Game(s) of the Week: Stevens Point Pointers Vs. Edgewood College Eagles

Edgewood College has live video tomorrow, so be sure to blow off work and watch the game at your desk! Video: http://bit.ly/EagleTV Live Stats: http://www.sidearmsports.com/edgewood/baseball/ 


Preview:
For the third consecutive week, the Wisconsin College Baseball Network (WCBN) Game of the Week features a private school from Wisconsin taking on one of the public schools.

The Edgewood Eagles started off the season with five wins in six games before losing the final three games of their Florida Spring Break trip to sit at 5-4. The Stevens Point Pointers went 6-3 on their opening trip to Florida, but couldn't help but be a little disappointed as they were ranked as high as number two in the country.

Now sitting at #9 the Pointers will look to beat a quality in region opponent in Edgewood as they prepare for the WIAC Schedule.

Edgewood will also open up conference play in the NAC this weekend but hopes to gain some momentum by beating what many consider the top team in the state of Wisconsin for Division III.

"UW-Stevens Point has won all 13 meetings over Edgewood College in the history of the two teams. Last year, the Eagles pushed the 22nd-ranked Pointers to the limit losing a pair of one-run games 2-1 and 5-4."

Results:
In short, the Pointers put away any question whether they should be mentioned with the top teams in the country. UWSP won game one 14-4 and won game two 19-1 in an amazing 34 hit performance in just 14 innings.

In game one, the Pointers got multi RBI games from five different players. Justin Jirschele led the way with three while Jared Surman, Max Mittelstaedt, Kevin Thomas and Steve Consadine all knocked in two. Cody Koback and Jirschele scored four runs in the ball game.

On the hill, Scott Williams went the distance allowing three earned (four total) while striking out eight in seven innings.

Ryan Walker led the Edgewood attack with a 2-4 performance.

Game two featured a 20 hit performance from Point that saw them score in six out of seven innings. The Pointers got three-hit performances from four players (Douglas, Koback, Jirschele and Jordan Rennicke). Douglas also walked six times to reach base in all six of his at bat.

Douglas and Koback each scored five runs in the game while Koback also knocked in five RBI. Joel Delorit got the win pitching five innings and allowing just three hits and zero runs.

MVP: Cody Koback had a huge day for Point scoring nine runs, knocking in five RBI on four hits, stealing three bases and hitting two triples.

Records: UWSP 8-3 and Edgewood College 5-6

Around the Horn for Tuesday, March 29

Your source for daily wrap-up of D1, D2, D3 and JUCO baseball in Wisconsin.

Platteville Drops a Heartbreaker to Loras Fall to 1-9

Host Loras rallied from a two-run deficit in the eighth for a 9-7 win over the University of Wisconsin-Platteville baseball team on Tuesday afternoon.

The Pioneers (1-9) had built a 7-5 advantage over the first seven innings with nine hits, including two each from Aaron Hopson and Brad Milka. UW-Platteville elected to before the game to use many of the arms in its arsenal with seven different pitchers taking to the mound.

Loras (6-9) spread eight hits among seven players but it was a three-RBI double by Austin Brown in the bottom of the eighth that put them in front for the first time on the afternoon. Travis Olson followed that up with an insurance run on a RBI single, scoring Brown.

UW-Platteville got on the board in the top of the first on a grand slam by Brett Benesh that took advantage of two walks and a Loras error for the early 4-0 lead.

Loras cut into the lead in its half to the first with a RBI double to trim the lead to 4-1. The Pioneers got the run back in the third on a RBI groundout by Trevor Kattre to score Hopson, who had reached on an error earlier in the inning.

With a 5-1 lead, the Duhawks tied it in the fourth with a four-run inning. Two of the four came on a two-RBI single and the other two came on a two-run home run by Kyle Soeder.

With the game tied at 5, the Pioneers came back with two more in its half of the fifth on a RBI groundout by Benesh and a RBI single by Kattre to put UW-Platteville back in front by a 7-5 margin.

The Pioneers stranded five runners over the next three innings in an attempt to extend the lead. However, it was the Duhawks who came back with a threat and the come-from-behind effort when they scored four times in the bottom of the eighth for the comeback win.

For the Pioneers, Davis Lenzen was the losing pitcher to fall to 0-2 on the season. He struck out three, gave up two hits and allowed four unearned runs in the process. For the Duhawks, Spencer Radabaugh evened his record to 1-1, pitching the final 1 1/3 for Loras.

Beloit Sweeps Knox in Doubleheader

The Buccaneers got back to winning ways by sweeping Knox College 5-1 and 13-8 on Tuesday. 

Alex Norman went the distance in game one for his third complete game victory of the season. The junior gave up just two hits in seven innings while also striking out four Knox batters. 

Mike Ross led the 11 hit output for the Bucks with a 3-3 day and two RBI. Jake Majeski was strong as well with a 2-2 game with an RBI and a run.

Game two was more of a slug fest for the two teams as Knox earned the sweep with a 13-8 victory. 

Jake Tresemer had three hits and two runs, Mike Kovach had two hits, three RBI and a run, Ross had two more hits, two RBI and three runs and Majeski had two hits, two RBI and a run. 

