Baseball opens season 3-1 in Jacksonville

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. —The University of Wisconsin-Platteville baseball team opened their 2016 season with a 3-1 start in Jacksonville, Illinois on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, falling to Elmhurst 10-9 on Friday, but turning around and winning three in a row against Milwaukee School of Engineering on Friday, Loras College on Saturday and Northland College on Sunday.

Elmhurst 10, UW-Platteville 9

After a quick 2-0 start from a senior George Jester III double against Elmhurst on Friday, the Bluejays caught up in the third inning to gain the 3-2 lead heading into the fourth.

In the top of the fourth, senior Casey Schroeder sent a the first Pioneer homer to right field, bringing in three runs to boost the Pioneers to a 5-3 lead before a big Elmhurst inning brought in four runs to put the Pioneers behind 7-5.

After a scoreless fifth inning, the battle ensued in the sixth. Senior Evan Greco logged his first homerun of the year, bringing in two runs to tie the game at seven heading into the bottom of the sixth.

The Bluejays added three more runs to their total in the bottom of the sixth, but these would be the final runs for Elmhurst, as the Pioneers held them at ten the rest of the game. With the score at 10-7, the Pioneers weren't done fighting. In the top of the eighth, senior Tanner Galeazzi doubled to right center, bringing in Greco and junior Colin DeBoer to shrink the gap to 10-9 heading into the final inning.

After a pitching change, the Bluejays walked two Pioneers in the top of the ninth with nobody out. DeBoer stepped up to the plate with two men on base and grounded out on a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position for the Pioneers. After two more consecutive outs, the Pioneers fell 10-9 to the Elmhurst Bluejays after a hard-fought battle in their first game of the season.

UW-Platteville 2, MSOE 0

In the second game on Friday night, the Pioneers shutout Milwaukee School of Engineering 2-0, with runs coming in the third and eighth innings.

After getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the third, Galeazzi advanced to first base while Schroeder crossed home plate to put the Pioneers ahead 1-0 over the Raiders.

With a Greco double down the right field line, Galeazzi stepped up to the plate again, this time hitting his own double to left center to bring in Greco for the second and final run of the game, earning the 2-0 win over MSOE to even out their season record to 1-1.

UW-Platteville 12, Loras 1

On Saturday, the Pioneers defeated the Loras College Duhawks 12-1 in seven innings to go ahead 2-1 on the season.

After a scoreless first inning, junior Max Meitzler earned an RBI after he singled up the middle to advance Jester to second and bring Galeazzi home to put the Pioneers up 1-0 heading into the third.

The Pioneers scored five runs in the third inning, going ahead 6-0 and holding the Duhawks to another scoreless inning before scoring two and one runs in the fourth and fifth innings to lead 9-0 going into the sixth.

In the top of the sixth, the Duhawks scored their solo run to shrink the Pioneer lead to 9-1 before the Pioneers scored three more runs off a Schroeder single down the left field line and a Loras error to take the score to 12-1. After holding the Duhawks in the top of the seventh, the game was finished and the Pioneers earned another win on the season.

UW-Platteville 15, Northland 5

In their final game in Jacksonville, the Pioneers routed Northland 15-5 in seven innings to earn the 3-1 season and weekend record.

The Pioneers had a huge first inning of play, and in just the third play of the game, Greco sent a homerun to right center field to bring in three runs before the Pioneers logged four more runs to go ahead 7-0 in the first inning.

After a scoreless second inning, the Pioneers added another run in the third, and Northland also added two runs to shrink the gap to 8-2 heading into the fourth.

Another scoreless inning in the fourth, the Pioneers had another big inning in the top of the fifth, scoring five runs off two singles and two doubles to push the score to 13-2 before Northland responded with three runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth to bring the score within eight at 13-5.

After two more runs came in for the Pioneers in the seventh, the score at 15-5, Northland was held after a quick three outs in the bottom of the inning to give the Pioneers the win.

Overall, the Pioneer pitchers struck out 28 people throughout the weekend, averaging 8.13 strikeouts per game and only allowing 16 runs to their opponents' 38.

The Pioneers return to action in Ft. Myers, Florida starting Friday, March 18 and going through Friday, March 25.

Written by: Carly Willman, University Information and Communications, 608.342.1194, willmanc@uwplatt.edu