The UW-La Crosse baseball team ended up splitting a non-conference doubleheader against The College of St. Scholastica (MN) Sunday afternoon at Copeland Park during UW-L’s home opener.
The Eagles managed to win the opener with a final score of 6-3, before the Saints managed to make a comeback to sign off the second game at 3-2 in the 10th inning.  UW-L is now currently 7-3 this season, while St. Scholastica is now 11-4.
During Sunday’s opener, the Saints scored one run in both the first and second innings.  Austin Colvard walked to lead-off the game and later managed to score from Trevor Bernsdorf’s single to center field to make it 1-0 at the top of the first.  Jake Kuschke’s then made a solo home run to left center field in the second to add to the Saint’s lead.
UW-L, which ended with 12-4 at home during the 2014 season, took up a 4-2 lead during the fourth inning scoring four runs from four hits.  Justin Anderson singled to centerfield and was driven in Alex Cordova’s two-run home run to right field to tie up the game to 2-2.  Later, Joel Zyhowski landed a two-run single down the left field line to bring in Ben Morgan and Travis Buxton-Verstegen to make the score 4-2 in UW-L’s favor.  The Eagles grew in their lead at the bottom of the sixth thanks to Nic Barnes as he hit a two-run home run to right field.
The Saints managed to fight back in the ninth after Brian Minks scored on a passed ball to make the score 6-3.  UW-L’s Jameson Sadowske managed to strike out both Chris Olsin and Padraic Getchell to end the first game.
St. Scholastica began the second game with a 1-0 lead at the top of the first inning as Colvard scored on a UW-L throwing error.  Kohlwey managed to respond quickly to tie the game at the bottom of the first with a lead-off home run to right field.  The game remained tied until the top of the 10th inning when the Saints managed to score a pair of runs to mark a 3-1 lead.  Colvard scored from Steven Neutzling;s double, followed up by Trevor Bernsdorf with an RBI single to bring in Neutzling.
The Eagles managed to get their first three batters on the bases during the bottom of the 10th.  Alex Brown singled to begin followed shortly after by Barnes on a Saints fielding error.  Kohlwey’s single managed to load the bases with no outs.  Bryce Barsness struck out swinging for the first out of the inning and then the game ended with the nest batter.  Justin Anderson’s fielder’s choice forced Kohlwey at second with Brown scoring to cut the lead to 3-2, but Barnes was thrown out at the plate to end the game.
The Eagles will soon return to action this Thursday, April 2, to open up the WIAC play with a double header game against UW-Oshkosh at 1 p.m.