The Bucs now sit at 6-4 as they prepare for a battle with nationally ranked Illinois Wesleyan.

Viterbo Splits with St. Mary's University in Winona, MN.
The V-Hawks moved to 11-14 overall with a split against St. Mary's on Tuesday. They dropped game one 8-3 before battling back for a 14-5 win to salvage the split.

After only managing seven hits in the opener, the V-Hawks cranked out 16 hits in game two. That included three hit performances from Cody Brown, Brett Retenmeier and Kahtan Al-Kaissy.

Rettenmeir smashed a home run and had four RBI on the day. Justin Daniels and Al-Kaissy both added three RBI to the attack.

Toby Turres picked up the win while Chad Wyss picked up the save working three scoreless innings allowing just a single walk.

Rettenmeier also hit a home run and had two hits in game one.

Division III Wisconsin State Rankings Week 2

1. Oshkosh (9-1) - The Titans are a no-brainer number one this week. Rubens and Schreiber are scary but perhaps the most impressive thing is how the back end of the Titans' rotation pitched against strong competition.
2. Whitewater (5-2)
3. Carthage (8-3)
4. Stevens Point (6-3) The Pointers found their sticks but still weren't quite as advertised
5. Edgewood (5-3) - Presented with a great opportunity this week against USWP
6. La Crosse (5-3)
7. Beloit  (4-4) 
8. St. Norbert (4-7)
9. Lakeland (5-5)- Two losses to North Park raising questions about the Muskies.
10. Wisconsin Lutheran (8-5) - 4 game sweep of North Central (MN.) allows WLC to crack top 10 
11. Concordia (4-7)
12. Ripon (2-8)
13. Stout (3-7)
14. Superior (3-6) - 3-4 against D3 competition. Could surprise some in the WIAC
15. Platteville (1-6)
16. Marian (3-5)
17. Milwaukee School of Engineering (3-9)
18. Northland (2-6) 
19. Lawrence (1-7)
20. Carroll (1-8) - 0-8 trip in Florida drops Carroll to the bottom of the rankings
21. Maranantha (0-0)

Around the Horn: Monday, March 28

Your source for daily wrap-up of D1, D2, D3 and JUCO baseball in Wisconsin.

Carroll Picks Up First Victory of Season Over Dominican
Led by Drew Volkmann, the Pioneers picked up the first coaching victory for Derek Hassell, 8-4 over Dominican.

Volkman went 3-4 with an RBI and three runs scored whil also adding a stolen base. Matt Busse had two hits and two RBI.

On the mound Tim Holan and Cale Ross combined to hold Dominican to four runs in nine innings.

Parkside Earns Split in Conference Doubleheader

The Rangers earned a come from behind 4-3 victory in game one before dropping game two 3-2 against Missouri-St. Louis.

Game one was sent to extra innings when Parkside scored two runs in the seventh inning. They finally tacked on the lead run in eleventh and held on for the victory.

Mike Anderson, Taylor Schwarz and Robert Bellish all had two hits and an RBI with Bellish providing two RBI. Ryan Windt went an amazing 10 innings allowing just one earned run and striking out ten batters to earn the victory. Schwarz picked up the save pitching a scoreless 11th.

John Perszyk had two hits and two RBI in game two but that was about all the Rangers could muster as they fell 3-2. 

Wisconsin Lutheran Completes Four Game Sweep of North Central
After taking two games on Sunday, the Wisconsin Lutheran Warriors continued their solid play in sweeping North Central on Monday by scores of 8-0 and 9-3.

In game one, Matt Lang pitched a four hit, complete game shutout for the Warriors. He struck out seven batters while not allowing a single walk. Garrick Day led the offense with two hits including a first inning two-run homer. The freshmen also scored three times in teh ball game.

Day continued his solid play in the second game, but this time on the mound. He pitched five innings of relief, allowing just one run to earn the victory.

Tyler Schoen had three hits, Justin Barkhurst had two hits and Josh Tanguay had a home run and three RBI.

WLC moves to 8-5 on the season.

Around the Horn Weekend Edition

Your source for daily wrap-up of D1, D2, D3 and JUCO baseball in Wisconsin.

Madison College Sweeps Carl Sundberg Behind Effertz No-No
I will spare everyone the lame pun on effort, but Madison College's Joel Effertz threw a five inning no hitter to lead the WolfPack to an 11-0 game one victory over Carl Sundberg on Sunday.


The freshmen struck out nine batters and walked only two batters as he dominated all five innings. The offense helped out their pitcher's cause by striking for 11 runs on 12 hits to put the mercy rule into effect.

The offense stayed hot for game two as the WolfPack scored 13 runs on 16 hits in the 13-4 victory. Tyler Brusky led the way with three hits and five RBI. Ryan Freitag was not far behind as he had two hits and three RBI as well as three runs.

Madison improves to 9-4 on the year.

Oshkosh Wins Final Two Games in Florida over Scranton

The Titans extended their winning streak to nine consecutive games with 6-3 and 14-6 victories over the University of Scranton on Saturday.

