Yellowjackets fall twice at La Crosse

Wyatt Soderquist had five hits in Saturday's doubleheader at La Crosse.

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

It's the final stretch of the 2014 season and the Yellowjacket baseball team found itself in unfamiliar territory. Entering the second-to-last weekend of the season, the Yellowjackets sat in second place in the WIAC, fully in the hunt for a berth in the WIAC playoffs, something that has eluded the team for decades. The unfortunate part, is that poor weather and a still unplayable field would force the Yellowjackets on the road to play a series of home games.

The stretch drive kicks off this weekend with four games at UW-La Crosse, and on Saturday the Eagles came out firing on all cylinders and handed the Yellowjackets a pair of losses, one close, and one lopsided.

La Crosse 15, Yellowjackets 3

The series opener looked like it was going to be a tight game, with both pitchers settling in and methodically retiring hitters. The only run in the early going came from the Eagles, who strung together three straight one-out singles in the top of the second to take the 1-0 lead. They added to the lead in the top of the fifth, scoring twice on a Travis Buxton-Verstegen to push the lead to 3-0.

The Yellowjackets answered in the bottom of the inning when Wyatt Soderquist (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti), who had a three-hit game in the opener, walked, stole second, and then scored on a double by Matt Vold (St. Croix Falls, Wis./St. Croix Falls) to cut the deficit to two.

That would be as close as they would get, as the Eagles blew the game open in the top of the sixth. La Crosse sent 11 men to the plate in the frame, scoring six times and chasing ace righthander Travis Elwood (Ramsey, Minn./Anoka) in the process. Cole Cefalu and Joel Zyhowski had RBI doubles, while Alex Cordova plated two runs with a single to give La Crosse a commanding 9-1 lead.

In the bottom of the seventh the Yellowjackets cut into the La Crosse lead. Soderquist and Vold led off with back-to-back singles and Tony Remund (Andover, Minn./Coon Rapids) walked to load the bases with nobody out. After a pitching change Tom Fairbanks (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd) singled, scoring Soderquist. Two batters later Alex Quinones (Waterloo, Iowa/) singled to bring home Vold and it was 9-3.

But in the top of the ninth La Crosse had another monster inning, scoring six for the second time in the game to put things out of reach. Zyhowski had his second double of the game in the inning, bringing in two more runs to make it 15-3.

The Yellowjackets went down in order in the bottom of the ninth inning to close the game out.

The Yellowjackets had nine hits in the game, but the offense was anything but spread around. Soderquist, Vold, Fairbanks and Quinones all had two hits to lead the Yellowjackets offensively.

On the mound Elwood was good early before finding trouble in that big sixth inning. He went 5.1 innings and gave up eight runs (seven earned) on 10 hits in his rockiest outing of the season. He walked four and struck out five. He gave way to Jake Lewis (Proctor, Minn./Proctor) who also struggled, giving up seven runs (six earned) on 11 hits in three innings. Christian Hall (Siren, Wis./Siren) pitched the final 2/3 of an inning.

Four Eagles had three hits in the game, as La Crosse pounded out 22 hits in the win.

La Crosse 7, Yellowajckets 6

In the second game the Yellowjackets wasted little time getting the offense going, as they scored three times in the bottom of the first to move ahead. Soderquist singled up the middle to lead off the inning. It looked like he would be stranded on the basepaths, however, as the next two hitters were retired. Fairbanks and Sam Holden (Spooner, Wis./Spooner) then drew two-out walks to load the bases, and Quinones made it hurt, ripping a double that cleared the bases and staked the Yellowjackets to a 3-0 lead.

La Crosse cut into the lead in the top of the second. With two on and two out, Seth Feldman singled up the middle, scoring two to make it a 3-2 game. The Eagles then took the lead in the top of the third, scoring two more to make it a 4-3 game. The big blow in the inning coming courtesy of a Jordan Greenland home run.

In the bottom of the third the Yellowjackets again pulled even, and again it was Quinones, as he drove a single up the middle that scored Fairbanks to make it 4-4. Then in the bottom of the fourth the Yellowjackets regained the lead. Suguru Homma (Tsuruoka, Yamagata, Japan/Nihon University Yamagata) singled to lead off the inning and went to second on a Soderquist single. Two hitters later Remund doubled to score Homma.

La Crosse plated a pair of runs in the top of the sixth inning on RBI hits from Zyhowski and Cordova to take a 6-5 edge. A Josh Rowles double in the top of the seventh made it 7-5.

Fairbanks led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a double and came in to score on a ground out by Quinones to pull the Yellowjackets back to within a run at 7-6.

The Yellowjackets got the tying run to third base in the bottom of the eighth, but were unable to bring it home. After going down in order in the ninth, the Yellowjackets suffered their second defeat of the day.

It was a big game at the plate for Quinones, who went 2-for-4 and drove in five of the six Yellowjacket runs. Soderquist had three hits in the game.

Kyle Gauger (Spooner, Wis./Spooner) got the start for the Yellowjackets in the second game and lasted just 2.2 innings, getting roughed up for four runs on eight hits. He was relieved by Damian Wiblin (La Crosse, Wis./Logan) who went the rest of the way, allowing three runs on seven hits in 6.1 innings. He was tagged with the loss and is now 4-2 on the year.

La Crosse had 15 hits in the game and every starter had at least one hit. They were led by Buxton-Verstegen who had three hits.

The Yellowjackets (16-11, 7-7 WIAC) plummeted in the WIAC standings with the losses, dropping from second place to fifth and out of a playoff spot. They will begin the climb back up the ladder with a pair of games with the Eagles in La Crosse on Sunday, April 27. The games will get underway at Copeland Park beginning at 9:30 a.m.

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Yellowjackets fall twice at La Crosse