The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men’s baseball team faced off against Wisconsin Inter Collegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) opponent University of Wisconsin-River Falls Falcons in a series of four games with two double headers on the weekend of March 28-29. The Eagles put up impressive performances in this battle of the birds sweeping the series 4-0. With outstanding play both on the plate and in the field the team outscored River Falls 38-5 throughout the duration of the series.
The dominant play has been building for the team, as the sweep over River Falls pushes their win streak to ten games, cementing a strong stretch to heading into spring baseball. After a 1-3 start to the season, through finding their culture as a team they have been able to consistently achieve success on the field.
“We kind of figured out who we are as a team, our team culture and everything just kind of started going into place,” commented third-year right fielder Brady Burrill.
This series served as a memorable introduction from the Eagles to their home field and fans. After beginning the season with a ten-game road stretch the team returned to their home stadium of Copeland Park. Players welcomed the change and were excited to play in front of familiar faces in an exciting setting.
“It’s electric with all the fans and all of the support behind you, you play a lot harder than if you were somewhere else, it just gives you a lot of confidence,” said Burrill.
The Eagles opened the series’ first inning with explosive offense that would become a mainstay in their games. Two RBIs catapulted the team to a 2-0 lead that would not be relinquished. A homer by Burrill unleashed a wave of scoring in the third. Through a combination of River Falls errors and good batting the team would take advantage with Eagles Sam Viniard, Luke Walton and Emiliano Ramos crossing home plate going up 7-0. Despite river falls scoring 3 runs in the top of the sixth inning, the Eagles would play suffocating defense the rest of the series only letting up one more run throughout its duration. UWL won with a final score of 12-5. Viniard showcased his hitting skills with four hits in five at bats. Pitchers Chayce Osterhaus and Logan Zickert combined for nine strike outs.
In the second game of the series UWL continued their balanced attack. The combination of great defense and offense lead to a 9-0 Eagles shutout over the Falcons. UWL kept their mistakes limited only committing one error compared to the Falcons’ five. Offensively the team also doubled River Falls hits with 12 to 6. Viniard kept up his efficient batting with three hits in four at bats while also contributing two RBIs. Pitcher Ethan Pettis put on some clean pitching with nine strikeouts in seven innings with Trace Vrbancic contributing five of his own.
In game three of the series the Eagles kept the game to seven innings winning 10-0. Three home runs through innings three through six helped the Eagles reach ten runs. Viniard homered in the third with Brady Lash scoring, Walton homered in the fourth with Keegan Fleishman adding a score and Ramos contributed the third homer with an added run from Walton. In the bottom of the seventh Andrew Palm had a double go for two RBIs with Mark Manders and Charley Rownan scoring. Defensively the Eagles put together two double plays, and AJ Curtis threw eight strikeouts.
In the final game of the series the Eagles took no inning off from their dominating performances. The Eagles put together a defensive clinic making no errors and going three hitters up and three hitters down in four innings. Owen Deprez also contributed 12 strikeouts in the game as no matter what, on the mound or in the field, the Eagles were making plays. Players focused on one play at a time and keeping the ball in front of them to turn in this defensive performance.
“We just go back to what we know and keep the ball in front, keeping the play in front and doing what we can to make every single play and if we make a bad play keep our head up and onto the next,” said Ramos.
Offensively the Eagles took an early 2-0 lead through three innings. However, after a small scoring draught the Eagles went for the kill as Ramos and Chris Calico scored homers in back-to-back at bats igniting the fans to jump out of their seats and the team meeting the players at the home plate.
“Honestly I’ve been struggling a little bit on hitting. I’ve been trying to focus on hitting better and that was just a breakthrough point for me and it’s really good to get the boys fired up” commented Ramos.
Calico’s standout from the box score contributing three total runs with two RBIs. The team closed out the series with a 7-0 victory.
Next week UWL Baseball and The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater will battle as the two teams leading the WIAC conference. The 11-3 Eagles will be up for a challenge against the 12-3 Warhawks. More stats and info can be found on the UWL athletics webpage.