In game one, the Titans used an 11 hit outburst to get by with a 6-3 victory. Nolan Fadness, Tyler Kamps and Derek Hiroskey all had two hits with Kamps adding a game high three RBI. Fadness scored two runs and added a triple.

Luke Westphal picked up the victory working 4.1 innings with Troy Mrkvicka picking up his fourth save on the year with 2.2 scoreless.

In game two, the Titans again struck 11 hits but were able to score 14 runs. Fadness had another big game with two hits, three RBI and a run.Hiroskey scored three runs and drove in three more on one hit and two walks. Leading the way for the offense, however, was Doug Beattle who went 2-3 with four RBI and three runs.

Andrew Murphy picked up the win but struggled through his four innings. Mrkvicka pitched two more scoreless frames and Travis Sindles finished the game with a rough seventh inning.

The Titans finished their trip with the best record of any team in the state at 9-1, making a strong case to move to number one in next weeks edition of the state rankings.

Milwaukee Splits Four Game Series at IPFW

As was noted in the last Around the Horn, UWM won game one of the series 5-4. In the next three games, IPFW took two of three to earn a split of the series.

In game two, IPFW turned the 5-4 score around on the Panthers to even the series. Cole Kraft led the way for the Panthers with three hits while freshmen Sam Koenig and Derek Peake each added two hits a piece. Chad Pierce struck out seven in five innings of work but could not pick up the victory as Gunnar Eastman surrendered the lead in relief.

In game three, the Panthers and Mastadons battled for 12 innings before the Panthers struck for four in the 12th to win 5-1. Eric Semmelhack worked eight innings only surrendering a single run on five hits. Relievers Cuyler Franzke and Kaleb Engelke combined for four scoreless innings to get the win. Jonathan Capasso led the offense with three hits while Doug Dekoning and Kraft each had two. Nick Lingvay added two RBI for the victorious Panthers.

With the Panthers going for the series victory, IPFW's Samuel Walker pitched a complete game shut out only allowing two hits and three walks.

The Panthers are now 5-15 on the season and IPFW is 4-12.

Superior Ends Arizona Trip with Doubleheader Split Against Hamline

Superior dropped game one of a doubleheader 16-0 before fighting back for an 8-7 victory over Hamline on Saturday in Phoenix.

UW-Superior finishes their trip to Arizona 3-6 and will next be in action against UW-Whitewater.

Cardinal Stritch Sweeps Doubleheader from Holy Cross College

The Wolves won by scores of 8-0 and 8-2 to move to 6-9 on the season. No stats were yet available for the game.

Wisconsin Lutheran College Sweeps North Central (Minnesota)

The Warriors took two games from North Central in Iowa on Sunday afternoon by scores of 5-0 and 10-8.

In game one, Alex Raver tossed his second complete-game shutout of the season allowing just two hits over seven innings and striking out six. Josh Ferrell added two hits including a home run, two RBI and two runs scored.

In game two, the Warriors got only six hits but got help from seven North Central errors to lead to 10 runs. Ferrell picked up the win in relief.

WLC moves their record above .500 to 6-5.

Around the Horn for March 26

Oshkosh Shuts Out Western Connecticut Behind Strong Effort from Rubens

Jeremy Rubens proved that he is all the way back from last year's Tommy John surgery as he hurled a six hit complete game shut out to defeat Western Connecticut State 6-0. Rubens struck out eight batters and didn't allow a walk. 

Offensively, catcher Alex Mullendore led the way. He had three of the Titans 11 hits, drove in a run and scored another. Doug Beattie was the only other Titan with a multi-hit game as he went 2-3.
Titans Also Beat Otterbeing Convincingly

Oshkosh used another complete game to win their second match-up of the day, 11-2 over Otterbein University. This time, Big Ten transfer Phil Schreiber went the distance allowing two earned runs on eight hits. He struck out four batters and also walked none.

The Titans slugged out 15 hits in the game including three from Derek Layton. Kyle Van Abel, Jake Dostalek, Bobby Kachel, Derek Hiroskey and Mullendore all had two hits in the game while Tyler Kamps, Mullendore and Dostalek each batted in two runs.

Oshkosh is now 7-1 on the season and has won all seven in a row after an opening day loss.

Milwaukee Gets Back on Track with Victory Over IPFW

The Panthers had to battle back from an early deficit, but they were able to get past the IPFW Mastadons 5-4 behind the strong relief outing of Cale Tassi.

Tassi went five strong innings allowing only two hits and zero runs while striking out four batters. Kaleb Engelke came in to shut down the last batter of the game to pick up the save.

Doug Dekoning and Chad Pierce led the Panthers at the plate combining for five of the Panthers seven hits. Dekoning had two while also driving in two runs and scoring two more. Pierce had three hits and scored twice.

The Panthers improve to 4-13 on the season and have three games left with the Mastadons this weekend.

Carroll Falls Twice to Colby, Still Winless

The Pioneers lost both ends of a doubleheader to the Colby College Mules by scores of 9-7 and 7-5.

Carroll completes the Florida end of the schedule 0-8 as they head back north to try and make something out of their season. Definitely a tough start for first year head coach Derek Hassell.

