Blue Devils battle back to gain baseball split with Superior

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 UW-Superior 18, Uw-Stout 14 | UW-Stout 8, UW-Superior 6 

MAUSTON (April 9, 2014) - After dropping an 18-14 slugfest, UW-Stout battled back to take an 8-6 decision to earn a split with UW-Superior Wednesday at Woodside Sports Complex.

The day did not start off well for the Blue Devils (12-7, 4-4 WIAC), who committed two errors over the first three batters. leading to a seven-run first inning by Superior (10-7, 2-4 WIAC). The inning was highlighted by a grand slam by Tom Fairbanks, who went on to record eight RBI on the day.

Stout came back and took the lead with an eight run third inning. as Jack Schmeider, Brady Burzynski and Nick Nalbach drove in runs and Charlie Meyer and Jared Francois hit back-to-back two run doubles to give Stout an 8-7 lead. The Yellowjackets grabbed the lead back, 12-8, with a five run fourth inning, including two-run home runs by Fairbanks and Alex Quinones.

Stout scored once in the fourth, but Superior stretched the lead to 15-8 in the fifth. The Blue Devils whittled at the lead again in the fifth, with RBI by Jake Lunow and Jack Schneider. Superior would get three runs in the seventh, while Stout got solo runs in the sixth, seventh and ninth innings.

It was more of the same in the nightcap with Superior jumping out to a 3-0 lead before Stout came up to bat. A solo home run by Charlie Pelzer put Stout on the board in the second and a sacrifice fly by Charlie Meyer and an RBI double by Francois tied the game in the fourth. Stout took the lead in the fifth inning when Lunow led off with a triple, then came home on Burzynski's sacrifice fly.

Hayden Bowe came on to pitch in the third and kept the "jackets off the board until surrendering a tying run in the seventh. But the Blue Devil offense made Bowe the winner in the seventh inning when Ryan Freitag hit a two-run tape measure home run and Francois smacked an RBI double.

Stout added an insurance run in the eighth inning to make the score 8-4 and it looked like the Blue Devils would need it when Superior scored twice in the top of the ninth. But Schneider ended the threat and the game when he turned a double play for the final outs of the game.

Bowe worked 5.0 innings to get the win, striking out four. Patrick Gullickson faced one batter and earned the save.

Stout is scheduled to host Maranatha Baptist University, Friday, April 11 at 2 p.m; in a pair of 7-inning games. Stout is scheduled to be at St. Thomas Saturday, April 12.