WAUPUN, Wis. -- Familiar foes faced off Saturday afternoon as Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) members UW-Platteville and UW-Stout opened the 2021 baseball season by splitting a doubleheader.  The Blue Devils drew first blood, running away with a 16-2 victory in the opener before the Pioneers evened things up with a 11-6 win in the nightcap. Thanks to the COVID-19 global pandemic, it had been 378 days since the UW-Platteville baseball team had taken the field for an official game.  Mother Nature did her best to make the teams wait longer as an early week snowfall left Platteville's Kendall Murray Field unplayable this weekend.  As a result today's games were moved to a neutral site in Waupun, Wis. with the Pioneers still serving as the home team.

While fortunately COVID has not caused the cancellation of a 2nd consecutive spring season, its effects can still be seen on this year's schedule.  WIAC schools will only be playing other conference opponents this year with some series being designated as "non-conference".  As such, Saturday's games between Platteville and Stout will not be counted towards either team's conference record.  The programs will face each other six more times this season, all in May, with 4 of the contests counting towards their conference records.  The Pioneers return to action on Tuesday, March 23rd when they face UW-Eau Claire in a non-conference doubleheader.  First pitch is set for 1 p.m.

Game 1

Final / 7 innings

The Blue Devils jumped out to a 7-0 lead after their first two at-bats.  Back-to-back doubles by Pioneers' Ryan Vogel (Jr. / Mt. Horeb, Wis.) and Mitchell McLaughlin (Fr. / Amboy, Ill.) to lead off the bottom of the second helped pushed two runs across to bring the game to within 7-2.  Stout, however, added 3 runs in the fourth, and then 6 more in the seventh to end the game via run rule.  Pioneer gloves took a while to warm up on the brisk but pleasant first day of spring in Wisconsin as the defense committed 3 errors leading to 2 unearned runs. 

Devils' lefty starter James Palmer worked six innings and kept the Pioneer bats at bay by striking out nine and walking none in earning his first win of the season. Sam Hernandez (Fr. / Malone, Wis.) got the start in the opener for Platteville and was hung with the loss.  Hernandez surrendered 10 runs (8 earned) on 10 hits and 2 walks over three innings of work.  He struck out two. 

CF Jonathan Kelso (Jr. / Villa Park, Ill.) led the Pioneer offense with 2 hits.

Game 2

Final

The Pioneers were able to flush the bad taste of Game 1 from their memory right away by putting up five runs in the first inning off of Stout starter Cody Urban.  In that inning, 5 straight Pioneers reached base, highlighted by a 2-RBI single from Ross Krist (Jr. / Sheboygan Falls, Wis.) and a 2-RBI double by McLaughlin.  McLaughlin would not be done in the night cap as he added RBI hits in the 6th and 7th innings as part of a 3-3, 5-RBI performance.  The Pioneer third baseman terrorized Devil pitching all day reaching base on 7 of his 8 plate appearances, walking three times and driving in six.  Kelso also stayed hot in game 2, rapping out 3 more hits and scoring four times.  In all, seven Platteville batters collected at least one hit in the victory.  

Six Pioneer pitchers combined to hold the Devil bats at bay as Head Coach Chad Harris employed a "bullpen-by-committee" approach to lock down the win.  Shane Nolan (Sr. / Lake Zurich, Ill.) got the start and went 2 innings, giving up 2 runs.  The 6'3 right hander only allowed one hit but struggled with control, issuing six walks.  Nate Jennings (Jr. / Arena, Wis.) entered the game in the 7th with the bases full of Blue Devils and only one out.  The right hander got out of that jam with no further damage and then closed out the games' final two frames to earn his first win of the year. Five of Jennings' eight outs came via the strikeout.

QUOTABLES:

Pioneer Head Coach Chad Harris:  "A year ago we didn't know when or if this day would come so the fact that we got to play a game was great.  It obviously wasn't pretty baseball but we got a lot of guys involved and now we get back to work to improve.  Jonny Kelso and Mitchell McLaughlin both had big days at the plate and had some clutch hits for us, especially in game two."

Freshman 3B Mitchell McLaughlin:  "I thought that our team was very excited to just get out and play some conference games.  It showed we were nervous a little at the beginning but I felt we really regrouped in the second game and picked up a solid win.  We hope to keep progressing into this next week and make these next series' better than the previous.  I expect to keep hearing loud noises at the plate for our offense.  Personally, I felt I was really seeing the ball well today.  Lots of guys were getting on in front of me and I just tried to do my job and drive them in."