AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The UW-Stevens Point baseball team (1-1) opened its annual spring break trip to Florida with a 2-1 loss to Western New England, despite great effort by pitcher
Ben Miller (Union Grove, Wis./Union Grove).
Miller pitched 8.0 innings in his first start of the season. He allowed just three hits and a pair of unearned runs. He struck out four and did not walk a batter. After WNEU scored in the second inning, Miller allowed only one hit the rest of the game.
Transfer sophomore,
Lucas Luedtke (River Falls, Wis./River Falls ) went 2-for-4 with a RBI and was hit by a pitch. His single in the fourth drove in the Pointers' lone run.
Juniors
Ryan Stanicek (Loves Park, Ill./Boylan Catholic),
Jordan Carlson (Madison, Wis./Madison La Follette) and
Angel Ramirez (Milwaukee, Wis./Greendale) each posted a hit along with sophomore
Tommy Duddleston (Chicago, Ill./De La Salle Institute) and freshman
Christian Zamudio (Kenosha, Wis. /Tremper). Duddleston contributed a ninth inning double to right field.
After a scoreless first inning, the Golden Bears posted the first hit of the game after a leadoff error in the bottom of the second to put two base runners in scoring position. A sacrifice fly to center field plated the first run. A two-out triple brought in another to put the Pointers down by two.
Stanicek began the top of the fourth with a single to center field. Junior
Kyle Mrozinski (Ashwaubenon, Wis./Ashwaubenon) followed with a walk advancing Stanicek to second base. Luedtke added to the Golden Bears trouble by singling to center field allowing Stanicek to score, closing the Pointers' deficit to 2-1. Western New England was able to escape with an inning-ending double play after the Pointers loaded the bases.
In the top of the seventh, Ramirez, who was pinch hitting, singled to left field. Duddleston laid down a sacrifice bunt advancing Ramirez to second. Peyton Nelson drew a walk and Ramirez advanced to third on a passed ball, but the Golden Bears closed out the inning with a strikeout and ground out, crushing the Pointers' hopes of a rally during the seventh.
The Pointers had chances to tie in top of the eighth inning and ninth inning, but fell short leaving two runners on base each inning.
UWSP returns to action on Friday with a doubleheader against Washington and Jefferson College. First pitch is slated for 10:30 a.m. ET.
