STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The No. 7 UW-Stevens Point baseball team rallied to sweep both games of a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) doubleheader against UW-Oshkosh, defeating the Titans 8-5 and 11-6 on Military Appreciation Day on Saturday afternoon at University Field.
No. 7 UW-Stevens Point 8, UW-Oshkosh 5 | BoxBobby Gregorich (Plover, WI/SPASH) hit an eighth-inning grand slam to give UW-Stevens Point (15-4, 6-1 WIAC) a win in game one, as part of a 3-for-5, five RBI performance.
Ben Miller (Union Grove, WI/Union Grove) and
Heinrich Walder (Rosholt, WI/Rosholt) combined to hold UW-Oshkosh (9-11, 1-7 WIAC) to one run over five innings of relief.
The Pointers loaded the bases on two walks and a throwing error on a bunt in the eighth before Gregorich belted his second home run of the season to right to clear the bases. The grand slam gave UWSP its first lead since a 3-0 advantage after the first inning.
Miller improved to 4-0 by earning the win with four innings of relief work. The freshman struck on three batters, including two to escape a jam in the fifth, when the Titans had runners on second and third and nobody out. Walder slammed the door with a one-two-three ninth to pick up his fourth save of the season.
The Pointers started the first inning with three-straight hits, including a RBI triple by Gregorich and a run-scoring single by
Kyle McHugh (Polonia, WI/Rosholt).
Ray Greco (Downers Grove, IL/North) hit UWSP's second triple of the inning, plating McHugh with two outs later in the inning.
UW-Oshkosh came back with four runs on four hits in the top of the second, as five consecutive hitters reached safely. The Titans added a run in the seventh to take a 5-3 lead before the Pointers got it right back on a bases-loaded walk to Greco in the bottom half of the inning.
No. 7 UW-Stevens Point 11, UW-Oshkosh 6 | BoxUW-Stevens Point's top five hitters combined to score seven runs and drive in 10 to help the Pointers erase an early 3-1 deficit. UWSP took the lead with a three-run third and added four more in the fourth to open up an 8-5 lead.
Cody Hanke (Marathon, WI/Marathon) hit his team-best sixth home run of the season, a three-run shot to left, to account for the three third-inning runs. The Pointers then added runs on a hit batter and groundout in the fourth, before
Jimmy Coady (La Crosse, WI/Aquinas) doubled down the right-field line to score two more.
Riley Spetz (Sturgeon Bay, WI/Sevastopol) and McHugh each homered for UW-Stevens Point and Spetz's leadoff home run was his first since April 27, 2013 at UW-Superior. McHugh drove in two runs and scored three times, while Hanke drove in four runs in the game.
Ryan Williams (Stevens Point, WI/SPASH) earned his first win of the season with three innings of scoreless relief. Tyler Kozlowski had three hits in each game and knocked in four runs in game two, including a two-run home run in the first inning.
The two teams play their second of back-to-back doubleheaders on Sunday, April 12, beginning at noon at University Field.