Offense Powers Pioneers To Sweep Of Blugolds

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-Platteville baseball team (11-19, 7-11 WIAC) swept UW-Eau Claire (10-24, 2-16 WIAC) in a Saturday afternoon doubleheader by scores of 9-2 and 11-4 from Carson Park in Eau Claire.

Game One

Senior Mitchell Pomeroy got the Pioneers on the board first with a solo home run down the right field line to open the second inning. The Blugolds tied the game with a run in the third, but Pomeroy connected on his second home run of the game, this time a two-run shot, to make it 3-1 in the top of the fourth.

After UW-Eau Claire cut the deficit to one with a home run of their own in the bottom half of the fourth, sophomore Caleb Parker used active baserunning to score on an error to increase the lead back to two. UW-Platteville was able to put the game away with five combined runs between the seventh and eighth innings, including two-run home runs from sophomore Mason Molitor and junior Xavier Lara. The Pioneers final run of the game came in on a single by junior Justin Fago.

Pomeroy put together an impressive game at the plate, going 4-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored. The Pioneers tallied 11 hits as a team, with Molitor and junior Brady Katterhagen joining Pomeroy in recording multi-hit performances.

Pomeroy also collected the win on the mound, throwing seven innings and allowing just two runs. He gave up six hits while striking out three. Senior Jake Schneider pitched the final two frames and kept the Blugolds scoreless while giving up three hits.

Game Two

The Pioneers offense got rolling early in game two, scoring once in the first and five times in the second to quickly take a 6-0 lead. In the first, freshman Connor Gresens brought home a run after he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. The next inning, Fago launched a grand slam to left field and junior Chris Tsouras hit his third home run of the past four games.

A couple innings later, junior Slate Higa added to the UW-Platteville with an RBI groundout in the top of the fifth. In the very next at-bat, sophomore Caleb Parker hit a two-run home run to make it 9-0 in favor of the Pioneers.

UW-Eau Claire scored twice in the bottom half of the fifth and the Pioneers added two more in the top of the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Gresens and an RBI single by senior Hunter Hopkins. The Blugolds scored one run in both the sixth and eighth innings to wrap up the scoring for the day.

The Pioneers totaled 13 hits in the contest, with Fago, Molitor, Pomeroy, Hopkins, and sophomore Spencer Robertson each tallying two. Fago drove in four runs in the game, while Parker and Gresens each knocked in a pair.

Sophomore Jordan Stanton picked up his second win of the season after pitching six innings and allowing three runs. He struck out five batters and walked none to improve to 2-5.

Up Next

The Pioneers will take on Wartburg in a single road game on Tuesday night at 6 p.m.