MENOMONIE, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-Platteville baseball team dropped both ends of a doubleheader at the University of Wisconsin-Stout on Tuesday. Final score for game one was 8-0 while things tightened up for the nightcap before the Blue Devils hung on for an 8-7 win. The games were the first two of six straight the programs will play against each other this week. Platteville (14-18 overall, 8-14 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) will host Stout (14-16 overall, 10-12 in WIAC) on Friday with a doubleheader. Then Saturday, the squads will return to Menomonie for a non-conference doubleheader to close out their season series.
Friday's doubleheader at Kendall Murray Field on Platteville's campus will start with first pitch at 1p. Both games will be broadcast via livestream on letsgopioneers.com.
| GAME 1 |
R |
H |
E |
| UW-Platteville |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| UW-Stout |
8 |
11 |
0 |
WP - J. Palmer (5-3)
LP - M. Greco (1-4)
Blue Devil starter James Palmer faced only three over the minimum in tossing a complete game no-hitter vs. Platteville in game one. Palmer walked five and struck out nine Pioneer batters in going the distance.
Stout RF Hunter Merrill hit an RBI double to cap the scoring in a 3-run third inning which would wind up being more than enough for Palmer. After issuing a pair of walks in the top of the third, Palmer retired the next 10 Platteville batters in order. Jason Adams (So./Burlington, Wis.) finally broke the string in the 7th with a lead off walk but was immediately erased on the basepaths when Austin Pullara (Fr./Morris, Ill.) followed by hitting into a 6-4-3 doubleplay.
Michael Greco (Jr./Bolingbrook, Ill.) worked six innings on the mound in taking the loss. He struck out five. Grant Merk (Fr./Council Bluffs, Iowa) entered the game in the 8th and closed things out going the final 1.1 allowing no runs and just one hit.
| GAME 2 |
R |
H |
E |
| UW-Platteville |
7 |
7 |
3 |
| UW-Stout |
8 |
13 |
3 |
WP - J. Baumann (1-4)
LP - J. Schneider (0-1)
S - A. Mahaz (2)
After being shutout in the opener, the Pioneer bats came alive right away to start game two. Platteville scored four times in the first, putting two runs on the board two batters into the game when Jonny Kelso (Jr./Villa Park, Ill.) followed a Ross Krist (Jr./Sheboygan Falls, Wis.) lead-off walk with a 2-run home run. The long ball was the 5th of the season for Kelso and third in his last five games. The Pioneers weren't done as they took advantage of some poor Stout defense on a couple of errors to add two more runs before the inning was over.
The cushion would be short-lived as Stout responded in the bottom of the 1st by putting the first five batters on base vs. starter Jake Schneider (Fr./Sturgeon Bay, Wis.). Schneider eventually got out of the inning but not before the Devils scored three to pull within one, 4-3.
After the actiion-filled first, the Pioneer bats again fell silent. Meanwhile UWS tied the game with a run in the 2nd, took its first lead with a run in the 5th, and extended the advantage with two more in the 6th. Down 7-4 in the 8th, Platteville manufactured a run to pull closer. Pullara led off the frame with a single to center. Devil reliever Alex Mahaz then sent Pullara to 2nd on a balk and 3rd after a wild pitch. One out later, Ryan Vogel (Fr./Sturgeon Bay, Wis.) hit a sacrifice fly to right field bringing in Pullara and closing the gap to 7-5.
An unearned run in the bottom of the 8th allowed Stout to push the lead back to three heading into the final frame. After aLogan Kozak (Sr./Waukesha, Wis.) pinch-hit walk to lead off the ninth, Ben Espinoza (Jr./Villa Park, Ill.) made it a one-run game once again with the first HR of his collegiate career. Despite giving up two runs before recording an out, Mahaz settled back down to retire the next three Pioneer batters in order to earn his second save and preserve the sweep.
After being hitless for just the fifth time out of 32 games in game one, Kelso recorded two hits and drove in two in game two.
