Pioneers Drop Twinbill to UW-La Crosse, 3-0 and 11-4

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville baseball team dropped a doubleheader, 3-0 and 11-4, to UW-La Crosse on Sunday.

The Eagles (12-6, 4-0 WIAC) held the Pioneers to just five runs and 16 hits in the four-game series. With the two losses on Sunday, UW-Platteville drops to 3-15 overall and 0-4 in the WIAC.

In Sunday's first game of the doubleheader, UW-Platteville was held to just one hit – a double by Zach Demmon in the seventh inning.

Eagles' starter Kevin Johnson was in control for his entire six innings of work to raise his record to 2-0.

The only time Johnson was in trouble came in the seventh inning when the first two Pioneers got on base with a Charlie Beckman walk and the double by Demmon to put runners on second and third to end his day.

UW-La Crosse reliever Zach Lauersdorf came in out of the bullpen to get a crucial strikeout for the first out of the inning. Then, he hit a batter to load the bases but the Pioneers were unable to push across a run with a fielder's choice and fly out to end the threat. Lauersdorf pitched the final three innings, holding the Pioneers without a hit and striking out four for his second save.

UW-La Crosse went ahead on an unearned run in the fifth and sixth for a 2-0 lead and added a third run in the eighth for the 3-0 win. Catcher Zach Harazin had three hits and two RBIs to lead the Eagles attack.

Pioneer starter Adam Theis was the tough-luck loser in a complete game, he scattered seven hits and struck out four to drop to 1-3.

In game two, UW-Platteville plated an unearned run in the first for an early 1-0 lead. The lead was quickly erased on UW-La Crosse sent seven to the plate in the bottom half of the inning, four of which scored. Two of the runs came on the two-run homerun by Garrett Novinski.

The Pioneers cut into the lead in the second on a Cody Luther sacrifice fly to trim the UW-La Crosse lead to 4-2. The game remained close until the Eagles scored three in the fourth, one in the fifth and two more in the sixth to build a 10-4 lead.

UW-Platteville scored two in the top half of the sixth on a two-run homerun by Trevor Kattre but the Pioneers were held to three hits in the final three innings.

UW-La Crosse starter Tim Larson pitched five innings and overcame five walks to strike out seven for his first win of the season. Pioneer starter Zach Ryan went three innings, gave up just five hits but seven runs in the loss to fall to 0-1.

The Pioneers will return home for its next series when they host UW-Stout on Thursday, April 5 at 1 p.m. and Friday, April 6 at noon at Kendall Murray Field.