The No. 23 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater baseball team won for the ninth time in its last 10 games Saturday with a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader sweep over UW-Stout at Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium.
The Warhawks (14-6 overall, 7-1 WIAC) edged the Blue Devils 4-3 in the second game of the day after an 11-9 triumph in the opener.
In Game 1, the two teams combined for 27 hits and scored 18 of the game's 20 runs over the first five innings.
UW-Stout (10-7, 5-5) pulled to within two runs in the top of the eighth, but after senior
Michael Kaska (Spring Grove, Ill./Richmond-Burton Community) induced a fly ball double play to end the frame, sophomore
Connor Spear (Highland, Ind./Mount Carmel (Ill.)) pitched a perfect 1-2-3 ninth inning for his first save.
Kaska (3-2) struck out five over eight innings of work.
Sophomore shortstop
Nick Santoro (Naperville, Ill./Waubonsie Valley) registered three hits, including one of UW-Whitewater's four home runs in the contest, and added three runs scored and two runs batted in. Senior second baseman
Nick Schrader (Cambridge, Wis./Jefferson) posted three hits, including a homer, two runs scored and three RBI, and senior catcher
Mike Aiello (Racine, Wis./Horlick) finished with two hits, including one home run, two runs scored and two RBI.
Sophomore designated hitter
Connor Moroder (Pewaukee, Wis./Pewaukee) hit a solo home run, and freshman left fielder
Matt Korman (Waterford, Wis./Waterford Union) added two hits, including one triple, and one RBI. Junior centerfielder
Alex Doud (Waukesha, Wis./Mukwonago) and junior first baseman
Lucas Price (Spring Green, Wis./River Valley) also plated one run apiece.
In the nightcap, Santoro knocked in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning, and sophomore
Matt O'Sullivan (Sugar Grove, Ill./Kaneland) tossed a complete game, allowing only two earned runs while striking out nine without a walk over nine innings. He improved to 3-2 on the year.
The Blue Devils took a 2-0 lead after single tallies in the first and second innings, but the Warhawks tied the affair with two in the second on an RBI double by sophomore right fielder
Bryan Sturdevant (Burlington, Wis./Burlington) and a run-scoring single by junior centerfielder
Noah Jensen (Kenosha, Wis./Tremper).
UW-Whitewater gained its first lead in the bottom of the fifth on an error, but left three of their 10 runners left on base for the game in the inning.
UW-Stout tied it at 3-3 in the top of the sixth before the Warhawks took the lead for good in the bottom half of the frame.
O'Sullivan pitched around leadoff hits in the seventh and ninth to preserve the UW-Whitewater win.
Between the first and second game, members of the 2014 national championship team were recognized in celebration of the fifth anniversary of the program's second NCAA Division III title. The Warhawks won 19 of their last 20 games that season in claiming the WIAC championship, regional title and Division III World Series championship.
UW-Whitewater is slated to return to action Monday with a doubleheader against UW-Stout starting at 1 p.m. at Miller Stadium.
