UW-Platteville Drops 7-3 Decision to Washington U.

Washington University in St. Louis scored four times in the bottom of the eighth to break a 3-3 tie en route to a 7-3 win over the University of Wisconsin-Platteville baseball team on Friday afternoon.

The Pioneers (3-8) scored twice in the third for an early 2-0 lead and rallied to tie it at 3 in the seventh before the four-run eighth inning by the host Bears. In the loss, UW-Platteville stranded 12 runners on base and spoiled a strong start by Bill Oppriecht, who pitched the first seven innings for the Pioneers. He scattered 10 hits and struck out four in a no decision. Five Pioneers had two hits in the loss.

Washington University (14-6) got three hits each from Andrew Dwoskin and Brandon Rogalski. Andrew Goldstick added two hits and two RBIs in the win. In relief, Brendan Rooney pitched the final five innings, striking out five for the win.

Oppriecht escaped early damage in the second inning with one out and runners on first and third with back-to-back strikeouts to keep the Bears off the scoreboard. After the effort by the Oppriecht, UW-Platteville got on the board first with two runs in the third on a balk by Washington U. starter Matt Tracy and a RBI single by Zach Demmon. To start the inning, Levi Ney and Cody Luther each singled to pick up their second hits of the afternoon. A pair of RBI singles by the Bears in the fourth tied the game at 2.

Washington University took its first lead of the afternoon when they capitalized on a Pioneer error. After the miscue by UW-Platteville, the Bears' stole third and scored an unearned run on a RBI single in the sixth inning. The Pioneers came back to tie it in the top of the seventh.

In the inning, the Pioneers plated its run after a two out double by Demmon. He came around to score on a single by Jon Lewerke to tie the game at 3. The Bears regained the lead in the eighth off reliever Grant Oldenburg on four runs on four hits for the win.

The Pioneers will resume its weekend trip in St. Louis with a 9 a.m. matchup against Wheaton College and a 3 p.m. rematch against Washington University.