PENSACOLA, Fla. – The No. 15 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater baseball team was unable to find timely offense Thursday night in a 6-0 setback against St. Thomas (Minn.) in a non-conference contest at Blue Wahoos Stadium.
 
The Warhawks (1-4 overall) tallied five hits but left nine men on base. The Tommies (4-1) scored three runs in the top of the third – all with two outs – to take the lead for good.
 
Sophomore shortstop Nick Santoro (Naperville, Ill./Waubonsie Valley) and sophomore right fielder Bryan Sturdevant (Burlington, Wis./Burlington) led UW-Whitewater with two hits apiece. Senior catcher Mike Aiello (Racine, Wis./Horlick) added one hit.
 
Senior pitcher Michael Kaska (Spring Grove, Ill./Richmond-Burton Community) took the loss to drop to 0-2 on the season. He allowed only two earned runs in five innings while striking out six. Sophomore Connor Spear (Highland, Ind./Mount Carmel (Ill.)) and junior Keith Kutzler (Kenosha, Wis./Tremper) each tossed two frames in relief and didn't allow an earned run.
 
The Warhawks had a chance to strike early after senior second baseman Nick Schrader (Cambridge, Wis./Jefferson) reached on an error and senior first baseman Cal Aldridge (Crystal Lake, Ill./Prairie Ridge) was hit by a pitch, but a groundout and a flyout ended the inning.
 
St. Thomas took advantage of a pair of UW-W errors in the third to score three times after two outs were recorded. The Tommies added two more in the fifth thanks to three consecutive hits with two outs and nobody on.
 
St. Thomas added an insurance run in the top of the eighth on a throwing error by the Warhawks.
 
On Friday, its final day in Pensacola, UW-Whitewater looks to salvage a split against St. Thomas. First pitch at Blue Wahoos Stadium is slated for 6 p.m.