STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The No. 11-ranked UW-Stevens Point baseball team recorded its 19th consecutive 20-win season by recording 11-7 and 13-0 wins over St. Scholastica in a non-conference doubleheader on Sunday afternoon on Senior Day at University Field.
No. 11 UW-Stevens Point 11, St. Scholastica 7 | Box Kyle McHugh (Polonia, WI/Rosholt) was 3-for-4 with two home runs and six RBI for UW-Stevens Point (21-11), as the Pointers recorded their 20th win of the season in the opener against St. Scholastica (26-11). The multi-home run game was the fourth of McHugh's career and his six RBI were one shy of his career-high seven set earlier this month at UW-Platteville.
McHugh hit a line-drive grand slam to left field in a six-run fourth inning, as the Pointers got on the board after being held scoreless in the first three innings. In addition to McHugh's second-career grand slam,
Taylor Carlson (Madison, WI/LaFollette) singled in a run and
Bobby Gregorich (Plover, WI/SPASH) drew a bases-loaded walk in the frame.
McHugh later added a solo shot to left field and, two batters later,
Cody Hanke (Marathon, WI/Marathon) hit his team-best ninth home run of the season to right to make it 10-3. The Saints scored three runs in the seventh to get within four before McHugh drove in a run with a seventh-inning single.
Carlson was 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI for the Pointers, who had 15 hits as a team. Trevor Bernsdorf and Tyler Duex each had three hits in the middle of the lineup for St. Scholastica, as the Saints tallied 14 hits.
Mark Kowalke (Baraboo, WI/Baraboo) leveled his record at 3-3 by earning the win with five innings of two-run ball.
Nick Prebelski (Green Bay, WI/Notre Dame) tossed the final four innings in his second longest stint of the season.
No. 11 UW-Stevens Point 13, St. Scholastica 0 (7 inn.) | Box UW-Stevens Point raced out to an early lead with a five-run first inning and
Cole Erickson (Deerfield, WI/Deerfield) and
Ryan Williams (Stevens Point, WI/SPASH) combined for a five-hit shutout in game two.
Erickson improved to 4-1 in his freshman season by holding the Saints to five hits and one walk in 5.1 shutout innings. He also had his second-highest strikeout tally of the season with four. Williams faced just four batters to record the final five outs.
Ray Greco (Downers Grove, IL/North) and Carlson were each 4-for-4 to lead the Pointers' offense. Greco scored three times and drove in a career-high four runs in his first-career four-hit game. Carlson knocked in two runs and scored once.
Greco hit a two-run double, one of his three doubles in the game, down the felt-field line in the first inning. The Pointers also got runs on a groundout by McHugh, a Hanke single and a Carlson single in the first.
Greco hit another two-run double and Carlson added an RBI double as part of a four-run third. UW-Stevens Point added four more in the fourth, including the first-career home run by
Mitch Beau (Fond du Lac, WI/St. Mary Springs) to straight-away center field. Beau had recorded the first two hits of his UWSP career in game one.
Three of St. Scholastica's five hits were doubles but the Saints were unable to score. The closest the Saints came to getting on the board was in the top of the third when
Jimmy Coady (La Crosse, WI/Aquinas) threw out Jordan Risse at the plate from right field for the 26th outfield assist of his career.
Riley Spetz (Sturgeon Bay, WI/Sevastopol) extended his streak of reaching base safely to 37 games dating back to last season with one hit in each game.
UW-Stevens Point hosts No. 3-ranked UW-Whitewater in a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) doubleheader at University Field on Wednesday, April 29. The Pointers and Warhawks are scheduled to play at 1 and 4 p.m.
