The No. 16 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater baseball team extended its win streak to eight games Wednesday with back-to-back victories over UW-La Crosse in a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader at Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium.
The Warhawks (8-1 overall, 2-0 WIAC) claimed the opener by a 9-2 score before posting an 8-3 triumph in Game 2.
In Game 1, UW-Whitewater totaled 13 hits offensively and crossed the plate five times in the bottom of the first inning, and pitchers
Westin Muir (Highlands Ranch, Colo./St. Charles North (Ill.)) and
Connor Spear (Highland, Ind./Mount Carmel (Ill.)) combined to strand nine Eagle runners. Muir (3-0) scattered eight hits over seven innings, striking out six, and Spear tossed two scoreless innings in relief.
Right fielder
Jacob DeMeyer (Harshaw, Wis./Rhinelander) finished 3-for-4 at the plate with one run scored and one run batted in and made a
spectacular catch in foul territory to end the top of the second inning. He chased down a pop up near the Warhawk bullpen and, running full speed, crashed into and tumbled over the fence, hanging on for a highlight-reel play and the final out of the frame.
Left fielder
Matt Korman (Waterford, Wis./Waterford Union) tallied two hits and two RBIs, and third baseman
Tucker Criswell (Tallahassee, Fla./Lawton Chiles) reached base four times with two hits and two walks while scoring a pair of runs. Centerfielder
Zach Campbell (Burlington, Wis./Burlington) and first baseman
Donovan Brandl (Rudolph, Wis./Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln) collected two hits apiece.
Brandl, designated hitter
Connor Moroder (Pewaukee, Wis./Pewaukee), shortstop
Nick Santoro (Naperville, Ill./Waubonsie Valley) and catcher
Ryan Norton (Fond du Lac, Wis./Fond du Lac) also plated runs for UW-Whitewater.
In the nightcap, the UW-La Crosse (5-3, 0-2) took a 2-0 advantage through 2 1/2 innings before the Warhawks plated four runs in the bottom of the third, including a two-run home run by Korman, an RBI groundout by designated hitter
Ian Drays (Whitewater, Wis./Jefferson) and a run-scoring single by second baseman
Sam Vomhof (DeForest, Wis./DeForest).
Vomhof drove home Santoro with another base hit in the bottom of the fifth, and Korman added two more insurance runs with another two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh. In the eighth, third baseman
Ben Wilkins (Sussex, Wis./Lake Country Lutheran) plated Vomhof, who tripled to lead off the frame, on a sacrifice fly.
Korman and Vomhof combined for five of UW-Whitewater's seven hits in the contest.
Matt O'Sullivan (Sugar Grove, Ill./Kaneland) didn't allow a run on the mound after the third, finishing with seven strikeouts in his seven innings pitched to improve to 3-0 on the year.
Connor Moroder (Pewaukee, Wis./Pewaukee) tossed the eighth and the ninth in relief.
The Warhawks visit UW-La Crosse for two more conference games this Friday starting at 1 p.m.
