The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater baseball team wrapped up their annual Spring Trip to Pensacola, Florida, with a run-rule win over Trinity (CT) College. The Warhawks scored four runs in the top of the first, & kept rolling from there, defeating the Bantams 15-3.
The Warhawks opened the game at the plate as the designated away team. Nelson Phillips IV (Elm Grove, Wis./Brookfield East) sent the first pitch of the game through the right side to get on base. Andy Thies (Tallahassee, Fla./Lawton Chiles) & Evan Olson (Kimberly, Wis./Kimberly) both recorded their own singles passing the bat along. Olson scored Phillips IV on his single.
Leyten Bowers (Mineral Point, Wis./Mineral Point) cleaned up the bases with a triple in his first at-bat, scoring two. Bowers scored himself during Danny Hopper's (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) at-bat.
Trinity added a run of their own to get on the board in the bottom of the frame. The Warhawk were able to regain the run & then one in the next inning. Andy Thies (Tallahassee, Fla./Lawton Chiles) sent a double down the right field line. Despite getting thrown out trying to make his hit a triple, Thies scored two runners to give UWW a 6-1 lead.
The Bantams rallied back-to-back doubles in the bottom of the second to add another run on the board. Franklin Kirchner (Elk Grove Village, Ill./Conant) stopped a crooked number on the scoreboard getting a strikeout followed by a one-pitch ground-out to strand a runner on second.
The bottom of the Warhawks batting order tacked on three more runs in the third. The 7-8-9 hitters all had an RBI single to keep passing the bat. Dominik McVay (Mineral Point, Wis./Mineral Point) started the rally, followed by Jackson Spring (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North) then Brady Gilroy (Elgin, Ill./Burlington Central) as the Warhawks took a 9-2 lead after just three innings.
The Bantams made a change on the mound in the fourth and it resulted in the Warhawks first scoreless inning. Trinity carried the momentum into the bottom of the frame, hitting a lead-off double, followed by an RBI single to cut the deficit to just six.
Kirchner got out of the inning with only run allowed, picking off a runner himself for the final out of the frame.
The Warhawks tacked on four more runs in the top of the 5th to take a double digit lead. UWW led off the inning with three singles, scoring the three runners thanks to two errors by the Bantams.
Kirchner finished his outing in the fifth, pitching a three-up-three-down frame. Kirchner earned the win with five innings of work, allowing two earned runs and striking out three.
The Warhawks were retired in order in the sixth with a new arm on the mound, but Gradin Tascher kept the Warhawks clean on the mound, with three straight outs in the bottom of the sixth.
UWW tacked on two insurance runs to keep the lead over double digit in the top of the 7th. Bowers sent in a runner with a sacrifice fly, then Andy Thies (Tallahassee, Fla./Lawton Chiles) scored on a wild pitch to put the Warhawks up 15-3.
Trinity got a runner on with a lead-off single, but two strikeouts from Taschner put the Warhawks one out away from the win. A grounder to second forced the runner out with UWW going undefeated in Pensacola for the second year straight.
Leyten Bowers (Mineral Point, Wis./Mineral Point) led the Warhawks going 1-2 from the plate with 4 RBIs. Andy Thies (Tallahassee, Fla./Lawton Chiles) & Evan Olson (Kimberly, Wis./Kimberly) both had two RBIs. Thies & Jackson Spring (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North) each had three hits on the day.
The Warhawks will return home & will take Prucha Field for the first time in their WIAC opener against UW-Stevens Point on March 28th. The four game series will take place on March 28th & 29th.
