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Wisconsin-Superior
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Tom Fairbanks

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Eagles complete sweep of Yellowjackets

Tom Fairbanks had two more runs batted in on Sunday.
Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

Timing is everything, and for the Yellowjacket baseball team, the timing couldn't have been worse for their roughest weekend of the 2014 season. The Yellowjackets entered the weekend 7-5 in the WIAC and sitting in second place in the conference with two weeks to play in the regular season. After the club's weekend series with UW-La Crosse, one in which they were outscored 53-17 and outhit 69-34 by the Eagles, they are now 7-9 in WIAC play and will need to rally over their final six games to crawl back into the playoff race.

La Crosse 13, Yellowjackets 3

The first game of the Sunday doubleheader was bumped up and got underway at 9:30 a.m., in hopes of getting games in befroe the rain started falling. The early start didn't have a negative effect on the Eagles' bats, however, as they jumped on Yellowjacket starter Alex Beers (Robbinsdale, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) for two runs in the first inning. In the top of the fourth they increased the led, fueled by a two-run double from Seth Feldman to move ahead of the Yellowjackets 5-0.

The Yellowjackets finally got their first hit of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning, a single from Tony Remund (Andover, Minn./Coon Rapids), but they were unable to push a run across. Then in the top of the fifth the Eagles scored twice more on RBI-hits from Jordan Greenland and Joel Zyhowski and it was 7-0.

But in the bottom of the fifth the Yellowjackets finally broke the shutout.

Jordan Koepp (Grand Rapids, Minn./Grand Rapids) led off with a single, Derek Cagle (Sauk Rapids, Minn./Sauk Rapids-Rice) walked and Suguru Homma (Tsuruoka, Yamagata, Japan/Nihon University Yamagata) reached on an error to load the bases. Wyatt Soderquist (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) came up next and hit into a double play, but Koepp was able to score the first run of the game for the Yellowjackets.

La Crosse increased its lead with two runs in the top of the sixth. The Yellowjackets answered with a single run in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single from Alex Quinones (Waterloo, Iowa/), and it was 9-2.

In the top of the seventh the Eagles again pushed runs across, and did all of their damage with two outs. Feldman brought one home with a single and another scored when Timmy Kehren walked with the bases loaded. La Crosse finished its scoring for the game when Alex Cordova drove in two runs with a single to make it a 13-2 game.

As the teams went to the bottom of the seventh, the Yellowjackets needed to score twice to keep the game alive, but they only plated one run, that coming on a ground out by Matt Vold (St. Croix Falls, Wis./St. Croix Falls), and the Yellowjackets dropped their third game in a row.

The Yellowjackets only had four hits in the game - one each for Remund, Tom Fairbanks (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd), Koepp, and Sam Holden (Spooner, Wis./Spooner). La Crosse had 14 hits in the game.

Beers went six innings and gave up nine runs (five earned) on 11 hits. Riley Grandson (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East) pitched the final inning and surrendered four runs (three earned) on three hits. He also walked three in the inning.

La Crosse 18, Yellowjackets 5

The second game wasn't much better for the Yellowjackets than the first. La Crosse scored in every inning but the sixth, and pulled away from the Yellowjackets after the game was tied early.

La Crosse scored once in the top of the first, but the Yellowjackets answered in the bottom of the inning when Holden doubled down the left field line, scoring Homma to tie the game at 1-1.

That's when the wheels fell off.

In the top of the second La Crosse sent 11 men to the plate and scored five times, despite coming up with just three hits. The Eagles were aided by six walks and four wild pitches in the inning and went back on defense with a 6-1 lead. They would score four more runs in the top of the third and two in the top of the fourth to take a commanding 12-1 advantage.

With one out in the bottom of the fourth Tyler Evans (Andover, Minn./Andover) singled. Three hitters later Homma singled, scoring Evans with the second run of the game for the Yellowjackets. A two-out double to left by Remund brought home Soderquist and it was a 12-3 game after four innings.

La Crosse scored three more times in the top of the fifth. The Yellowjackets answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth. With two runners in scoring position and two out, Fairbanks singled down the right field line, scoring Soderquist and Homma to make the score 15-5.

In the top of the seventh the Eagles scored three more runs, forcing the Yellowjackets to score four times to keep the game going, but they went down in order in the bottom of the seventh and the Eagles completed the sweep of the four-game series.

Offensively the Yellowjackets were better as they knocked out ten hits in the game. Homma, Fairbanks, and Holden led the way, each finishing the game with two hits each.

It was pitcher by committee in the series finale for the Yellowjackets. Graham Miller (Cumberland, Wis./Cumberland) got the start and lasted 1.1 innings, giving up six runs on three hits. Grant Schneider (Circle Pines, Minn./Centennial) pitched two-thirds of an inning and didn't allow a run, but he walked three. Brock McDermid (Pulaski, Wis./Pulaski) pitched two innings, while Seth Wage (Wausau, Wis./Wausau West), Richard Vanden Branden (Neenah, Wis./Saint Mary Central), and Trevor Stone (Minneapolis, Minn./Washburn) each got one inning on the mound. As a staff, the Yellowjackets allowed 18 hits, but were hurt further by 10 walks.

The Yellowjackets (16-13, 7-9 WIAC) will be on the road on Wednesday, April 30 when they will play a pair of games at UW-Stout. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
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