PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – The UW-Stevens Point baseball team (12-4, 4-0) finished off a four-game sweep of UW-Platteville (6-14, 0-4) with a pair of wins on Sunday. In game one, the Pointers piled up nine runs for a 9-1 win. In game two, the Pointers walked-off for the second time on the weekend with a 6-5 victory.
Ryan Stanicek (Loves Park, Ill./Boylan Catholic) went 3-for-7 on the day and blasted his first home run of the season. He scored twice in each game, drove in a run, drew two walks and stole two bases.
Freshman
Lucas Luedtke (River Falls, Wis./River Falls ) also picked up three hits on the day. He scored three times, drove in another and drew a walk.
Game 1 – UWSP 9, UWP 1
Tommy Duddleston (Chicago, Ill./De La Salle Institute) drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the first and advanced to third on a stolen base. Two batters later, Luedtke roped a double to right to plate the first run of the game. A Pioneers' error allowed a second run to score and UWSP led 2-0 after one.
UWP got a run back in the top of the third off two hits and a stolen base.
Payton Nelson (Wausau, Wis. /West) drew a base on balls to begin the fourth. He moved to third on a
Neal Matson (Neillsville, Wis./Neillsville) double.
Jordan Carlson (Madison, Wis./Madison La Follette) drew a walk to load the bases and Will Iloncaie followed with a free pass to push home run.
Kyle Mrozinski (Ashwaubenon, Wis./Ashwaubenon) hit a sac fly to center as the Pointers advanced the lead to 4-1.
In the fifth, Stanicek led off with a walk. Luedtke followed with a single and a Pioneers error allowed the first run of the frame to score. Matson walked to load the bases and
Ben Faga (La Crosse, Wis./Central) picked up an RBI with a base on balls. A wild pitch plated another to build the lead to 7-1.
Mrozinski was drilled with a pitch with the bases loaded in the seventh for an 8-1 lead. In the eighth, Matson hit a run-scoring single for the 9-1 final.
Cole Erickson (Deerfield, Wis./Deerfield) improved to 3-0 on the season with 6.0 strong innings. He struck out eight and scattered four hits.
Andrew Holzli (Fort Atkinson, Wis./Fort Atkinson) pitched the final 3.0 with a pair of strikeouts and just two hits allowed.
Game 2 – UWSP 6, UWP 5
The Pioneers broke a scoreless tie in the fourth with five runs on three hits, three walks and two hit batsmen.
Faga began the comeback with a leadoff double in the fifth. He moved to third on a ground out and scored on a Mrozinski single to left.
Luedtke, Nelson and Stanicek hit consecutive singles to begin the sixth. Matson drew a bases-loaded walk to plate a run. Faga hit a sac fly to center for another run and
Christian Zamudio (Kenosha, Wis. /Tremper) hit a sac fly to cut the deficit to 5-4.
Stanicek belted a leadoff home run in the eighth to knot the game at 5-5.
In the bottom of the ninth, Will Iloncaie singled and stole second. The Pointers walked-off on a Duddleston infield hit.
Zach Miller pitched 2.1 innings of hitless relief to hold the Pioneers.
Drew Spaeth (Stratford, Wis./Stratford) earned his second win of the weekend with 3.0 innings with three strikeouts and just one hit against to close the game.
The Pointers travel to Mauston, Wis., to face UW-Stout on Wednesday with a 1:00 p.m. doubleheader against the Blue Devils.