Game of the Week: Carroll University Pioneers vs. Oshkosh Titans

Preview:

Our third Game of the Week featured yet another intra-Wisconsin battle. This time the Carroll University Pioneers faced off with the UW-Oshkosh Titans. Like I said last time, "When the private schools get a chance to do battle with one of the UW schools it is always a big deal, with a little extra pride on the line."

Sam Mulkey was on the hill for Carroll, while Sean Grabig toed the rubber for Oshkosh.

Result:

Looking at the stats and numbers coming into the game would lead you to believe that Oshkosh would win this game running away.

Carroll has struggled mightily on the season, going winless in five games and honestly never really even being in a game. Oshkosh, on the other hand, has recovered strongly from an opening day loss to Carthage beating the College of Wooster four consecutive times.

Although Oshkosh did win the game, it took a late rally to do so as the Carroll Pioneers came out to play.

The Pioneers out hit the Titans 14-9 in the game and struck for the first runs, holding a 2-0 leading after 2 1/2. After Oshkosh scored two in both the third and fourth innings, the Pioneers responded with a three spot to hold a 5-4 lead in the fifth.

That lead would last all the way until the seventh when Oshkosh tied it with a single run. In the bottom of the eighth, the Titans broke the game open with a four spot to put the score at 9-5 where the game would end.

Mulkey ended up pitching all eight innings for Carroll allowing seven earned runs and striking out two. Grabig's day was no better for Oshkosh as he lasted just 4.1 innings giving up five earned on ten hits. Troy Mrkvicka was strong in relief finishing the final 4.2 innings to pick up the win while not allowing a run on only four hits. 

For Carroll, Jordan Stephans and Drew Volkman led the upset attempt with three hits and an RBI each. Dan O'Brien brought in two RBI. 

Oshkosh was led by Kyle Van Abel who had four hits including two doubles. He also drove in four runs. Nolan Fadness was not far behind with two hits and three RBI. 

Oshkosh has never lost to Carroll University as they are now 5-0 in the All-Time Series.

FINAL: Oshkosh 9 Carrol 5

Game MVP: Kyle Van Abel - 3B - Oshkosh Titans: 4-5, Four RBI, Two Doubles

Records: Carroll: 0-6 Oshkosh: 5-1 since moved to 6-1

March 24: Around the Horn

Platteville Swept in St. Louis by Wash U
The University of Wisconsin-Platteville baseball team dropped a doubleheader to host Washington University-St. Louis, 12-0 and 5-3 on a chilly Friday afternoon in St. Louis.

The Bears outhit the Pioneers by an 18 to 7 margin in the doubleheader sweep, including holding UW-Platteville to just one hit in the nightcap.

Washington University-St. Louis (13-11) got a complete game shutout from Taylor Berman, who raised his record to 3-0 in the process.

The Bears scored four times in both the first and fifth inning and twice in the second and fourth as well as capitalized on nine walks by Pioneer pitching in the win.

The Pioneers' Trevor Kattre paced a UW-Platteville attack with two hits in the loss for his fourth multi-hit game of the season.

In the nightcap, the Pioneers again were done in by first inning damage by the Bears. Washington University raced out to a 3-0 opening the frame.

UW-Platteville got on the board in its half of the second when after back-to-back walks to start the inning, Brad Milka drove in Demmon to cut the deficit to 3-1.

However, the Bears plated two more when they capitalized on a pair of UW-Platteville errors in its half of the inning to stretch the lead to 5-1.

The Pioneers rallied for two runs without a single hit in the fourth to cut into the Bears lead. To begin the inning, the Pioneers loaded the bases on three-straight walks which prompted a pitching change. Next, back-to-back RBI fielder's choices by Tyler Jacobson and Brad Milka cut the deficit to 5-3.

Out of the bullpen, in relief of starter Trevor Hall, Pioneers' Shane Murphy and Grant Oldenburg pitched the final 5 1/3, giving up just four hits and allowed just an unearned run for UW-Platteville.

Oshkosh Gets Win over College of Wooster
For already the fourth time on the season, Oshkosh defeated the College of Wooster by a score of 17-1.

Matt Wells went the distance on the mound for the Titans striking out five and only allow five hits in earning the victory.

The story of the game was the Titans offense. Derek Hiroskey was the star of the game, as he went 6-6 with six RBI, three runs and two doubles. Jake Dostalek and Derek Layton each chipped in three hits. Alex Mullendore hit a solo home run as well for the Titans.

Oshkosh also played Carroll college yesterday. Check that game out in our Game of the Week section!

Pointers Defeat Southern Maine, Lose to St. Olaf
Stevens Point split a pair of games to move to 6-3 on the Florida slate of their schedule.

No box score is available for the 12-4 victory over Southern Maine.

In the game two loss to St. Olaf, the Pointers surrendered seven runs in the seventh to eventually lose 10-6. The Pointers were able to get 11 hits in the game, but could not make the most of their opportunities.

Dan Douglas led the charge with three hits while Justin Jirschele  and Jared Surman each added two hits.

