Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 UW-Whitewater began the 2012 campaign with a doubleheader split with Bethel University (3-1) on Wednesday in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.  UW-W won game one 6-2 but dropped game two 9-4.  Both games were scheduled as seven inning games.

Game one box score
Game two box score

The saying goes "everything after two" and that is just how the Warhawks started the first inning in the first game of the doubleheader.  With two down Jared Fon (Germantown/Germantown) singled down the right field line.  Ryan Leavitt (Merrill/Merrill) followed with a walk and Marty Herum (River Falls/River Falls) followed with a single that drove in Fon.  Matt Beyer (Janesville/Parker) then reached on an error and Leavitt scored to give UW-W a 2-0 lead after half of an inning.

Bethel did not go down quietly in the bottom half of the first loading the bases with the first three batters.  Kyle Stewart (Onalaska/Onalaska) regrouped and retired the next three to escape the inning with a 2-0 lead.

The Warhawks added one to their lead in the top of the fourth on an RBI double by Dylan Friend (Burlington/Burlington) that scored Matt Beyer (Janesville/Parker).  However, the Royals retaliated with a run in the bottom of the fourth on a bases loaded passed ball to bring the score to 3-1 after four.

The teams traded runs again in the next two innings with UW-W scoring in the top of the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Fon that scored JT Schneider (Oak Creek/Oak Creek), and the Royals scoring in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single.

UW-W added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh to go up 6-2.  Pinch hitter Mike Mierow (Brookfield/Central) singled in JT Schneider (Oak Creek/Oak Creek) who reached on a walk and stole second.  Mierow later came around to score on a Bethel error.

Kyle Stewart (Onalaska/Onalaska) picked up the first win of the season for UW-W throwing three and two-thirds innings, striking out eight and giving up one unearned run.

Bethel struck first in game two scoring on an RBI single to right field.  They added two in the top of the second and one in the top of the third to take an early 4-0 lead.

UW-W chipped away at the Bethel lead with two runs in the bottom of the third.  Travis Wessels (Tomah/Tomah) scored on a grounder by JT Schneider (Oak Creek/Oak Creek) and Brandon Egnarski (Watertown/Watertown) scored on a Fon single up the middle for UW-W's two runs.

Bethel responded with two runs in the top of the fourth to lunge out to a 6-2 lead.

A Dylan Friend (Burlington/Burlington) single to right center that plated Andrew Bauer (Hartland/Arrowhead) in the bottom of the fourth and a Bauer single up the middle that scored Mierow in the fifth brought UW-W within two at 6-4.

Bethel's bats refused to slow down as they produced three more runs in the top of the seventh to push the final score to 9-4.

Four hurlers split up the work for the Warhawks in game two with Tom Kerndt (Lansing, IA/Lansing) leading the way with four strike outs while giving up just one run in three innings of work.

Six Warhawks tallied two or more hits in the doubleheader.  Herum was 4-for-7 with one RBI, Fon went 3-for-6 with two RBI, Schneider went 2-for-7 scoring two runs and stealing two bases, Friend was 2-for-6 with two RBI, Beyer was 2-for-7 and scored one run, and Bauer was 2-for-2 with one run and one RBI.

The Warhawks, 1-1, will face the University of St. Thomas on Thursday at 5:00 pm in a doubleheader at the H.H.H. Metrodome.