Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) baseball play returned to Copeland field Tuesday, April 7, as UW-La Crosse fell in its opening game 6-1 to 9th ranked UW-Stevens Point.  The match was originally scheduled to be a part of a doubleheader, but the second match was called early due to lightning strikes being seen.
Junior Troy Kenkel took the mound to start off the game for UW-L and, despite not allowing a hit in the first inning, UW-SP took advantage of small ball and used a walk, a passed ball, a groundout and a sacrifice fly to plate the first run of the game and take a quick 1-0 advantage.
Scoring would stand until the second inning where junior Travis Buxton-Vergsteen would single to lead off the inning and make his way to third, courtesy of a few missed pitches by UW-SP.
Senior Bryce Barsness would hit into a fielder’s choice, which meant he was out at first, but it allowed Buxton-Vergsteen to head into home for UW-L’s first run of the game and to tie it up at 1-1.
Good defense and good pitching was on tap for the next couple innings as the game crawled into the visitor half of the seventh inning.  UW-SP took advantage of Kenkel and shelled him for 5 runs on 6 hits. This blew open the game and gave UW-SP a commanding 6-1 lead before UW-L called on junior Jake Stern to take the mound in relief.  Stern was able to dip out of the inning and shut down the UW-SP offense the rest of the game.
UW-L’s offense, unfortunately, was also done for the evening as the game would conclude in a 6-1 defeat. Kenkel would earn the loss which dropped his record to 2-1.
The UW-L bats were somewhat active, registering seven hits in the game with junior Ben Morgan, junior Taylor Kohlwey and junior Alex Cordova each tacking on two.  The most telling statistic in a baseball game that can determine the outcome of the game is runners left on base, and UW-L left a total of ten men still on the base paths.
UW-L moved on to battle at 3rd ranked UW-Whitewater on Saturday, April 11.  The second game of the UW-SP matchup was a triple header when the teams met next on April 15. These scores were unavailable at the time of print.