Stevens Point surprisingly struggled on the hill with Eric Van Beck, Cody Koback and Ryan Iverson all having troubles.

Weather is absolutely killing the baseball schedule right now. Hopefully we can get the sun out before schedules get too far behind!

Around the Horn Wednesday, March 24

Your source for daily wrap-up of D1, D2, D3 and JUCO baseball in Wisconsin.
Stevens Point Gets Huge Sweep of St. Thomas 
Stevens Point picked up a pair of in region wins with a doubleheader sweep of the University of St. Thomas winning  4-2 and 9-0.

The Pointers have struggled offensively out of the gates in the early going but were able to get the bats hot in game two of the day. Point had 12 hits in the nine run outburst (in only seven innings.)  Max Mittelstaedt finished had two hits including a two-run homer and Jordan Rennicke also added two doubles and an RBI to the attack.

Veterans Scott Williams and Joel Delorit picked up the victories on the mound. Ryan Iverson picked up the save in game one.

The Pointers are now 5-2 on their Florida trip. 


Concordia Drops Pitcher's Dual with North Park
The Falcons offense continued to struggle as they were unable to get any offense going in a 3-2 loss at North Park University.

Dave Enters had two of the four Falcons' hits including a solo home run. He also had both of the runs for Concordia. Derrick Pankow pitched a solid game, striking out nine in seven innings. He gave up only three runs on two North Park homers.

The Falcons fall to 4-7 on the season.


UW-Superior 24 Buena Vista 14
No stats are yet available on this game 

Division III Wisconsin State Rankings Week 1

1. Whitewater (5-2) - The Warhawks are number one in the inaugural rankings thanks to a strong Fla. trip
2. Stevens Point (3-2) - The Pointers are struggling offensively during their Florida trip.
3. Carthage (8-3) - The Red Men look poised to make some noise in the CCIW this season.
4. Oshkosh (3-1)
5. Edgewood (5-3) - The Eagles ended their trip with two tough losses, but look strong in the NAC
6. La Crosse (5-3)
7. Lakeland (5-3)
8. Beloit  (4-4) 
9. St. Norbert (4-7)
10. Concordia (4-6)
11. Ripon (2-8) - Ripon had a disastorous trip to Florida and will look to improve in the MWC
12. Stout (3-7)
13. Superior (1-4)
14. Platteville (1-6)
15. Wisconsin Lutheran (4-5)
16. Marian (3-5)
17. Milwaukee School of Engineering (3-9)
18. Lawrence (1-7)
19. Carroll (0-4)
20. Northland (2-6)
21. Maranantha  

Wisconsin College Baseball Rankings by Division (1,2, NAIA and JUCO)

The first edition of the Wisconsin College Baseball Network rankings are out. With apologies to all the Divisions except D3, these rankings will be more of an update on how the team is doing. In D3, the teams will be ranked based on our opinion. Enjoy!

Division 1

Record: 3-13

UWM has struggled mightily out of the gates. After dropping three out of four to the Ohio Bobcats, the Panthers sit at 3-13 on the season. Doug Dekoning has been the lone bright spot for the team as he is hitting an amazing .452 on the season with an equally impressive 1.208 OPS.

Division 2

 

Record 5-8

The Parkside Rangers are on a four game winning streak to improve their record from 1-8 to 5-8 on the young season. The Rangers swept doubleheaders from the University of Illinois at Springfield and Quincy University. Strong pitching has been the key to the Rangers turnaround as Jack Olson is leading a quality staff that has seen its ERA drop into the five's after being as high as 7.50.

NAIA

1. Viterbo V-Hawks 10-11 (1-2 Conference)

2. Cardinal Stritch Wolves 4-9

The V-Hawks beat out Cardinal Stritch for the top spot in the NAIA rankings this week even though they are just 1-5 in their last six games.  Stritch has found their offensive attack but the pitching has left a lot to be imagined. They will have to improve upon a team ERA of 9.74 if they wish to make any noise this season. 

Junior College

 

1. Madison College WolfPack 7-4

2. Western Technical College Cavaliers 4-7

3. MATC Stormers 1-5

Madison College holds the top spot in our Junior College Rankings. The Western Technical College Cavaliers follow in second place and rounding out the pack is the Milwaukee Area  Technical College Stormers. 

Stevens Point Preview

By Nathan Woelfel


Head Coach: Pat Bloom (7th Season)
Last Season: 34-18 (16-8 WIAC)

Key Players:
Eric Fritz (Sr.) INF- Fritz hit an impressive .397 last season with 18 doubles, 7 homeruns and 44 RBI.  He struggled defensively, committing 18 errors. He should be able to continue to have success at the plate. If he can clean up his act in the field, the sky is the limit.

Justin Jirschele (Jr.) INF- While Justin had some solid numbers at the dish (.319 B.A., 4 HR, 54 RBI), it was his defensive play that earned him national recognition last year. Jirschele earned Gold Glove-All America honors at third base from the American Baseball Coaches Association in 2010.

Scott Williams (Jr.) RHP- Williams posted an 11-3 record in 18 appearances for Point a season ago. His strikeout to walk ratio was over 2 to 1. Scott will be an integral part of a rotation that may only be 4 deep.

