MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The UW-Stevens Point baseball team (0-1) suffered an opening day setback at the hands of St. Thomas (1-0) at U.S. Bank Stadium on Tuesday. The Pointers dropped game one, 6-2, after holding a 2-0 lead, and trail in game two, 7-3, which was halted after running out of time in the bottom of the sixth.
Senior
Clint Rose (Watertown, Wis./Watertown) and sophomore
Ryan Stanicek (Loves Park, Ill./Boylan Catholic) each had a run batted in in both games on Tuesday. Sophomore
William Iloncaie (East Troy, Wis./East Troy) recorded a hit in both games for UWSP.
Tyler Thomka (Muskego, Wis./Muskego) and
Ben Gerber (Stoughton, Wis./Stoughton) each had a pair of steals as the Pointers swiped six bags on the day.
On the hill, All-WIAC pitcher
Cole Erickson (Deerfield, Wis./Deerfield) took the ball in the first game and scattered four hits over 5.0 innings pitched. Relief pitchers
Jordon Gomez (Marshall, Wis./Marshall) and
Alex Stodola (Coleman, Wis./Coleman) struck out three and two hitters, respectively, with Stodola pitching just the final frame of game one.
Game 1 – UWSP 2, UST 6 (7 innings)
After two scoreless frames in which the Pointers got the lone runner aboard via a hit by pitch, UWSP opened the scoring in the bottom of the third.
Tyler Thomka (Muskego, Wis./Muskego) drew a one-out walk and stole second to begin the rally. With two away, Rose laced a single to left to push home the first run of the year. Stanicek followed suit with a nearly identical RBI single to left to give UWSP a 2-0 lead.
In the top of the fifth, Erickson found himself in a bases-loaded, no-out jam. After a sac fly, he got out of trouble with consecutive outs to end the frame.
The Tommies took advantage of three UWSP errors in the sixth to take a 4-2 lead on three unearned runs. UST added two more in the seventh to put the game away.
Game 2 – UWSP 3, UST 7 (halted in bottom of the 6th)
The Tommies got on the board first in game two. In the bottom of the second, UST scored four times on just two hits. Gomez came on in relief and left the bases loaded to end the UST inning.
Thomka began the UWSP third with a walk.
Tommy Duddleston (Chicago, Ill./De La Salle Institute) followed with a single and both runners stole to put two in scoring position.
Ben Gerber (Stoughton, Wis./Stoughton) kept the rally going with a RBI single. Rose hit a sac fly and Stanicek drove in a run with a RBI groundout to pull the Pointers within 4-3.
St. Thomas got a run back in the bottom of the third and added two more in the fourth. Then one batter into the bottom of the sixth inning, the time to use the field elapsed with the Pointers trailing, 7-3. The teams will resume and finish the game on a mutually-agreed upon date while both teams are in Florida.
The Pointers return to action on March 16 against Clarkston at 12:45 p.m. ET in Auburndale, Fla., to begin the Spring Trip.
