Live Stats
THIS WEEK'S GAMES: Coming off their spring break trip in Fort Myers, UW-Stout will get one more non-conference game to prepare for their tough WIAC schedule that begins in April. Stout will meet Macalester College, Wednesday, Mar. 27, for their fourth and final Metrodome date. The first game of the doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 9:45 p.m.
THE 2013 BLUE DEVILS: Stout hasn't held a winning record at any point in the season thus far, but have been no more than two games under .500 at any given time. The Blue Devils started the season 3-3 in their first three Metrodome dates and went 3-4 on their trip down south. One key indicator of Stout's success has been their ability to score runs. They are 5-0 when they score six or more runs and 0-6 when they score less than five. When scoring exactly five runs, they have a win and a loss. On their spring break trip alone, Stout scored 31 combined runs in their three wins and 11 runs total in their four losses. The Blue Devils opened their Florida trip with two losses to Otterbein, but bounced back with a sweep of Utica. Stout got one more win against Knox College, sandwiched by losses to Johns Hopkins and The College of Wooster, two of DIII's elite baseball programs. |
2013 Statistics
PITCHING STAFF: Brad Kohn and
Cody Loertscher have been the primary starters on a Stout pitching staff that is off to a solid start. Of the five pitchers who have logged 10 or more innings, four of them have an ERA under 3.00. Loertscher is the only exception (7.84) but five of his nine earned runs came in 0.1 innings of work against Otterbein, which drastically inflated his ERA. Kohn leads that group with a 1.23 ERA through 22 innings pitched. He is 1-1 in five starts, which included a complete game win over Hamline early in the season.
Andrew Driessen,
Dan Britts, and
Adam Widder have been the primary relievers and each got a chance to start on their Florida trip. Driessen leads the bunch with a 2.03 ERA, helped by a team-high 11.2 innings pitched down south in which he allowed just one earned run. Britts allowed no earned runs in 8.1 innings in Florida, but picked up a loss in his only start. Widder picked up a win in his start against Utica to grab his team-high second win. His season ERA is 2.70 through exactly 10 innings pitched.
Ian Schiltz is the only other pitcher with a start on the season, getting the nod in the second game against Utica, in which he got a no decision. Schiltz also has two relief appearances for a total of 5.2 innings pitched.
Kellen Pearson and
Dylan McCormick each have perfect ERA's of 0.00. Pearson has worked six innings and also has a save while McCormick has allowed one hit in two innings.
HITTING THE BALL: As he has done all season long,
Charlie Meyer continued to mash the ball on Stout's Florida trip. Meyer was 5-for-12 down south for a .417 clip, which actually dropped his season average to .519. He has taken advantage of his limited at-bats to drive in nine runs with 14 hits on the season.
Mitch LaVelle and
Santiago Morales have combined for 37 hits and 19 runs (both about 30 percent of the team's totals) and are the only two players to play in every game this season. LaVelle is hitting .392 and has scored 10 runs while Morales maintains a .354 clip and leads the team with 12 RBI.
Nick Nalbach has only seen 11 at-bats, but recorded hits in five of them for a .455 average. He also leads the team in slugging percentage (.727) as three of his hits went for doubles.
Jake Lunow had the best average of any Blue Devil down south, going 6-for-14 on the trip with two doubles. The hot streak bumped his season average back above .300.
Kasey Kruse and
Brady Burzynski took advantage of their playing time in Florida, hitting .400 and .364, respectively, on the trip. Both have batting averages at or approaching .400. for the season.
THE COMPETITION: Macalester College is 5-12 on the season and went 2-8 on their spring break trip to Arizona. The Scots' struggles have primarily came on the mound, with only a few pitchers having a good start to the year.
C.J. Smith has been the team's best pitcher and has worked through 15 innings without allowing an earned run. He is 2-0 on the season and has already racked up 22 strikeouts.
Jonah Kaplan has an ERA of 0.00, but has only pitched 4.2 innings thus far. Everyone else on the staff has an ERA of 4.00 or higher and only three others have an ERA below 10.00. Macalester has allowed 10 or more runs in seven of their 17 games and allowed 28 runs in a loss to North Park. Offensively, the Scots have also proved to be capable of putting up big numbers of their own. They have produced 10 or more runs in six games and scored 24 in a win over Calvin.
Jimmy Belfont,
Nick Sia, and
Ross Bronfenbrenner are each hitting over .390 and each have at least 20 hits. Sia has five triples and two doubles to help his team-best slugging percentage of .635. Belfont leads the team with 24 hits and 13 RBI.
AWARDS AND HONORS: Charlie Meyer was named UW-Stout Athlete of the week, March 19, after starting the first six games of the season with a .600 batting average...
Brad Kohn was named the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Confernce (WIAC) pitcher of the week, March 12 after allowing just seven hits and no earned runs through his first 11 innings pitched this season.
COACHES: Toby Gardenhire, son of Minnesota Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, is in his second season with UW-Stout. Gardenhire coached the Blue Devils to a 17-22 record last year, an improvement from their 12- and 11-win seasons the previous two years.
Gardenhire received his bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois in community health in 2005.
DOWN THE ROAD: After their final non-conference game of the season, Stout is scheduled to open WIAC play with a doubleheader against UW-La Crosse, Wednesday, April 3. With the amount of snow still on the field, however, those games looks unlikely to happen.
