UW-Platteville Drops Two to UW-Superior

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville baseball team lost a doubleheader to host UW-Superior on Sunday, 7-6 and 3-1 in Duluth, Minnesota.

After building a 4-1 lead, rain forced the game to be postponed until Sunday. When action resumed, the Pioneers stretched their lead with a run in the fifth and seventh for a 6-3 but the Yellow Jackets mounted a comeback with a run in the seventh and three in the eighth for the come-from-behind win.

In the loss, the Pioneers' Cody Luther went 3-for-3 with a run scored and three RBI. Trevor Kattre hit a two-run home run in the third, Levi Ney went 2-for-5 with a run scored and Charlie Beckman scored three runs.

With a 6-4 deficit in the eighth inning, the Yellow Jackets did all their damage with two outs and took advantage of two errors by the Pioneers. After back-to-back walks, UW-Superior scored its first run on a RBI single. Then, they took advantage of two Pioneer errors for the next two runs to complete the come-from-behind win.

In the nightcap, the Pioneers scored an unearned run in the first inning but were limited to just five hits. UW-Superior scored twice in the second and added an insurance run in the seventh for the 3-1 win.

With one out, in the first, Luther reached on an error. He swiped second and advanced to third on an error by the Yellowjackets' catcher. Then, he came in to score on a ground out by Kattre.

The Yellowjackets took a 2-1 lead in the second after a triple by Shawn Lanners plated Tom Fairbanks, who reached on a walk earlier in the inning. Then, Lanners came in on a Pioneer error the one-run lead.

UW-Platteville mounted a threat in the fifth but the UW-Superior ended that with a double play to end the inning. Again, the Pioneers had a chance to tie the game in the sixth but Steve Wolke was thrown out at the plate on a Jon Lewerke single by Fairbanks in right.

Yellowjackets starter Ethan Branum picked up the complete game, scattering five hits and an unearned run while striking out seven for the win. Pioneer starter Adam Theis was the tough-luck loser with a seven-inning outing. He gave up just seven hits, three runs - two earned and struck out three in the loss.

With the losses, UW-Platteville falls to 5-22 and 1-11 in the WIAC and with the win, UW-Superior improves to 14-13 overall and 5-7 in the WIAC.

The two teams will resume the series on Monday with a doubleheader at noon in Duluth.