Key Losses:

Brad Archambeau (OF)- Appeared in 51 games for UWSP in 2010, batting .330 with 7 homeruns and 47 RBI.

Sam Spurney (OF)- Hit .365 while tallying 8 homeruns and 53 RBI . However, his replacement in the outfield should be an upgrade defensively when you take into account his .870 fielding percentage which was the lowest on the team.

Jeremy Richter (INF/OF)-Richter had the second highest batting average on the team last year(.372) while also leading the team in RBI (56) and homeruns (11). The Pointers will be scrambling to replace his big bat in the middle of the order.

Key Prospect:
Cody Koback (Jr.) P/OF-  The coaching staff has high hopes for this young man. An injury kept Koback from being a major contributor to last year’s team, but this year he is expected to be back in the mix. He was honorable mention All-WIAC his freshman year and has the potential to get back to that form.

Outlook:
The Pointers are coming off a very successful season. Though their streak of five consecutive WIAC Tournament Champions was snapped by UW-Whitewater, the Pointers earned their way to an appearance in the D3 College World Series, the fourth trip in school history. This season, Point is ranked second nationally by d3baseball.com in their preseason poll. Head coach Pat Bloom doesn’t feel that the high ranking puts any additional pressure on his team.

“We want our guys to be proud of that recognition," said Bloom. “We worked hard to achieve that status. The only pressure comes from adding unrealistic expectations to a group that can’t handle them.”

UWSP lost a fair percentage of their offensive production with last year’s graduating class. Much of Point’s success will be dictated by their ability to replace it.

“We don’t necessarily try to replace one [player] with another," Bloom said. “We try to fit personnel with what best suits their strengths.”

Bloom stressed the importance of the depth of his roster, while also mentioning that his team doesn’t need star power to succeed.

“We have some great players who are surrounded by a lot of good players”, said Bloom. “Name another top-ten team that has zero pre-season All-Americans but is ranked [as highly].

When it comes to expectations for the season, it is business as usual. Bloom says his team needs to focus on what they can control if they want to continue the program’s success.

“Every program wants to win championships,” Bloom said. “It’s about what you do to attain [them].

Around the Horn - St. Patrick's Day

Your source for daily wrap-up of D1, D2, D3 and JUCO baseball in Wisconsin.
Edgewood Stretches Winning Streak to Five with Victory over St. Norbert 
In our latest match-up of two Wisconsin teams, the Edgewood College Eagles slugged their way to a 16-7 victory over St. Norbert.

Ryan O'Dell led the Eagles with five hits in six at bats including a double, three runs and three RBI. Joe Gura went 3-4 with a pair of RBI and a run while Jake Zadra also had three hits and drove in three runs.

Miles Mayer picked up the win, pitching five innings, allowing three earned runs and striking out five. Marc Ostrowski earned the save pitching the final four innings.


The Green Knights provided some pretty solid offense of their own, including a five hit game from Jordan Powers and a 3-5 game for Jarred Yost that included a home run. However, SNC's pitching and defense let them down as they allowed Edgewood 18 hits and made four errors.

Edgewood improves to 5-1 on the season while St. Norbert drops to 3-5. The Eagles continue to look like a force to be reckoned with this season.

Platteville Falters Late Against Virginia Wesleyan
Host Virginia Wesleyan scored three times in the seventh and eighth to break open a 2-2 tie en route to an 8-2 win over the University of Wisconsin-Platteville baseball team on Thursday.

The Pioneers (1-5) took advantage of a Virginia Wesleyan pitching change in its half of the seventh to tie the game at two. An RBI single by Brad Milka plated Aaron Hopson for the first run of the game for UW-Platteville. Next, the Pioneers got its second running on a sacrifice fly by Bobby Patton to tie the game at two.

In the loss, Hopson and Trevor Kattre each had two hits for the Pioneer attack. Pitcher Bill Oppriecht went six innings, scattering seven hits and striking out three in the loss to fall to 1-2 on the season.

Lakeland Shuts Out Knox College to Stay Hot in Florida
The Lakeland College baseball team got its second consecutive shutout win  as they beat Knox College 8-0.

Andrew Mueller earned the win, going six scoreless innings, allowing three hits, three walks, and striking out one. Charlie Sparrow got his first collegiate save, with a strong three innings of work.

David Novak led the way at the plate with a perfect 4-4 performance. He added three RBI and two runs to the Muskies attack. Erik Kozey added three hits and Andy Chitwood had two to help the 12 hit performance.

The Muskies are now 4-1 on their trip and have managed many spectacular pitching performances.

Concordia Loses to Valley City State 9-6
The Falcons dropped their third consecutive game in Phoenix 9-6 to Valley City State University

The loss drops Concordia to 3-6 on the trip. They will play their final game this afternoon against Connecticut Wesleyan.

Marian Wins 5-4 in Extras Over Central College
The Sabres scored two runs in the ninth to tie the game at five and force extra innings, then scored the game winning run in the tenth on a single by Matt Bromley to win 5-4 over Central College.

