STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The No. 16 UW-Stevens Point baseball team (22-4, 13-3) fell behind in the the top of the first inning in both games and rallied for a sweep of UW-Eau Claire (7-19, 2-14) on Saturday. UWSP got a 5-2 win in the opener and completed the sweep with a 10-5 victory in game two.
 
Matt Baumann (New Berlin, Wis./Eisenhower) collected five hits on the day, including his first home run of the season. He had an RBI and two runs scored in each game.
 
Payton Nelson (Wausau, Wis./West) had four hits, including a home run, with three RBI and a run scored. Quin Henwood (Appleton, Wis./North) and Lucas Luedtke (River Falls, Wis./River Falls) each hit a home run among three hits each in game two. Both drove in three and scored two runs.
 
Jacob Lillge (Little Chute, Wis./Little Chute) and Anthony Tomczak (Muskego, Wis./Muskego) each drove in a run with a multi-hit game each.
 
Game 1 – UWSP 5, UWEC 2
Baumann hit a leadoff single in the first as UWSP worked to erase a 1-0 deficit. Aaron Simmons (Franklin, Wis./Franklin) singled and both runners moved into scoring position on a groundout. Bradley Comer (Rhinelander, Wis./Rhinelander) reached on an error as both runners scored for a 2-1 lead.
 
Tomczak led off the fourth with a single. Luedtke walked, Jakob Boos (Littleton, Colo./Heritage) hit a single and Baumann drew a bases loaded walk to make it 3-1.
 
Boos drew a base on balls to begin the sixth. Baumann singled and Simmons drew a walk to load the bases. Nelson hit a single to left to plate one. Two batters later, Tomczak reached on an infield single to score another.
 
The Blugolds got one back in the eighth, but nothing more. Casey Pickering (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) moved to 5-0 with 7.2 innings in the start. He fanned five and did not walk a batter. Sidney Ferry (Paw Paw, Mich./Homeschooled) struck out one in a perfect ninth to earn his 13th career save, tying him for fourth in school history.
 
Game 2 – UWSP 10, UWEC 5
Baumann laced the first pitch of the bottom of the first over the fence in right to cut the UWEC lead in half, 2-1.
With two outs in the fourth, Luedtke blasted a solo shot to left to tie the game at 2-2. The Blugolds regained the lead in the sixth on a pair of hits.
 
In the bottom of the seventh, Baumann led off with a single. Simmons drew one of his three walks in game two and both moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. Then with two down, it took two pitches for UWSP to turn around the score. Luedtke ripped a two-run single to give UWSP the lead. On the next pitch, Henwood launched a two-run home run to left and the Pointers were up 6-3.
 
Nelson belted a two-run home run in the eighth. Then with two away, Henwood and Lillge hit back-to-back run-scoring hits for a 10-3 lead. UWEC got a pair of runs in the ninth to make the score closer in the end.
 
Caleb Krommenakker (Rudolph, Wis./Lincoln) went 5.2 in the start with three strikeouts. Nick Carpenter (Lake Mills, Wis./Lake Mills) earned the win with a strikeout in 1.1 hitless frames. Nathan Krommenakker (Rudolph, Wis./Lincoln) earned his first career save with 2.0 innings to close the game.
 
The Pointers and Blugolds close out the weekend series with a 12:00 p.m. doubleheader at Zimmermann Field on Sunday (April 24).