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Adank, a freshman from Holmen, Wis., tossed seven scoreless innings of relief to back the V-Hawks to a 14-4 victory over UW-La Crosse in the Wells Fargo Copeland Cup at Copeland Park.
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UW-La Crosse's Matt Trocke puts out Viterbo's
Shane Michiels on a double play attempt in the third inning.
Erik Daily |
But Viterbo pitching coach Jared Manske noticed a flaw in Adank’s postgame interview delivery.
“Did he thank his catcher?” Manske said. “No? Levi, always say something about your catcher.”
That would be freshman Jordan Rennicke, who was on the receiving end of Adank’s three-hit, no-walk, nine-strikeout gem.
Adank entered the game in the third inning with Viterbo trailing 4-1. The V-Hawks’ offense gave him a comfortable lead with four runs in the fourth and six in the fifth, highlighted by Shawn Loch’s grand slam.
Viterbo has won the last two Copeland Cup games. UW-L still leads the all-time series 18-15.
In his previous outing eight days earlier at Waldorf, Adank had allowed eight runs in two-thirds of an inning. The difference Tuesday was simple, he said.
“I found my curveball,” Adank said. “I was getting ahead and I slowed down. It needed that; I needed to find my curveball because going into the (MCC Tournament) after that last outing would have been tough. This is a big confidence-builder.”
V-Hawks coach Chad Miller had planned to use three or four different pitchers in the game to save his staff for the conference tournament. Viterbo (26-14) opens against Ashford 7 p.m. Thursday in Waterloo, Iowa.
Instead, Chad Walleser started and went two innings and Adank, who had made 10 appearances this season, went the rest of the way. Adank threw 84 pitches.
“This was the opportunity, on a pretty good stage, for him to get to where we want him to be,” Miller said. “This was important for his development. And he recovers pretty well and probably will be ready to pitch again Friday.”
The Eagles, meanwhile, didn’t get as much production from their young pitchers, who were asked to eat up innings.
UW-L (15-18), tied for the fourth and final conference tournament seed with UW-Platteville, plays its final conference series at UW-Superior this weekend, so coach Chris Schwarz kept his top arms on the shelf.
Most of Viterbo’s damage came against sophomores Gavin Scray and Kyle Kunz, who combined for one inning and allowed eight runs on six walks and three hits. They had previously appeared 72/3 innings between them this season.
“It’s absolutely no excuse whatsoever,” Schwarz said. “You pitch in a college ballgame, you’ve got to be able to throw strikes. In every game, mistakes are made and Viterbo took advantage of ours.”
Viterbo took the lead with a four-run fourth inning, using four walks, one hit and a couple costly mistakes.
Loch, a junior, broke the game open in the fifth with his grand slam to make it 11-4. It was Loch’s second homer this season.
“We’ve been struggling for a week-and-a-half and it was good to see everybody stay with it and come back and get the ‘W,’” Loch said.
Joel Badzinski can be reached at (608) 791-8402 or joel.badzinski@lee.net
