PLATTEVILLE, Wis. -- Aaron Hopson has been welcomed with open arms by his new mates on the University of Wisconsin-Platteville baseball team. Pioneers coach Eric Frese said that's because Hopson, who transfered from Augustana (Ill.) College, has an outstanding work ethic and has quickly earned the respect of his new peers.

Of course, batting above .500 on the season and delivering two walk-off hits in the same doubleheader helps, too.

Hopson had a career day Thursday afternoon in UW-Platteville's doubleheader sweep of visiting Loras College. Among his six hits were a three-run home run that won the opener and a two-strike, two-run base hit that ended the night cap. Hopson's heroics helped the Pioneers to wild 15-14 and 11-10 victories on an unseasonably beautiful day at Kendall Murray Field on the UW-P campus.

"That's definitely a first," said Hopson, who is batting a team-leading .511 through 11 games.

For both UW-Platteville (8-3) and Loras (6-9), the day illustrated two absolutes: both teams can hit the ball, and both need much better pitching and defense if they are to survive their respective

not a bad day's work
Aaron Hopson's numbers from UW-Platteville's doubleheader sweep Thursday afternoon: 2: walk-off hits 6: total hits 4: runs scored 5: RBIs 2: times thrown out at the plate

conference seasons.

"It was great college baseball. I'm sure it was fun to watch for the fans," Loras coach Carl Tebon said. "It was not fun to be on the losing end of it. That was a tough one to swallow."

The Duhawks lost both games despite leading in the top of the ninth and 11th innings of the opener, and in the top of the seventh in the seven-inning night cap.

"We have to finish games," Tebon said. "We are not finishing games, and that's the bottom line."

UW-P's Joe Nartowicz extended the nine-inning opener with an RBI double in the bottom of the ninth. On the play, Hopson was thrown out at the plate trying to score from first.

Hopson redeemed himself two innings later. After Alex Mallonee's two-run double gave Loras the lead in the top of the 11th, Hopson came up with two on in the bottom and blasted a slider over the fence just inside the left field line. It was Hopson's fifth hit of the game.

"I just hoped it was fair," he said.

In Game 2, the Pioneers trailed by a run when Hopson came up with two outs and runners on second and third in the bottom of the seventh. He quickly fell behind, 0-2, but worked his way back and ripped a liner that landed just inside the left field line and scored both runners easily.

"I'm a free swinger anyway. Once I got down, 0-2, I said I just have to swing at anything and put the ball in play," Hopson said. "It was close."

While both teams were impressive offensively, both must be concerned with their pitching staffs. On a day when both squads threw their top two pitchers, in 18 innings of baseball there were 50 runs and 73 hits.

"That's a balancing act we're going to have to play all season," said Frese, whose Pioneers have a terrific .381 team batting average but a subpar staff ERA of 5.74. "We're extremely young on the mound this year. We're going to get hit around, we know that. We just cannot walk people and we have to make the routine play. We can't give up free baserunners."

That was an issue for both teams on Thursday.

"We're playing solid baseball. We're hitting the ball well. Some things just didn't go our way today," said Loras' B.J. Juergens, a former Dubuque Hempstead prep who had six hits. "(The Pioneers) had some solid at-bats and, when they needed them, they drove in runs."