Anthony Porcaro led the Sabre offense with three hits. Garrett Dorn had two hits and a pair of runs, with Tim Holtz adding the two RBI.

The Sabres are now 3-5 on the season and play against Valley City State today to close out the Phoenix trip.


Wisconsin Lutheran Earns a Doubleheader Split with Westminster College
Wisconsin Lutheran earned a 10-8 victory over Westminster College in the second game of a doubleheader after dropping the opener 7-4.

Justin Barkhurst and Josh Ferrell powered the way for the Warriors, each blasting a home run and combining for five hits and six RBI.

The split puts Wisconsin Lutheran  at 4-2 on the season with three games remaining in Florida.

Lawrence Gets Pounded by Washington College
Lawrence University surrendered 17 hits and lost 14-5 to Washington College.

Shortstop Gabe Henriques was a lone bright spot for Lawrence as he went 2-for-5 and scored two runs.

The Vikings fall to 0-4 on the season and in their spring trip. 

Ripon Gets Back On Track with Sweep of Greenville College
The Red Hawks earned their first and second wins of the season as they swept a doubleheader from Greenville College 13-2 and 7-3.

Eric Schumacher was the only Red Hawk with a two hit game. He also added two runs and two RBI.  Jason Wierschke picked up the victory working six innings and allowing only three hits and two runs in game one.

In game two, the one, two and three spots of the Ripon order, John Hendrickson, Kyle Bosquez and Nick Beaman, provided two hits and two RBI each to lead the way to the sweep. Tom Albrecht earned the win pitching five innings.

Ripon is now 2-7 on the season with one game remaining in Florida.

Madison College Earns Two Single Run Victories
The WolfPack won a 6-5 decision over Hill College in the early game before beating Williston State 2-1 to move to 5-3 on the season.


Despite only managing nine hits combined in the two games, the WolfPack picked up victories behind strong pitching.

Parker Schrage was the star of the day earning a victory with six innings of work. He allowed just three hits and one run while striking out five batters.Eric DuCharme

La Crosse Splits Double Dip with Augsburg College
The Eagles earned a 7-3 victory over Augsburg in game one of the doubleheader before falling 5-4 in game two.

The split puts La Crosse at 5-3 on the season and ends their trip in Phoenix.


Stout Splits with Simpson College 
After falling to Simpson College 3-0 in the first game, Stout bounced back to win the second, 4-2 in Phoenix.

Despite a solid start from pitcher Tyler Gray, Stout was shut out by Simpson's Mike Huyser in the first game.  Gray completed six innings of work without letting up an earned run, while striking out two Storm batters.

 Zach Kiminsky finished five full innings, striking out six without allowing an earned run.  Chris Lammert  came in to pick up the save. Jesse Brockman singled three times in four at bats, while Jeff Huth  finished 2-3 with a single and a triple.

Game of the Week: Concordia University Wisconsin vs. University of Wisconson La Crosse

Preview:

Our second Game of the Week featured another intra-Wisconsin battle. This time the Falcons of Concordia University battled the Eagles of UW La Crosse. When the private schools get a chance to do battle with one of the UW schools it is always a big deal, with a little extra pride on the line. 

The Falcons sent All-Conference pitcher Derrick Pankow to the mound with the hopes of showing UWL that they are a force to be reckoned with.  

(Sorry for the lack of Coverage for La Crosse but as of now they do not have stats up for the game. All coverage is courtesy of Concordia's Twitter feed @CUW_Baseball.

Result:

The Eagles jumped on Concordia and Pankow early and often as the lead off hitter set the tone for the game with a triple. He was later brought in to take an early 1-0 lead.

CUW was able to answer in their half of the first with an RBI single from Ryan Schilter to score Matt Mayer. After a scoreless second inning for both teams, La Crosse got to Pankow again for three runs and a 4-1 lead. 

In the bottom of the fifth, Concordia inched closer scoring two runs on a base hit by Nick Doedens to make the score 4-3. The top of the fifth proved to be the "dagger" in the game as La Crosse put up six runs to take a commanding 10-3 lead and also knock Pankow out of the game. 

The inning started off with an error by Concordia immediately followed by four consecutive hits. Pankow got the next two batters to ground out, but couldn't get out of the inning as he surrendered two more hits. 

Glen Meyerhofer came in and immediately got out of the fifth with a quick out. In the sixth, after CUW couldn't cut in to the lead, Meyerhofer got two more quick outs before La Crosse burst out for five more runs to take a commanding 15-3 lead. 

Both teams got the chance to get reserves in the game for the final few innings. 

FINAL: La Crosee 19 CUW 7

Game MVP: The Eagles' offense smashed 24 hits and scored 19 runs. Definitely MVP worthy as a unit!

Records: UWL: 4-2 CUW: 3-5

Wednesday's Around the Horn

Your source for daily wrap-up of D1, D2, D3 and JUCO baseball in Wisconsin.

Platteville Splits Doubleheader with Averett

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville baseball team split a doubleheader on Wednesday against Averett in Danville, Virginia. The Pioneers won the opener, 12-3 before dropping the nightcap, 5-2.

