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University of Wisconsin-Superior Athletics

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Wisconsin-Superior
Yellowjackets
Tony Remund

Baseball

Big innings bury Yellowjackets

Tony Remund


The Yellowjacket baseball team received some good news on Saturday.  UW-Platteville swept a pair of games from UW-Oshkosh, meaning that despite being swept by UW-La Crosse, the Yellowjackets remained in the fourth and final playoff spot in the WIAC.  A win or two on Saturday could only help to increase the breathing room as the post-season appears on the horizon.

But once again, the top team in the conference had something to say about it.  La Crosse, fueled by big innings in both ends of Sunday's doubleheader, took both games, sweeping all four on the weekend, making the final games of the regular season next weekend all the more important.  The Eagles jumped on the Yellowjackets early and often on Sunday, winning by 8-1 and 10-4 scores.

The Yellowjackets have now dropped five in a row.

Game 1
La Crosse 8, Yellowjackets 1
Box Score

After a scoreless first inning the Yellowjackets got the start they wanted when freshman sensation #T.J. Evanson# blasted a long home run over the right-center field wall at Wade Stadium, his ninth of the season, to grab a 1-0 lead.  The nine home runs puts Evanson at the top of the conference home run chart.

Unfortunately for the Yellowjackets, the blast from Evanson would be their only hit until the sixth inning, and one of just four in the game.  In the meantime, the Eagles got rolling and put the game away.

In the top of the third the Eagles started manufacturing runs when Corey Geary and Brooks Braga singled to put two runners on with one out.  Adam Cordova singled to right center, scoring Geary to tie the game.  Jay Fanta followed with a double down the right field line, plating Braga with the eventual game-winning run.  A sacrifice fly followed, scoring the third run of the inning, and an error on the play brought home the fourth, making it 4-1. 

Things stayed that way until the eighth inning when the Eagles added three more.  Cordova reached on an error and went to second on a wild pitch.  He moved to third on a Fanta single and scored on a Jake Paulson double, to make it 5-1.  An error and a sacrifice fly scored two more and it was 7-1 heading to the last of the eighth.

La Crosse closed out the scoring in the top of the ninth when they scratched out a run with two outs.  Braga singled, went to second on passed ball and advanced to third on a wild pitch.  Cordova doubled him home, to make the final score 8-1.

Ethan Branum (Nisswa, Minn./Brainerd) got the start and pitched into the eighth inning, giving up six runs (four earned) on nine hits.  He walked one and struck out two.  Cody Johnson (Owatonna, Minn./Owatonna) pitched the rest of the way, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits with one strikeout.

Defense was a primary storyline for the Yellowjackets in this one, as they committed four errors for the second time in the series.

Braga, Cordova, Fanta and Paulson all had two hits for the Eagles.

Game 2
La Crosse 10, Yellowjackets 4
Box Score

The Eagles picked up in the second game where they left off in the first, getting to the Yellowjackets and putting the game out of reach early.

Brett Jacobson led off the second with a single and that was it for starter Graham Miller (Cumberland, Wis./Cumberland), who was lifted in favor of Bobby Tyndall (Ashland, Wis./Ashland).  Tyndall didn't fare much better, however.  Zach Harazin greeted him with a double to right to put two runners in scoring position.  A Trevor Burmeister single brought home Jacobson and it was 1-0.  After a ground out Cole Cefalu singled up the middle, scoring two more runs.  After a walk Cordova singled to score a run, making it 4-0, spelling the end of the day for Tyndall.  Kyle Gauger (Spooner, Wis./Spooner) was summoned from the bullpen and he recorded the final outs of the inning, but not before the Eagles scored again and it was 5-0.

In the top of the fifth Harazin led off with a walk and went to second on Burmeister's bunt single.  Two hitters later Cefalu cleared the bases with a home run over the left field fence, stretching the lead to 8-0.  An inning later a double by Harazin and a pinch-hit single from Connor Krohn scored two more as the Eagles hit double digits, leading 10-0.

The Yellowjackets finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth, scoring three times.  With one out Evanson and Shawn Lanners (Buckman, Minn./Royalton) singled and Tom Fairbanks (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd) walked to load the bases.  Joe Ahrens (Worthington, Minn./Worthington) followed with a ground out, but Evanson came across with the first Yellowjacket run.  A walk to Casey Dittel (Woodbury, Minn./Woodbury) re-loaded the bases and a walk to Robbie Veith (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd) scored Lanners to make it 10-2.  A single from Tony Remund (Andover, Minn./Coon Rapids) scored Fairbanks and it was a 10-3 game after six.

In the seventh Dittel was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning.  Veith and Remund each coaxed walks to load the bases before an out was recorded.  Wyatt Soderquist (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) drove a run home with a sacrifice fly, but that was it for the Yellowjackets, as the rally died when the next two hitters were retired.

Remund led the Yellowjacket offense in the second game, going 3-4 with a walk and an RBI.  Veith also had two hits.

Despite only pitching one inning, Miller was tagged with the loss, giving up one run on two hits in a little over an inning.  In addition to Tyndall and Gauger, Travis Elwood (Ramsey, Minn./Anoka) and Andrew Lange (Swanville, Minn./Little Falls) also saw action on the hill.

Cefalu had a big game for the Eagles, going 2-4 with two runs scored and five RBI.  Six different players had multiple-hit games for La Crosse, as they pounded out 15 in the game.

The Yellowjackets (17-18, 8-12 WIAC) will close out the 2012 regular season with a four-game series at home with UW-Whitewater.  The series will get underway with a doubleheader on Friday, May 4 at Wade Stadium in Duluth.  First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
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