Stoutonia

Issue date: 4/30/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Layne Pitt The UW-Stout baseball team recently had numerous games cancelled due to weather conditions. Games on April 19 and April 20 were both cancelled.

Media Credit: Layne Pitt The Blue Devils baseball team has been playing well recently, winning four of their last six games. Their most recent wins came from UW-Superior when they won both games in the doubleheader.

As if the challenge of building a cohesive unit with a young roster wasn’t hard enough, Mother Nature hasn’t been willing to make the Blue Devils’ baseball team lives any easier. Two games were cancelled and another postponed as winter has shown it isn’t going away without a fight. When they were able to take the field, the Blue Devils continued to show signs of progress as they battled their way through a tough conference.

Over the past two weeks, nine games were slated for action but due to the cancellation of games at Lawrence and St. Thomas along with the postponement of the Whitewater game, the University of Wisconsin-Stout was able to go 2-4 with their remaining games. Following their blowout losses to the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, the Blue Devils traveled back to Stevens Point to finish out their season series with the Pointers. In game one of the doubleheader UW-Stout jumped out to a 7-0 lead before slowly allowing the Pointers back in the game. The bullpen made it close but the Blue Devils were able to hold on to win 8-6. Nate Hanson showed that his last outing of 10.1 innings had no effect on his endurance as he threw six innings to pick up the victory. Dane Carlson had a breakout game as his bat production produced five RBIs.  In game two, the teams played at a very competitive level but in the end the Pointers got the hits when it mattered as they won a close one 5-3. Matt Doornink was saddled with a loss in game two but he showed improvement as he has dramatically reduced his walked batters, which result in fewer runners on base and lead to less opposition runs scored.

The next WIAC opponent on the calendar was a doubleheader with last place the University of Wisconsin-Superior. Their trip to the north shore didn’t go as planned as the Yellowjackets stole a sweep of the series winning 11-5 and 6-1. If the early part of the season represented struggles in pitching, the second half in representing an inability to hit with runners on base and runners in scoring position. The first game saw the offense cranked out 12 hits that turned into 13 runners stranded. Despite three errors, the Yellowjackets offense was efficient in their game one victory. Nate Hanson took the loss after 4.2 innings with eight hits and eight earned runs. In game two, the offense wasn’t able to come alive to give starter Russ Jiskra run support. Jiskra was able to put together a solid outing despite the loss as he fanned 10 Superior batters along his six innings of play.

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater came to town with the second best record in the WIAC so this contest would prove to be a nice measuring stick for the seasons progress. From the onset of game one, Doornink took his team and carried them to victory for his second complete game of the season. Going hard for the Blue Devils were Brian Giebel and Greg Smolinski, while Brandon O’Connell collected 4 RBIs and went three for five at the plate to help secure the 9-5 victory. Doornink had a 9-2 lead with two outs in the ninth before giving up a three-run blast and a double before settling down to induce the game-ending pop fly. Game two had all the ingredients for a slugfest as UW-Whitewater lead 4-3 after only the first inning. The game remained close all the way until the seventh inning when the Warhawks were able to come up with three runs that essentially iced the game with a final score of 8-4.

After a day off due to inclement weather, the two teams resumed the four game series Monday afternoon in Menomonie. Upon seeing his teammate pitch a complete game and help his team to victory, freshman pitcher Ethan Smallbrook didn’t want to be left out of the fun and pitched a gem of a game, allowing only one run on eight hits. The victory was the first at the collegiate level for Smallbrook. Providing run support for the Blue Devils was Smolinski who plated three runners and launched a solo bomb in the fifth inning. In game two the 24th ranked Warhawks showed why they are among the top 25 teams in Division III. Before receiving an at bat, UW-Stout found itself facing a 4-0 deficit and from there UW-Whitewater kept their foot on the gas. The Warhawks accounted for three long balls with the last of them being a 10 run rule-inducing grand slam.

The Blue Devils will close out their season on a road trip as they head back to UW-Superior and then travel down to UW-La Crosse for a two day series to wrap up the regular season schedule.

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