homer to score three more.

Washington and Jefferson regained the lead in the bottom of the second by scoring one and then increased their lead to 6-4 after another run in the bottom of the third.

The 'Hawks chipped away at the lead in the top of the fifth when a Ben Kuhlmann (Minneapolis, MN/Southwest) single scored Jordan Stine (Merrill/Merrill ).  The Warhawks knotted things up in the top of the sixth when Gromalak scored on a Jeff Donovan (Wauwatosa/East) single.

The see-saw battle continued as the Presidents regained the lead in the bottom of the seventh after small ball put runners on second and third.  The decision to intentionally load the bases was made but the next batter hit a grounder that scored one run and gave Washington and Jefferson a 7-6 lead.

A determined Warhawk squad took the lead back, for good, in the top of the eighth when Donovan drove home another run and Kuhlmann drove in two more on a double.  UW-W padded their lead with another three runs in the top of the ninth courtesy of a Travis Wessels (Tomah/Tomah) sacrifice fly and a two-RBI triple by Donovan.

The Presidents tacked on a virtually meaningless run in the bottom of the ninth for the final score of 12-8.

Donovan was hot at the plate going 3-for-4 in the game with one run scored and four RBIs.  Beyer was 2-for-4 from the plate, including a homerun, and scored three runs while driving in the same number.  Kuhlmann also drove in three runs in the game and was 2-for-5 from the plate.

Six Warhawks tallied two or more hits in the game that featured 15 hits by UW-W and 10 by Washington and Jefferson.

Andrew Bauer (Hartland/Arrowhead) pitched the final two innings for the 'Hawks and earned the win.  Bauer surrendered two hits and one run while walking two and striking out three and is now 1-0 this season.

The Warhawks are off until Wednesday when they match-up with Bowdoin College in Winterhaven.

For additional information, John Vodenlich