WISCONSIN RAPIDS, Wis. – The No. 7 UW-Stevens Point baseball team (7-5, 0-2) fell behind in the first inning of game one and were not able to fully recover in 6-4 and 9-5 losses to UW-Platteville (5-6, 2-0) to open league play.
 
Freshman Kamden Oliver (Viroqua, Wis./Viroqua) notched his first collegiate hit, his first career home run and recorded three hits on the day, all extra-base hits.
 
Jakob Boos (Littleton, Colo./Heritage) had three hits, all in game two, he scored twice and drove in two. Bradley Comer (Rhinelander, Wis./Rhinelander), Logan Matson (Neillsville, Wis./Neillsville), Anthony Tomczak (Muskego, Wis./Muskego), Trent Van Ess (Two Rivers, Wis./Two Rivers) and Brenden Canterbury (Waupaca, Wis./Waupaca) all had multi-hit days.
 
Game 1 – UWSP 4, UWP 6
The Pointers found themselves in a big hole after the first inning at UWP scored five runs on five hits and two errors.
 
Oliver began the fifth inning with a double and moved to third on a wild pitch. Quin Henwood (Appleton, Wis./North) pushed him home with a sacrifice fly. Matson then singled. Boos drew a walk and a fielder's choice put runners on the corners. Tomczak drove in a run with a single as UWSP got within 5-2.
 
Van Ess singed to begin the sixth. Canterbury doubled and Oliver drew a walk to load the bases with nobody out. Matson hit a sacrifice fly, but the Pointers left the bases loaded.
 
The Pioneers tacked on a run in the sixth on three hits to make it 6-3.
 
Oliver blasted a solo home run to lead off the eighth, his first collegiate long ball, left in a hurry to right field. The Pointers brought the tying run to plate in the eighth and again in the ninth to no avail.
 
Casey Pickering (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) settled in after the rough first inning. He went 4.0 with six strikeouts. Jacob Meinholz (Middleton, Wis./Middleton) struck out three in 3.0 of relief and Bryce Ehr (Plover, Wis./SPASH) fanned two in a scoreless frame.
 
Game 2 – UWSP 5, UWP 9
Boos led off game two with a double. He moved to third on a Tomczak single. Oliver hit a sac fly to get UWSP on the board for a 1-0 lead.
 
The advantage lasted until the second inning. The Pioneers plated three in the bottom of the second on four hits to take a 3-1 lead. UWP got another run in the third to put UWSP behind 4-1.
 
Canterbury started the UWSP fourth with a walk and moved to second on a Kyle Finger (Clintonville, Wis./Clintonville) single. Both runners scored on a two-out Boos double as UWSP got within 4-3.
 
Oliver hit a double to begin the fifth inning. He moved to third on a fly out and scored the tying run on a Van Ess single.
 
The Pioneers regained the lead in the sixth on a pair of hits for a 5-4 advantage.
 
In the eighth, Boos was hit by a pitch with one away. Tomczak singled t put two aboard. Then with two outs, Comer hit a single to tie the game at 5-5.
 
UWP untied the game in the bottom of the eighth with a four-spot on six hits to make it 9-5.
 
On the hill, Nick Paulsen (Balsam Lake, Wis./Unity) struck out two in the start. Nathan Krommenakker (Rudolph, Wis./Lincoln) fanned three in relief and Austin Syvertson (Randolph, Wis./Randolph) had a pair of strikeouts as well.
 
The Pointers and Pioneers will finish out the season series with a doubleheader on Monday (March 27) beginning at 12:00 p.m. in Wisconsin Rapids.