WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – The No. 9 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater baseball team took an early lead Thursday morning and didn't look back in a 9-2 triumph over Anderson (Ind.) in the team's 2016 season opener at Chain O' Lakes Stadium.
 
The Warhawks (1-0 overall) tallied three runs in the second inning to grab a lead they wouldn't relinquish.
 
Playing in front of more than a dozen professional scouts, sophomore pitcher Lake Bachar (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton North) picked up the win, tossing 5 1/3 innings, allowing just one earned run on four hits and striking out six.
 
Junior shortstop Jordan Kuczynski (Germantown/Germantown) finished 2-for-2 with a double, two runs scored and three runs batted in to pace UW-Whitewater. Junior second baseman Steve Chamberlain (Rockford, IL/Guilford) and sophomore designated hitter Austin Jones (Wauwatosa, Wis./West) posted two hits and two runs apiece, while sophomore centerfielder Daytona Bryden (Rockton, IL/Hononegah) and sophomore first baseman Blake Fleischman (Germantown, Wis./Germantown) each had two hits.
 
After a sacrifice fly by sophomore left fielder Will Helbing (Waunakee, Wis./Waunakee) put the Warhawks on the board, freshman third baseman Cal Aldridge (Crystal Lake, Ill./Prairie Ridge) mashed a two-run homer on a line drive out to left on the first pitch of his first at-bat in a UW-Whitewater uniform.
 
The Warhawks built on Aldridge's blast in the bottom of the third as Kuczynski doubled home Chamberlain to make it a four-run advantage.
 
Kuczynski plated another run with a sacrifice fly in the fifth, and Anderson (3-9) got on the board in the top of the sixth to cut the UW-Whitewater lead back to four.
 
In a four-run seventh, Kuczynski and senior right fielder Alex Hallenbeck (Burlington, Wis./Burlington) knocked in runs to open up an eight-run lead.
 
The Warhawks return to action Friday at 8 a.m. Central Time against Framingham State (Mass.). Live stats will be available courtesy of Framingham State.
 
UW-Whitewater players and coaches wore the initials "JBM" on the side of their hats in memory of former coach Jim Miller, who passed away last week. The team will wear the initials for the remainder of the season to honor "Mills", who coached the Warhawks from 1987-2003 and was a part of the athletic department in some capacity for 50 years.