The good news ... UW-Whitewater extended its winning streak to fourteen games with a 12-2 run differential win in game one at UW-Platteville Wednesday.  The bad news ... that streak ended with an 8-4 win by the Pioneers in game two.

Game One Notes
game one box score

Platteville scored first, plating two runs in the first inning, both coming with two out.  Second baseman Jason Jacobson singled in the first run and DH Brett Benesh brought the second in with a single.  Those would prove to be the only runs the Pioneers would put on the scoreboard.

UW-P's Justin Crotty kept the Warhawks at bay through three innings, giving up just one hit.  Cleanup hitter Ben Kuhlmann (Minneapolis, MN/Southwest) cut the deficit in half with a leadoff home run, his fourth round-tripper of the season, in the fourth.

Crotty walked two of the first three batters in the fifth, and senior first baseman Jeff Donovan (Wauwatosa/East) made him pay with his fifth homer of the season to give the Warhawks the lead, 4-2.

The issue was settled in the sixth, when Whitewater scored eight runs on just five hits.  Platteville pitchers contributed four walks and a wild pitch, and the Warhawks made the most of their hits, with two doubles and a triple in the inning.  Rightfielder Daniel Putnam (Ashland /Ashland) doubled in two, Donovan singled in the third run, and another scored on an infield single by DH Ryan Leavitt (Merrill/Merrill).  Leftfielder Tim Conroy (Barrington, IL/Barrington) had the big blow of the inning, tripling to right field for three runs.  Run number eight came in on the wild pitch.

Junior lefty Riley Tincher (Oregon/Oregon) settled down after the first inning, giving up just one hit, and no walks, the rest of the way in his complete game effort.  Tincher, who raised his record to 7-0, struck out five.

Donovan went 3x4 with four RBI's and a pair of runs scored to lead the Warhawk offense.  Putnam and Kuhlmann had two hits apiece.  

Conroy, the first of four Pioneer pitchers, took the loss to move his record to 2-4.  No UW-P batter had more than one hit.

Game Two Notes
game two box score

Deuces were wild in game two.  All the scoring, six innings by both teams, came in twos.

Aaron Hopson's two run home run in the first inning, his sixth homer of the season, gave UW-Platteville a lead it never relinquished.

Shortstop Tyler Jackson doubled in two more in the second to make it 4-0 Platteville.

Warhawk third baseman Travis Wessels (Tomah/Tomah) got UW-W on the board with a run scoring double in the top of the third, and after a wild pitch and a hit batsman moved runners into scoring position, Whitewater's second run came in on a ground out.

Platteville scored two, naturally, for the third consecutive inning in the third.  A walk and a sacrifice bunt set up a run on a ground ball, and the second run of the frame came in on a single by UW-P catcher Wade Axelson.  Platteville led 6-2 after three innings.

Jacobson and Alexson drove in Platteville's final two runs in the seventh.

Whitewater didn't lay down, plating two more in the ninth with Leavitt's RBI single and shortstop Mike Kenseth (Milwaukee/West Allis Hale) pushing across the final Whitewater tally.  UW-W had the bases loaded when the game ended.

Brandon Byrne, 2-2, one of five pitchers used by UW-P, picked up the win with five innings of one hit relief.  Hopson was 3x5 with two runs batted in and two scored to lead Pioneer batters.

UW-W's Jason Hooper (Lake Mills/Lake Mills), 3-1, suffered his first loss of the season.  Hooper was one of four hurlers used by coach John Vodenlich.  Catcher Rob Coe (Appleton/North) and Wessels had two hits apiece for UW-W.

Miscellaneous
UW-Whitewater, ranked third in the national Division III poll, is 19-2 overall and 7-1 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.  Platteville is 12-9, and 2-6 in league play.

UW-W will play two doubleheaders at UW-La Crosse this weekend, Saturday and Sunday's twinbills both starting at 12:00.

The next home date for the Warhawks will be Wednesday, April 21 at 1:00 with UW-Oshkosh visiting Prucha Field at Jim Miller Stadium on the UW-W campus.

For additional information:  John Vodenlich, UW-W coach