The University of Wisconsin-Platteville baseball team dropped a doubleheader to UW-Whitewater, 8-5 and 12-1 on Wednesday afternoon at Kendall Murray Field.
The two losses drops the Pioneers to 4-20 overall and 1-9 in the WIAC; whereas, the Warhawks improve with the two victories to 13-6 overall and 4-2 in the WIAC.
In game one, the Pioneers tied a season-high 12 hits but stranded a season-high 15 runners on base in the defeat. Tyler Jacobson had three hits, Zach Demmon, Topher Scheeler and Steve Wolke each added two hits in the loss.
Starting pitcher Adam Theis, who fell to 1-5, pitched six innings, scattering nine hits, seven runs – five earned – and struck out two in the loss for UW-Platteville.
The Warhawks scored its eight runs on 11 hits, including nine from the top five in its order, who did the bulk of the damage. Marty Herum had a game-high four hits to lead UW-Whitewater; plus, Matt Beyer and Ryan Leavitt each added two hits to the attack. The top five accounted for seven of the eight runs and seven of the eight RBI.
UW-Whitewater starter Kyle Stewart won his sixth straight outing to remain undefeated at 6-0 with a six inning stint, scattering seven hits, allowing three runs – two earned and striking out 11.
Facing an 8-3 deficit in the bottom of the ninth, the Pioneers mounted a threat against the Warhawks third pitcher of the contest – Michael Huckabay. Scheeler was hit by a pitch to start the inning. A Demmon single and Jon Lewerke walked to load the bases for Jacobson with two out. The Pioneer shortstop drove in Scheeler with a single for his third hit of the contest. Then, Levi Ney was hit by a 1-2 pitch to score Demmon and to trim the deficit to 8-5 and brought the winning run to the plate – Cody Luther. Huckabay ended the comeback effort when he struck out Luther out on a 3-2 pitch to end the contest.
In game two, the Warhawks scored in five of the seven innings, including six in the sixth when they were holding a 4-1 lead on the Pioneers.
In the win, UW-Whitewater out hit UW-Platteville by an 11 to 6 margin with seven of the hits coming from the top six of the order.
Four of the top six had two hits and also scored nine of the 12 runs.
Herum continued to swing a hot bat for the Warhawks, going 2-for-3 with two runs scored and five RBI. Leadoff batter Matt Beyer scored three times and the No. 2 and No. 3 batters – Dylan Friend and Jared Fon each had two hits.
The Pioneer offense was led by the three hits from Levi Ney, who also scored the lone run for UW-Platteville.
Facing a 2-0 deficit in the third inning, UW-Platteville plated its only run of the game. With one out, Ney doubled to right center.
Then, after Cody Luther was hit by a pitcher, Trevor Kattre scored Ney from second with a single up the middle. But, a ground out and pop out prevented from the Pioneers from drawing any closer.
UW-Whitewater added two more in the fifth to stretch the lead to 4-1 before erupting for six in the sixth to take a 10-1 lead. In the sixth, three of them came in on a three-run home run by Ryan Leavitt. A two-run seventh pushed the lead to 12-1 en route to the run-rule victory.
Warhawks' starting pitcher Eric Schmitz went 5 2/3 innings, scattering five hits and striking out four to raise his record to 3-1.
Pioneers' starting pitcher Shane Murphy also went 5 2/3 innings, scattering eight hits and striking five in the loss to fall to 0-4.
Next, the Pioneers are idle until Tuesday, April 17th when they host Coe in a non-conference game at Kendall Murray Field at 3 p.m.
