La Crosse, Wis. - The Viterbo University Baseball team came up just short in their game against Iowa Wesleyan as the Tigers avoided the three-game sweep beating the V-Hawks 11-10 on Sunday. Viterbo would hit six home runs in the losing effort.

Trailing 5-3 after four innings, the V-Hawks put together a six run fifth inning courtesy of four consecutive long balls. Brett Moravec (Jr. - Boulder City, Nevada) would start things off with his three run home run driving in Shawn Loch (Sr. - Suamico, Wis.) who had singled to start off the inning and John Pogatchnik (Sr. - Holdingford, Minn.) who reached on an error. Hitting solo home runs after Moravec were Eli Tupuola (Sr. - San Diego, Calif.), Brandon Buelow (Jr. - Milwaukee, Wis.), and Brett Rettenmeier (Jr. - Cedar Rapids, Iowa). The V-Hawks would come out of the fifth inning with a 9-5 lead.

Iowa Wesleyan used the shower of home runs that was put on them as a wakeup call as they would put together two consecutive three-run innings. Dick Bargewell drove in the first two runs with an RBI single before Jay Olson's single drove in Lino Sampson cutting the lead to 9-7. The V-Hawks would score once more before the Tigers scored the go ahead run in the seventh inning as Sampson's single drove in Josh Sturges giving Iowa Wesleyan an 11-10 advantage.

The V-Hawks received an opportunity to pull off a comeback in the bottom of the ninth as Tupuola led off the inning with a single. A double by Buelow moved pinch runner Joey Bergles (Jr. - Geneseo, Ill.) to third base but the Tigers appealed the play saying that Bergles missed second base as he rounded to go to third. A successful appeal took Bergles off the base paths and left Tupuola at second base where he would not move. The next two V-Hawk batters would fly out to the catcher as the Tigers escaped with the one-run victory.

Tigers reliever Michael Reed would earn the win as he allowed no runs on two hits in three innings of work. Moravec picked up the loss for Viterbo despite allowing just one earned run on five hits in three innings of relief.

Tupuola was the leading hitter for the V-Hawks as he went 5-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored. Also collecting multiple hits were Loch (2-for-4), Buelow (2-for-4), and Rettenmeier (2-for-5). Sturges led the offensive attack for the Tigers as he went 2-for-4 with a home run and six RBI.

The loss drops the V-Hawks to 19-13-1 and 9-4 in the Midwest Collegiate Conference as the Tigers improve to 19-18 and 10-4 in the MCC. Viterbo will be on the road for their next game as they travel to Cedar Rapids, Iowa on April 17^th for a double-header against Mount Mercy College.