Hawks drop two on Saturday at UW-Oshkosh

The UW-Whitewater baseball team finds itself in second place in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference standings after losing both ends of a doubleheader at UW-Oshkosh Saturday afternoon.

GAME ONE

The Hawks dropped the opener 4-1 in game where the UWW defense committed four errors.

Justin Lambert got the start in game-one and pitched well giving up just four hits in five innings on the mound. Three UWO runs scored on Lambert’s watch but two of the three runs were unearned.

Kyle Lee came on in relief in the sixth inning and gave up a run in an inning and a third on the hill.

Jack Larsen pitched a hitless final inning and two-thirds.

Former Oshkosh Titan, Drew Eichstaedt, scored Whitewater’s long run on Jeff Donovan’s sacrifice fly in the third inning.

The Titans scored three in the fifth inning to take a lead they would not relinquish.

The Warhawks could only manage six hits off UW-Oshkosh starting pitcher Luke Westphal who entered the game with a miserly 1.06 earned run average. He allowed just the one run in going the distance to improve his season record to 7 & 0.

Lambert took the loss for Whitewater to fall to 4 & 2 on the season.

The loss snapped an eight-game Warhawk winning streak.

GAME TWO

The Warhawks could not hold a 4-2 lead entering the bottom of the 8th inning as archrival UW-Oshkosh upended UWW 5-4 scoring two runs in the bottom of the 9th inning.

The Hawks opened the game with two runs in the top of the first inning to take the early lead.

Oshkosh picked up single runs in the third and fourth to knot the nightcap at 2-all.

The Hawks put two runs on the board in the fifth inning to take a 4-2 advantage.

Matt Roberts had a quality start for the UWW pitching staff scattering six hits in seven innings pitched. He struck out 5 while walking just 2.

Tom Kerndt came on in the 8th inning giving up a run on two hits.

UWW head coach John Vodenlich decided to bring on catcher Rob Coe to close the game. The senior, who had pitched just four innings in five outings, was unable to pick up his first career save.

With runners at second and third in the bottom of the 9th inning the Titans got a one-out infield single by Travis Kamps combined with a Warhawk throwing error allowed both runners to score to give a struggling UW-Oshkosh a dramatic come-from-behind win a sweep of the first two games of the weekend series.

Matt Wells pitched the final eight innings in relief of UWO starter Jeremy Reubens to improve his record to 3 & 0.

The two losses by UW-Whitewater combined with two wins by UW-Stevens Point at UW-Platteville (9-4 Game 1, 15-3 Game 2) have vaulted the Pointers ahead of UW-Whitewater into first place in the WIAC with six conference games remaining for both teams.

Here is a look at the WIAC Baseball Standings entering Sunday’s Games:

UW-Stevens Point 14-4, 23-8
UW-Whitewater 13-5, 23-7
UW-Oshkosh 11-7, 22-8
UW-La Crosse 11-9, 19-12
UW-Stout 5-11, 11-19
UW-Platteville 6-16, 8-25
UW-Superior 4-12, 9-22