LA CROSSE, Wis. – Senior righthander
Ben Miller (Union Grove, Wis./Union Grove) tossed a four-hit shutout in game one as the UW-Stevens Point baseball team (18-5, 10-1) took the series from UW-La Crosse (14-8, 6-4) with a split on Sunday. The Pointers took game one, 2-0, behind Miller before falling in the series finale, 11-3.
Miller struck out five and walked just one in the complete game effort. With the win, he improved to 3-1 on the season with a team-low 1.10 earned run average.
Game 1 – UWSP 2, UWL 0
Payton Nelson (Wausau, Wis. /West) was hit by a pitch to begin the fourth inning. He moved to third on a single by
Lucas Luedtke (River Falls, Wis./River Falls ) putting runners on the corners with no outs.
Neal Matson (Neillsville, Wis./Neillsville) followed with a deep fly to right for a sac fly and a 1-0 UWSP lead.
In the eighth inning,
Kyle Mrozinski (Ashwaubenon, Wis./Ashwaubenon) hit a leadoff single. After a caught stealing,
Tommy Duddleston (Chicago, Ill./De La Salle Institute) replaced him at first with a single to left-center.
Ryan Stanicek (Loves Park, Ill./Boylan Catholic) doubled to put two runners in scoring position. Nelson flew out the center for a sac fly to drive in an insurance run.
After wriggling out of a first inning jam, Miller allowed just one runner to reach second base the rest of the game.
Game 2 – UWSP 3, UWL 11
UWL scored a first inning run and hit a grand slam in the second to put UWSP in an early 5-0 hole.
Stanicek singled with one away in the fourth as UWSP tried to dig out of a 7-0 deficit. He stole second and scored on Nelson's single to right, but the Pointers were held to just one run in the frame.
The Eagles tacked on runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh to take an 11-1 lead.
Matson began the bottom of the seventh with a single.
Christian Zamudio (Kenosha, Wis. /Tremper) followed with a single and both runners ended up in scoring position. Two batters later,
Aaron Simmons (Franklin, Wis. /Franklin) drove in a run with a groundout. Mrozinski followed with a single, but UWSP was held off the scoreboard the remainder of the game.
The Pointers travel to Mauston on Wednesday (April 25) for a doubleheader against UW-Stout.