EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – The University of Wisconsin-Eau baseball team started their final regular season Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) doubleheader series on Friday as they hosted UW- La Crosse. The Blugolds and Eagles combined for 11 home runs during the day as the teams split doubleheader with a UWEC 9-6 win in game one and a 7-14 defeat in game two.
Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score
The ball was sailing through the air all afternoon as Nate Witte (So. – Woodbury, MN/East Ridge) hit his second home run of the year during Eau Claire's second at bat in the first inning for a 1-0 lead. Andrew Murphy (Fr. – Mahtomedi, MN) followed suit in the following inning blasting his third homer of the year over the left center wall to increase the Blugold lead to 3-0.
After an RBI double by the Eagles in the top of the third, Otto Treichel (Jr. – Madison, WI/West) regained a three-run Eau Claire lead with a solo homerun into left field, making it 4-1. La Crosse responded in the fourth with a three-run home run in the fourth to tie the game at 4-4. Drew Salyers (Fr. – Centennial, CO/Arapahoe) found himself rounding the bases in his first plate appearance of the day with a solo homerun over the left center wall to put the home squad back in front, 5-4.
UW-La Crosse found their first lead of the game in the fifth with an RBI double and an RBI single for a 6-5 Eau Claire deficit. Diego Caicedo (Fr. – Pompano Beach, FL/Northeast) tied the game with his first career home run over the left field wall for a 6-6 score. Walter Johnson (Fr. – Minnetonka, MN) was the hero in game one as he blasted his first collegiate career homerun into right field to score three runs that would stand in the 9-6 Blugolds victory.
Matt Moore (So. – Stillwater, MN) came into the game as relief in the seventh inning to shutout the Eagles in his three innings pitched. Moore collected three strikeouts and allowed only one hit in his third win and first save on the season.
Game two saw much of the same offensive firepower as the teams combined for 21 hits. Eau Claire found themselves with the games first lead as Nate Witte converted on a delayed steal from third to beat the throw home for the 1-0 lead. UWL answered in the next two innings with four runs of their own to make it 4-1 after three and a half innings of play. Witte continued his impactful play with an RBI single in to center field to score Drew Salyers from third to cut the deficit to 4-2.
The Eagles compiled a six-run inning in the top of the fourth to pull away from the Blugolds, but two sacrifice flies by Scot Richards (So. – Orland Park, IL/Carl Sandberg) and Salyers gave UWEC an answer in the following half inning.
Eau Claire continued to chip away at the UWL lead in the sixth, seventh, and ninth innings with one run each frame, but the visitors added on two runs of their own for a 14-7 defeat. UW-Eau Claire was dominate on the base paths once again as the team tallied five stolen bases and caught two UWL runners trying to steal.
At the plate, Walter Johnson led the Blugolds during the afternoon as went 3 for 5 with three RBIs, three runs, two walks, and his solo home run in game one.
The Blugolds (12-24, WIAC 7-19) will be back at Carson Park on Saturday, May 7th for their final regular season WIAC doubleheader. UWEC and UWL will face off with a game one start time of 12PM.
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