Baseball Preview: Conference season to open with trip to Stevens Point

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THIS WEEK'S GAMES: The Blue Devils (9-2, 0-0 WIAC) open the 2015 conference season by traveling to ninth ranked UW-Stevens Point (9-3, 0-0 WIAC), Thursday, April 2 and Friday, April 3. The teams closed out the regular conference season last year and Stevens Point put an end to Stout's season in the conference tournament.

THE 2015 BLUE DEVILS: UW-Stout returns three of its top-four hitters from last season's squad that reached the WIAC tournament for the first time since 2007 and had the most WIAC wins since 2007.  Senior Jack Schneider set a program single-season record with 17 doubles and produced a .346 batting average, while junior Brady Burzynski led the Blue Devils with a .356 batting average.  Sophomore Zach Carlson pitched a team-high 61.0 innings a season ago and was sixth in the conference with a 3.54 earned run average. The Blue Devils return their starting catcher, second baseman, shortstop, third baseman and centerfielder, along with a good portion of their starting pitching rotation. Experience the Blue Devils have this year, with 17 returners. | 2015 Statistics

PITCHING STAFF: Hayen Bowe (2-0 W-L, 1.02 ERA, 17.2 IP, 13K).  Zach Carlson (2-1 W-L,3.44 ERA, 18.1 IP, 12 K), Drew Worth (3-0, 4.11 ERA, 15.1 IP, 9K) and Kellen Pearson (1-1, 8.10 ERA, 6.2 IP, 5K) have started all the games this season. Austin Booher (1-0, 1.50 ERA, 6.0 IP, 3K) has made a team-best five appearances and has two saves.

HITTING THE BALL: The Blue Devils do not have a power hitter like they had last year in all-WIAC pick Ryan Freitag, but Stout has been getting it done at the plate and on the base paths.third baseman Jake Lunow is leading the team at the plate with a .406 average (13-32) with six RBI. Lunow has six doubles, tying him for the lead in the WIAC. Shortstop Nick Nalbach is hitting .394 (13-33) with a team-best 11 RBI. Centerfielder Brady Burzynski has moved from the lead-off position last year to third in the line-up, hitting .371 (13-35) with nine RBI. Only Lunow has a better on-base percentage (.537) than Burzynski's .511. And once Burzynski gets on base, he is deadly. The junior leads the country in stolen bases with 1.36 bases per contest and started the season off successfully stealing a base in his first 15 tries. Burzynski, who has an active hitting streak of seven games, was stopped in his second attempt against Northland College last week. as a team, Stout has stolen 28 bases in 34 attempts, and Stout has stolen multiple bases in each of the last seven games. Burzynski has stolen at least one base in six games this season. Josh Halling has earned a starting spot at right field and is hitting .333 (11-33), not bad for a guy who did not make the team each of the last two years. First baseman Noah Brown is hitting .308 (8-26). Catcher Charlie Meyer is just behind Burzynski in RBI with 10. | 2015 Statistics

UW-STOUT LAST TIME OUT: Drew Worth pitched six inning of scoreless ball, but Stout hung on for a 4-3 win over Northland College, March 24, The Lumberjacks scored three runs in the top of the ninth. Stout got all of their runs in the second inning. | Game Story and Statistics

UW-STEVENS POINT BASEBALL: UW-Stevens Point, ranked No. 12 by D3baseball.com and No. 14 by Collegiate Baseball News during the preseason, has nine returning starting position players back, including its top-four hitters, from a year ago.  Junior Brandon Kranz topped the team with a .386 batting average, while senior Kyle McHugh was second with a .360 batting average and belted nine home runs and a league-leading 24 doubles.  Senior Luke Watson is back after claiming WIAC Pitcher of the Year honors a season ago when he led the conference with a 1.93 earned run average.  He also added 70.0 innings pitched, 56 strikeouts, eight victories and opponents batted .197 against him.  The Pointers have won at least 30 games in eight of the last 10 seasons and are seeking their 10th NCAA appearance in the last 11 years. The Pointers are picked in a preseason poll to finish third.

As a team, the Pointers are hitting .351, bested only by top-ranked UW-Whitewater. The Pointers have four players hitting above .400 and nine players hitting .300 or better. Cody Hanke leads te Pointers with a 417 average (20-48), with 10 RBI. Bobby Gregorich is hitting .406 (13-32), Riley Spetz .400 (20-50), as is Taylor Carlson (18-45). Jimmy Coady has driven in 10 runs and is hitting .318 (14-44). On the hill, the Pointers have used six different starters. Mark Kowalke has tossed a team-best 21.0 innings and has a 1.71 ERA, but is 1-2 overall. Mitch Beau has thrown 20.2 innings, with a team-best 15 strikeouts and an ERA of 1.31. As a team, the Pointers have a league-best 2.29 team ERA. | 2015 Pointer Statistics

LAST TIME THEY MET: Stevens Point took all five decisions last year, four during the regular season and the fifth in the conference tournament. The Pointers took 11-6, 18-6 first day wins, then captured identical 4-3 wins on day two. At the conference tournament, the Pointers took a seven-inning, 13-3, win. | Day One Games and Statistics | Day Two Games and Statistics | WIAC Tourney Game and Statistics.

2014 TEAM CAPTAINS: Team captains for the 2015 season are Kasey Kruse, Charlie Meyer and Adam Widder

AWARDS AND HONORS: Hayen Bowe was the UW-Stout/Northwestern Mutual Athlete of the Week after going 2-0 over his first three starts and struck out 13.

COACHES: Toby Gardenhire, (58-72) is in his fourth season with UW-Stout. Gardenhire coached the Blue Devils to a 20-21 record in 2014. 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.

2014 BLUE DEVILS: UW-Stout returns three of its top-four hitters from last season's squad that reached the WIAC tournament for the first time since 2007 and had the most WIAC wins since 2007.  Senior Jack Schneider set a program single-season record with 17 doubles and produced a .346 batting average, while junior Brady Burzynski led the Blue Devils with a .356 batting average.  Sophomore Zach Carlson pitched a team-high 61.0 innings a season ago and was sixth in the conference with a 3.54 earned run average. | 2014 Statistics

DOWN THE ROAD: The Blue Devils will host UW-Platteville, Tuesday, April 7 at 1 p.m., then will host the University of St. Thomas, Saturday, April 11 at 1 p.m. and then travel to Macalester College, Sunday, April 12.