Live Stats vs. UW-La Crosse |
Live Stats vs. UW-Superior |
Live Audio vs. UW-Superior
THIS WEEK'S GAMES: The big question for UW-Stout (9-22, 3-13 WIAC) this week is will the team finally be able to play a home game this season? The Blue Devils have played all 31 games on the road so far this year as Old Man Winter overstayed his welcome and kept Nelson Field under a blanket of snow until early last week. The snow has cleared, although the snow piles over the outfield fence still are about eight feet high, and the field is in the process of drying out. Stout is scheduled to host
UW-Superior, (14-21, 7-13 WIAC) Saturday, May 4 at 1 p.m. and Sunday, May 5 at noon. But in a strange twist of events, the games will be considered home games for the Yellowjackets. The games were rescheduled to Menomonie more than a month ago long before snow played a part in a vast rescheduling plan. The Yellowjackets' home field is under renovation. This will be the fourth consecutive year the Stout/Superior series has been played in Menomonie. Two years ago, rainy weather ruined field conditions and forced a last minute shift from Superior to Menomonie. But first, the Blue Devils will travel to
UW-La Crosse (15-14, 7-8 WIAC) Wednesday, May 1 in a game that was originally scheduled for April 3.
THE 2013 BLUE DEVILS: UW-Stout have been struggling to score runs at opportune times this season. Stout snapped a nine-game skid in a big way last week when they pounded UW-Stevens Point, 14-4, in seven innings, but then struggled against UW-Platteville, finally getting a 3-1 win in the final game of the series. The Blue Devils have been road warriors throughout the season. The Platteville game was the first series where Stout had a glimmer of hope of playing on their home field, but the outfield was simply not ready for play. Stout has had to move weekend doubleheaders to UW-Oshkosh and to UW-Whitewater over the past two weeks. |
2013 Statistics
PITCHING STAFF: Brad Kohn,
Dan Britts,
Carter Vogt and
Andrew Driessen - all four seniors - have carried the bulk of the starts throughout the season overall and in particular, the conference season. Kohn has gotten the most nods with eight starts with 40.0 inning tossed. Kohn leads the team in strikeouts with 27. Britts has made six starts and has tossed a team-high 41.2 innings, traiilng Kohn in strikeouts with 22. Driessen picked up two wins last week, getting the win over Stevens Point, then going the full nine innings against Platteville. Driessen has made 10 appearances and has five starts. Driessen has recorded 38.0 innings pitched with 20 strikeouts. Vogt thas made four starts in seven appearances. Vogt has 28.0 innings pitched and has recorded 12 strikeouts.
Adam Widder has made 10 appearances, nine out of the bullpent and has an ERA of 2.87 with 15.2 innings pitched and nine striketouts. Freshman
Nick Lamers has made eight appearances, all out of the bullpen. Lamers has 12.1 innings pitched and has the teams' best strikeout to innings mark, striking out 15 in 12.1 innings pitched.
Ian Schiltz has eight appearances, seven out of the pen.
Kellen Pearson has seen time on the hill (five appearances, two starts) and in the infield.
Cole Wynveen and
Jake Brehm have each made five appearances.
HITTING THE BALL: While Stout is 9-22 overall, hitting the ball doesn't appear to be a huge problem for the Blue Devils, but scoring runs tends to be. As a squad, Stout has pushed out 293 hits to 303 for their opponents, but Stout's foes have scored 222 runs to Stout's 159. Over his past six games,
Mitch LaVelle has had at least two hits in all but one of the games and moved hit average to a team-best .386 (44-114).
Brady Burzynski, who has now started 11 games, has kept a steady average, hitting .38 (17-45) with eight RBI over 16 games played. .
Charlie Meyer, while alternating at catcher and designated hitter, continues to do well in average with a .354 (29-79). Meyer is second on the team in RBI with 17.
Santiago Morales leads the team in RBI with 25, and is hitting .300 (36-120). Morales leads the team in all three categories of extra base hits with 11 doubles, four triples and four home runs.
UW-LA CROSSE: The Eagles (15-14, 7-8 WIAC) sit smack dab in the middle of the conference. The Eagles had a five game winning streak snapped over the weekend when they were swept by UW-Whitewater in Whitewater. Adam Cordova leads the Eagles at the plate with an average of .357 (40-112) and has driven in 34 runs. Cordova has a team-high four home runs. John Rowles is hitting .346 (27-107). Joel Effertz, Kevin Johnson and Tim Vertheim have picked up the marjority of the starts. Efferts and Vertheim each have eight starts, while Johnson has six. Efferts has 45 strikeouts and Vertheim 35. Skyler Debilzen has come out of the bull pen 12 times, recording 23 strikeouts. The Eagles will host UW-Stevens Point over the weekend, then will close out the regular season by hosting Stout again May 8. |
2013 La Crosse Statistics
LAST YEAR WHEN THEY MET: In Stout's final series of the season, the teams faced off three times last year, with the final game first postponed, then canceled due to heavy rains. The Eagles captured all three games, 15-5, 7-4, 10-6.
UW-SUPERIOR: Like the Blue Devils, the Yellowjackets have been on the road all season. Unlike the Blue Devils, Superior will not get a home game this year, as this series wraps up the season for them. TJ Evenson has wielded the hot bat for the Yellowjackets. The sophomore is hitting .363 (49-131) and leads the WIAC in home runs with 10 and has a team-high 34 RBI. Robbie Vieth (.346/31-136) and Jeff Miller (.276/37-134) each have three home runs. Miller has 24 RBI. Dan Genrich (nine starts, 58.2 innings, 5.06 ERA), Kyle Gauger (seven starts, 35.0 innings, 5.14 ERZ), Travis Elwood (six starts, 35 innings, 6.43 ERA) and Alex Beers (five starts, 42 innings, 4.71 ERA) make up the major part of the Yellowjackets' rotation. Genrich has 40 strikeouts, Beers 24 and Elwood 23. The Yellowjackets have the Wednesday byes to close out the season. |
2013 Yellowjacket Statistics
LAST YEAR WHEN THEY MET: The teams split last year on a couple of Wednesday doubleheaders in Menomonie. The Blue Devils took the first game 15-7, but Superior came back with an 11-9 win. Two weeks later, the Yellowjackets took the opener, 12-10, but Stout came back for the 8-7 second game win.
AWARDS AND HONORS: Andrew Driessen was named the UW-Stout Athlete of the Week after getting wins over UW-Stevens Point and UW-Platteville...
Santiago Morales was named the UW-Stout Athlete of the Week, April 16...
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 Conference (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. In the fall, 2013, Gardenhire played for Germany in the World Baseball Classic.
Gardenhire received his bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois in community health in 2005.
ON DECK: The Blue Devils are scheduled to wrap up the regular season by again heading to UW-La Crosse, Wednesday, May 8.
