Greco's Near No-No Lifts Pioneers Over Blugolds

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. -- The University of Wisconsin-Platteville baseball team returned to its winning ways by sweeping the visiting University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire on Tuesday at Kendall Murray Field.  The Pioneers (10-12 overall, 6-8 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) won the opener 8-2 and then pulled away late in the nightcap to register a 10-4 win.  The Blugolds fell to 4-16 overall and 4-10 in the WIAC.  The sweep snaps a 10-game Pioneer losing streak that saw them exclusively playing WIAC powerhouses UW-La Crosse and #8 nationally ranked UW-Whitewater.

"I am proud of our guys for continuing to trust the process even during our tough stretch," said Platteville head coach Chad Harris, "there is no quit in this team and we have a lot to play for as we go through the second half of the season."

Platteville has now won all four meetings with UWEC in 2021.  The Pioneers and Blugolds will face off four more times this season, with all games coming via doubleheaders this weekend.  On Friday, Platteville will travel to Eau Claire for a twinbill slated to begin at 1p.  Then Saturday the programs return to Platteville for their final two match-ups.  Those Saturday games will also start at 1p and can be seen via the baseball schedule page on letsgopioneers.com.

WP - M. Greco (1-2)
 LP - T. Ginther (1-4)

Michael Greco (Jr./Bolingbrook, Ill.) carried a no-hitter into the 8th inning and came within just four outs of becoming the first Pioneer ever to accomplish the feat. The lefthander changed speeds masterfully, repeatedly coaxing Blugold batters to pound the ball into the ground.  Eau Claire did not hit a ball into the air until a 5th inning pop out to second base.

While Greco kept the Blugold bats silent, the Pioneer offense was building a lead thanks in large part to some clutch two-out hitting.  Already leading 2-0, Platteville doubled its advantage in the 5th after a pair of Eau Claire errors led a couple of runs after two were out.  Then in the 6th, the Pioneers delivered a knockout blow scoring three runs to go up 7-0.  The big hit in the frame came courtesy of a 1B Wyatt Molitor (Fr./Reedsburg, Wis.) 2-out, 2-RBI single to right field.

Staked to an 8-0 lead by the start of the 8th, full attention turned to Greco and his pursuit of Pioneer history.  The first out of the eighth came somewhat unconventionally as Greco picked off Nate Witte from second base.  Witte began the inning by getting hit by a pitch and then took second on a wild pitch.  However Greco caught Witte leaning a little too far off the bag, spun around to throw behind the runner and forced him into a run down where he was eventually tagged out by SS Mitchell McLaughlin (Fr./Amboy, Ill.).  Greco then promptly struck out leadoff hitter Logan Matson for out number two.  After hitting Henry Pitsch, Eau Claire called upon Jacob Lacy to pinch hit.  The left-hand hitting Lacy delivered, lacing a single to centerfield and ending the no-hit bid.  Greco retired the next hitter on a flyout to end his afternoon tossing eight scoreless, one-hit innings.

"Michael Greco had a career best outing today," beamed Harris, "he was working ahead and mixing speeds extremely well.  Our team needed his outing and he responded."  

CF Jonny Kelso (Jr./Villa Park, Ill.) and C Logan Kozak (Sr./Waukesha, Wis.) paced the Pioneer offense in game one with two hits apiece.

WP - S. Arnold (2-1)
 LP - W. Mosinski (1-5)

Sam Arnold (Fr./Des Plaines, Ill.) struck out seven Blugold batters in the first three innings, the Pioneers bats posted four runs in the 7th and Platteville pulled away late to complete the sweep.  Despite a very solid five inning outing from Arnold that saw him give up just one earned run while striking out nine, Platteville found themselves up just 4-3 heading into the bottom of the seventh.  With two out and McLaughlin at second base, the next four Pioneer batters reached via hits including back-to-back-to-back doubles off the bats of Jordan Collins (Fr./Bondurant, Iowa), Kozak, and Jason Adams (So./Burlington, Wis.).  Platteville closed out their scoring the next inning with two more two-out runs via a bases loaded walk to Collins and an RBI single by Kozak.

Kelso, who entered the day's action with a .478 batting average, actually improved upon that number Tuesday by collecting five more hits in eight official at bats between the two games.  His updated batting average of .494 is now tops in the WIAC.