Stevens Point, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team dropped a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) doubleheader at UW-Stevens Point Wednesday afternoon at Zimmerman Field. The Pointers won the opener, 11-2, and the nightcap, 11-8. UWL falls to 12-6 overall and 5-5 in the WIAC while UW-Stevens Point improves to 14-3 overall and 9-1 in the conference.
UW-Stevens Point took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on Kyle Finger's solo home run. The Pointers added to their lead with three runs in the fourth. Finger singled with one out and went to second on Tommy Duddleston's two-out single. Aaron Simmons followed with a three-run home run to make it 4-0.
UWL, which had its six-game winning streak snapped with the loss, got on the board with a pair of runs in the sixth.
Connor Roesler singled to start the inning and scored on
Jonathan Wizner's RBI double to cut the lead to 4-1. After a ground out moved Wizner to third,
Mac Born's ground out scored Wizner to make it a two-run game.
UW-Stevens Point responded with three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Duddleston had an RBI double and scored on a wild pitch while Simmons scored on a Bradley Comer triple. The Pointers tallied four runs in the seventh. Duddleston walked with the bases-loaded while Simmons had a two-run single and Comer a sacrifice fly.
Zach Pronschinske (2-2) took the loss in the opener, going 6.0 innings, allowing 11 hits, seven runs and two walks while striking out six. UWL finished with nine hits in the opener with
Zach Carney and
Ty Hamilton each recording two.
Casey Pickering (2-1) earned the win for UW-Stevens Point. He went 7.0 innings, allowing eight hits and two runs with three strikeouts. The Pointers totaled 14 hits as Finger finished 4-for-5 with four runs and the home run. Duddleston, Simmons and Comer each had two hits with Simmons finishing with five RBI and two runs. Duddleston scored three times while adding two RBI and Comer finished with two RBI.
In the nightcap, UWL took a 3-0 lead with three unearned runs in the top of the first. Roesler scored on a UW-Stevens Point error for the first run of the game while Wizner's single scored Born and
Shane Coker to make it 3-0. The Eagles took a 4-0 lead in the third as
Jordan Williams scored on
Tim Urlaub's bunt single. Born's RBI single in the fourth gave UWL a 5-0 advantage and Roesler scored on a Pointers' error to make it 6-0.
UW-Stevens Point got on the board in the bottom of the fourth as Comer scored on Lucas Luedtke's sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 6-1. Luedtke drew a bases-loaded walk in the fifth to make it 6-2 while Quin Henwood's three-run double in the inning made it a one-run game. The Pointers tied the game in the sixth as Duddleston scored on a Comer ground out.
UWL took the lead in the seventh with Wizner coming in on Urlaub's RBI ground out to give the Eagles a 7-6 lead.
Parker Plume later scored on a Carney double to make it 8-6. UW-Stevens Point tallied five runs in the eighth to earn the win. Payton Nelson's run-scoring single knocked in Jacob Lillge to make it 8-7 the Pointers scored the eventual game-winning runs on an Eagles' error with Nelson and Simmons scoring. Henwood later hit a two-run home run to finish the scoring.
Alex Mach (1-1) took the loss for UWL, pitching 3.1 innings, allowing six hits, six runs (five earned) and one walk while striking out five.
Jack Mizgalski started for the Eagles, going 4.2 innings, allowing three hits, five runs and six walks with six strikeouts. UWL finished with 12 hits. Carney and Roesler each went 3-for-5 while Wizner finished 2-for-4. Roesler scored twice while Wizner and Urlaub finished with two RBI.
Sidney Ferry (1-0) picked up the win for UW-Stevens Point. He went 2.2 innings in relief with three strikeouts. The Pointers totaled nine hits with Henwood going 3-for-4 with five RBI. Simmons finished 2-for-5.
UWL and UW-Stevens Point will meet in another WIAC doubleheader Saturday, April 17 at 1 p.m. at Copeland Park.
