Pioneers Battle But Fall Late vs. Whitewater

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. -- You could not blame the University of Wisconsin-Platteville baseball team if it felt a bit snakebitten this week.  Back on Monday and Tuesday, the team lost four games to nationally ranked University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point despite scoring first in every contest.  On Saturday, against another nationally ranked program, #7 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, the Pioneers saw more opportunities for big wins slipped through its fingers.  The first game of the afternoon doubleheader saw the teams battle for 12 innings before the Warhawks came away with 7-3 win.  Platteville led the majority of game two until a late rally allowed Whitewater to escape with a 7-4 win.  For the Warhawks, the games marked the contests of its regular season.  The program finish the 2022 spring campaign with a 33-6 record, 25-3 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.  Platteville's record dropped to 12-21 overall and 10-16 in the WIAC.

The Pioneers still have two more games remaining on its schedule, a make-up doubleheader against the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh on Monday.  Game one is set to begin at 1pm.

Game 1:  UW-Whitewater 7, PIONEERS 3 (12 innings)

Game one began as a battle of the starting pitchers as both UWW's Cam Anfang and the Pioneers' Michael Greco (Sr./Bolingbrook, Ill.) tossed five scoreless innings.  In the top of the sixth, Whitewater pushed across the game's first run without the benefit of a base hit.  An error, a walk, and a hit by pitch, loaded the bases for Matt Scolan who coaxed a walk out of Greco to put his team up, 1-0.  

Platteville did not waste any time getting the game back to even.  On the first pitch in the bottom of the sixth, Jonny Kelso (Sr./Villa Park, Ill.) took Anfang deep to left centerfield for his fifth home run of the season tying the game, 1-1.

Whitewater put two base runners on with nobody out in the seventh.  Sam Paden led off with a single.  Greco was then lifted from the game in favor of Sam Hernandez (Jr./Malone, Wis.).  UWW's Sam Vemhof greeted Hernandez with another single putting runners at first and third.  After a wild pitch put runners at second and third, back-to-back RBI sacrifice flies out to centerfield allowed the Warhawks to re-take the lead, 3-1.

The score remained 3-1 until the bottom of the ninth.  With two out and nobody on, Whitewater reliever Nick Reckor hit pinch hitter Jake Wegner (So./Reedsburg, Wis.).  Ross Krist (Sr./Sheboygan Falls, Wis.) then came to the plate and promptly tied the game with a booming home run to right center field.

The score remained 3-3 unti the 12th.  Hernandez, in his sixth inning of relief, recorded two outs sandwiched around a single off the bat of Jacob DeMeyer.  DeMeyer stole second and went to third on a ball four wild pitch that put Matt Korman at first.  Scolan then came to the plate and hit a grounder to the hole at shortstop that Zach McCoy (Sr./Modesto, Cal.) backhanded cleanly and threw to first, but not before Scolan beat the throw for the RBI infield single.  Two batters later, Hernandez issued a bases loaded walk to David Rubin to make the score 5-3.  That ended Hernandez' afternoon as he was replaced by Brady Hubbard (So./Maple Grove, Minn.).  Entering with the bags full of Warhawks, Hubbard walked the first to batters he faced before Platteville was able to record the final out when Rubin attempted a straight steal of home but was tagged out by catcher Mitchell McLaughlin (Jr./Amboy, Ill.).

Krist singled to lead off the bottom of the 12th but the potential Pioneer rally fizzled out after that and Whitewater took game one, 7-3.

Despite pitching well, both starters got no-decisions.  Hernandez pitched well in relief but took the loss to fall to 3-3 on the season.  Rector earned the win for his first win of the season (1-0). 

Krist, Kelso, Jason Adams (Jr./Burlington, Wis.), and Ben Espinoza (Sr./Villa Park, Ill.) each collected two hits in the opener as the Pioneers outhit the Warhawks 10-9.

Game 2:  UW-Whitewater 7, PIONEERS 4

In the nightcap, the Pioneers took a 4-0 lead all of the way into the eighth inning.  Hoppert started and kept the Warhawk bats quiet through his six innings of scoreless work, allowing just two hits and striking out five.  An Espinoza home run in the sixth inning gave Platteville a 3-0 advantage.  The Pioneers added another run in the seventh to go up 4-0.

The Warhawks rallied in the late innings scoring four times in the eighth to tie the game and then three more in the ninth to give them a 7-4 advantage.

The Warhawks' Matt Huseboe worked two innings of scoreless relief to earn his first win of the season (1-0).  Riley Dutton allowed three runs in his one inning of relief to fall to 0-1.

Espinoza's home run was his first of the season.  He drove in three runs, bringing his season total to eight.