In game one, UW-Platteville senior Aaron Hopson had two hits, scored twice and a season-high four RBI and junior Levi Ney added two more hits in the win.

After an early 1-0 deficit, the Pioneers plated six runs, including two that came on a Brad Milka home run and Hopson cleared the bases with a double in the third inning. A five-run seventh by UW-Platteville gave UW-Platteville its first win of the 2011 season.

Starting pitcher Justin Crotty went 5.2 innings, struck out five and gave up just four hits for his first win and Brad Kerkman pitched the final 1.1 innings for the save.

In game two, the two teams were tied at 2 going in the bottom of the sixth before Averett scored three in its half en route to a 5-2 win. Offensively, the Pioneers had six-different players record a hit in the loss.

Pioneers’ starter Zach Ryan went 5 1/3 innings, scattering nine hits in the loss to drop to 0-2 on the season.

Marian Drops Tight Game to Macalester in Phoenix
For the second time this young season, Mitchell Gardner pitched a great game but his offense was unable to get him a victory as the Sabres fell 4-3 to Macaleser.

The junior right hander scattered eight hits in his seven innings of work and struck out three in allowing just two runs, both earned.

Matt Schroeder paced the offense with two hits including a double, one run and one RBI. Phil Seis and Anthony Porcaro drove in the other runs for Marian.

The loss drops to Sabres to 2-5 on the season.

Lawrence falls to McDaniel College 16-4, Record drops to 0-3 
Lawrence University had a hard time getting McDaniel out, as they surrendered 20 hits and 16 runs in losing 16-4.


Luke Barthelmess and Robert Rashid both had two hits for the Vikings who fell to 0-3 on the season.


Ripon loses to Transylvania, Continue Nightmare Start to Season
The Red Hawks could only manage four hits as they fell to Transylvania University 7-0.

Tom Sawyer, Nick Beaman, John Hendrickson and Kyle Bosquez each contributed one hit to the attack. Sawyer added the lone RBI which scored Beaman.

Kurt Roeder went 8.2 innings and only allowed four earned runs but seven total runs and 13 hits. Ripon's defense struggled, making three errors in the game.

The 0-7 start is the worst in recent Ripon Red Hawks history and a total shocker to any who follow Division III baseball closely.

Green Knights Find a Rhythm in Blowout Over Loras
St. Norbert College looked to be turning their season around in a 13-1 rout of Loras College.

Chris Hillesheim threw a complete game scattering six hits while walking just one and striking out eight in getting the victory.

The Green Knights attack was completed mostly early in the game as they scored nine runs in the first three innings.  Matt Hannon went 3-4 with a pair of doubles, three runs and four RBI. Jordan Powers was 2-2 with two runs scored and Chad Ljunggren was 2-for-2 with three runs scored.

Garrick Fisher continued his torrid start to the season with a 2-3 performance with two RBI and a double.

The Green Knights improved to 3-4 on the year winning their second straight game.

Carthage Gets Big Win Over Utica in Florida
Carthage used a 10 run second inning to roll all over Utica in a 12-2 victory on Wednesday.

Tyler Johansen got the victory on the mound going six innings and allowing only four hits and two earned runs.

Offensively, Josh Albers led the way with three hits, three RBI and two runs. Mike Petti, Zach Kozlowksi, John Hasser and Chris D'Angelo all had two base hits. In total the Red Men put up 16 base knocks.

Andrew Arenson picked up a three inning save to help Carthage move to 5-3.

Cardinal Stritch's Texas Trip Wraps with Losses to Southwestern
The Wolves ended their trip to Texas on a sour note losing to Southwestern University 8-7 in game one and 6-4 in game two.

Stritch matched Southwestern every step of the way in game one answering innings of one run, one run and five runs to have the game tied at seven in the last inning.

However, Southwestern would add a run to get the walk-off victory. For the Wolves, Phil Cook had two hits including a home run while Buddy Herberg and Sterling Smith also added two hits to the attack.

Game two was all Southwestern as Stritch could only manage four hits. The losses drop Stritch to 4-7 on the season.

Madison College Gets Back on Track with Win Over Northeasern
In the first game of the Jack Howell Classic, Madison College got a come from behind 8-4 victory over Northeastern Junior College.

Tanner Vavra led the offense with three base hits. He was aided by Trevor Burmeister's two hits, three runs and RBI as well as Andrew Wasmund's two hits and two RBI.

On the hill, Quinton Zander started and went three innings striking out six while allowing three earned runs. He was relieved by Casey Doucette who picked up the win, going three innings in relief. Michael Huckaby finished the game out with a 1-2-3 seventh inning.

Stout Earns First Victory of the Season in a Split with Minot State
Stout earned victory number one of the season with a 7-5 victory, in the second game of a doubleheader against Minot State University after losing the first game, 10-1. 


Game one was ugly as Minot State dominated every facet.

Game two was a better story for Stout as Grant Brugger finished 2-5 including a double and two RBI. Brandon O'Connell continued a hot start with a 2-4 performance that included a triple.

Tyler Hamann got the win for Stout who moves to 1-5 on the season.