Box Score UW-Whitewater, ranked sixteenth by D3baseball.com, began its annual spring trip with a 7-5 win over Western New England College Thursday in Auburndale, Florida.  A wild pitch and hit batter played key roles in Whitewater's winning runs.

The game was tied 2-2 after the first inning.  Western took a 3-2 lead with a run in the top of the second.

Whitewater scored three in the fourth for a 5-3 lead.  David Cladis (Joliet, IL/Joliet Catholic) brought in one run with a RBI single, Michael Gonzalez (Delavan/Delavan-Darien) brought in the second with a double, and UW-W capitalized on a Western error for the third tally.

The Warhawks tacked on two more in the seventh.  Dylan Friend (Burlington/Burlington) doubled and scored on a wild pitch.  Jared Fon (Germantown/Germantown) was hit by a pitch, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch, and came home on Marty Herum (River Falls/River Falls)'s sacrifice fly.

Those runs proved to be crucial as WNEC plated a pair of runs in the top of the ninth.

UW-W collected eight hits, half of them for extra bases.  In addition to the doubles by Gonzalez and Friend, Matt Mierow also stroked a double, and J.T. Schneider hit a triple to lead the Warhawk offense. 

Senior righthander Justin Lambert (Mt. Horeb/Mt. Horeb) picked up his second win of the season with seven and a third innings of work.  Tom Kerndt (Lansing, IA/Lansing), another senior righthander, came on in the ninth to pick up the last three outs and preserve the win. 

UW-W is 4-2 and WNEC is 6-3.  Whitewater will play Grinnell College Friday in Auburndale.