Pioneers storm back to victory in Florida

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin-Platteville baseball team opened its Florida trip with an 8-2 win over Ripon College, playing in Winter Haven, Florida. Drew Slade started on the mound for the Ripon Redhawks, and Riley Vandenberg for the Pioneers. 

The Redhawks struck first in the bottom of the first inning, with Isiah Ramos and Josh Oswald hitting consecutive sacrifice flies to bring in a pair of runs. The 2-0 lead was able to hold up until the 6th inning when Taylor Christopher doubled to score Jonny Frese and Kyle Reinhart to tie the game at 2. The Pioneers would take the lead in the top of the 7th with James Pavlik scoring on a Colin Deboer groundout. They added on to their lead later in the inning with Kyle Reinhart tripling in Mitch Marty and Josh Moses to give the Pioneers a 5-2 lead. They scored again in the inning with a Max Meitzler sacrifice fly scoring Kyle Reinhart, bringing the score to 6-2.

In top of the 9th UW-Platteville was able to bring two more runs around, with Meitzler hitting a two-run home-run, giving the pioneers an 8-2 lead. The Pioneers kept Ripon off the board in the bottom half of the inning, and secured an 8-2 win. The victory lifts the Pioneers record to 2-1 on the season.

The Pioneers take the field again Sunday, March 12, against Stockton University at 1:30 p.m. The Stockton University Ospreys have a 4-1 record on the season.

Written by: Jensen Melville, UW-Platteville Communications, 608.342.1194, pr@uwplatt.edu