The No. 8 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater baseball team opened its 2023 campaign with a 9-3 win over Spalding, receiving votes in the latest D3baseball.com poll, in the Studer's Blue Wahoo Challenge in Pensacola, Florida. 

The Warhawks struck first plating the first run in the bottom of the second. Gabe O'Brien (Eau Claire, Wis./North) notched his first of four hits in the game with a RBI double to left field to open the scoring. 

Spalding came back with two runs in the top of the fourth and a single run in the top of the fifth to take a 3-1 lead in the contest. UWW responded with runs in the bottom of the next four innings. 

In the bottom of the fifth it was deja vu for O'Brien as another double to left field brought in the Warhawk's second run of the game. In the bottom of the sixth, Matt Korman (Waterford, Wis./Waterford Union) singled in Sam Vomhof (DeForest, Wis./DeForest) followed by a Donovan Brandl (Rudolph, Wis./Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln) two-bagger that allowed Korman to score. O'Brien struck again with a RBI single to center to give UWW a 5-3 lead. 

The gap widened to four in the seventh and ballooned to six in the bottom of the eighth courtesy of more Warhawk hits. 

O'Brien was a perfect 4-4 in the batter's box with a pair of doubles with four runs batted in to lead UW-Whitewater. Vomhof and Jacob DeMeyer (Rhinelander, Wis./Rhinelander) added three hits each for the Warhawks. 

Cade Berendt (Germantown, Wis./Germantown) was tapped for the starting allowing three runs in five innings of work while striking out six. Eli Frank (Bayport, Wis./Bay Port) registered the win in 3.1 shutout innings of relief work fanning seven while allowing just two hits.