Stout baseball team closes out season at WIAC Championship

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2  | UW-Whitewater 15, UW-Stout 14 (10 inn) | UW-Stevens Point 13, UW-Stout 3 )7 inn) | WIAC Championship

WHITEWATER (May 9, 2014) – UW-Stout closed out the 2014 season with a pair of losses at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championship. The Blue Devils lost a 10-inning, 15-14 affair to top-seed and host UW-Whitewater in the first game of the tournament, then dropped a 13-3 seven inning decision to UW-Stevens Point in the tournaments third game of the day at Prucha Field.
 
Holding a 10-3 lead in the seventh inning, the Pointers' Riley Spetz drove in one run to make it 11-3, then came home on a Jimmy Coady two-run home run to end the game - and the Blue Devils' season.

Even when the Blue Devils (20-21) appeared to have things going their way, disaster loomed. Charlie Meyer (Jr, Janesville) hit a two-run home run in the top of the fourth to cut the score to 5-3. Three batters later, the Pointers (29-10) turned a triple play.

Stout was held to four hits in the second game, in contrast to 23 hits in the opener.
 
In the opener, the Blue Devils pounded out a season-high 23 hits, but lost the 10-inning game when the Warhawks' Mike Mierow hit an RBI single with no outs and runners on second and third to give Whitewater the win.
 
The Blue Devils had their opportunities. Stout took a 3-1 lead when Charlie Pelzer (Sr, Little Canada, Minn) rapped out a three run double in the third inning.
 
But Whitewater (33-6) grabbed the lead back with a seven run third inning – six runs coming after two outs and an infield error – and took an 8-3 lead.
 
Stout chipped their way back into the game, scoring a run in the fourth on Nick Nalbach 's (Fr, Plover) ground rule double RBI, but Whitewater came back with a single run in the bottom of the inning. Stout made it 9-5 on Meyer's RBI double. Brett Vavra (Jr, Chippewa Falls) homered to lead off the seventh and Jack Schneider (Jr, Minneapolis, Minn) doubled – setting school record for most doubles in a season – to plate Jared Francois (Sr, Burlington), who followed Vavra's homer with a double. Whitewater added a run in the botto of the seventh to take a 10-7 lead going into the eighth inning when Stout took the lead with a five-run outburst.
 
With two outs, Stout loaded the bases. Charlie Pelzer scored on a passed ball. Brady Burzynski (So, Eau Claire) drove in two runs with a double to left center. Nick Nalbach singled in Burzynski. Ryan Freitag (Jr, Osseo), who would draw three walks in the game, drove in a run with a single to center to run the score to 12-10.
 
Stout extended their lead in the ninth inning to 14-10. Francois hit a one out double, then came home on Jake Lunow 's (Jr, Princeton) single. Schneider singled and Burzynski brought him home on a fielder's choice and Stout led 14-10.
 
But Whitewater answered in the bottom of the ninth. Mierow hit a two-run home run, Miikole Pierce drove in a run and Michael Gonzalez' fielder's choice tied the score.
 
Stout left two runners on base in the top of the 10th. Whitewater's first two batters in the 10th reached on singles and and Mierow drove the ball to right field for the win.

Burzynski, Nalbach, Fretiage, Meyer, Pelzer and Schneder all recorded three hits against Whitewater. The Warhawks' Mierow and Trey Cannon each had four hits.

The 23 hits are the most for a Stout team since the Blue Devils recorded 26 against Finlandia University in 2010.