Baseball Preview: Sunday's game time moved up to a noon first pitch

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THIS WEEK'S GAMES: The Blue Devils (10-5, 1-5 WIAC) game with the  University of St. Thomas (15-5, 7-1 MIAC), Saturday, April 11 at 1 p.m. has been moved to St. Thomas due to the field conditions at UW-Stout's Nelson Field. Live stats for the St. Thomas game may be available. Stout will be at Macalester College (6-12, 0-8 MIAC), Sunday, April 12 at 12 p.m. (time has moved to noon). The St. Thomas and Macalester dates will be seven inning doubleheaders. Stout returns to conference action Wednesday, April 15 when they host UW-Platteville at 1 p.m.

MAP TO ST. THOMAS CAMPUS: Click on the link above for a map to the St. Thomas campus. Parking should be available on campus near the field. Please note there is construction on I-94 coming from the east, and part of I-94 is closed. | St.Thomas campus map

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 Devilsreturn 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: Hayden Bowe (3-1 W-L, 2.34 ERA, 34.2 IP, 19K) was saddled with his first loss of the season against Platteville Wednesday. Bowe went eight innings in the 4-2 loss, striking out three. Bowe, Zach Carlson (2-3 W-L, 5.86 ERA, 27.2 IP, 15 K), Drew Worth (3-1, 5.76 ERA, 25.0 IP, 14K) and Kellen Pearson (1-2, 8.44 ERA, 10.2 IP, 7K) have started all of the games this season. Austin Booher (1-0, 1.12 ERA, 8.0 IP, 3K, 2 Sv) has made a team-best seven appearances and has two saves.

HITTING THE BALL: Shortstop Nick Nalbach is putting up the best average. hitting at .407 (22-54). Nalbach is topping the team in runs batted in with 15, doubles with seven and slugging percentage (.593). .He has stolen three bases. Third baseman Jake Lunow is hitting .349 (15-43) after missing several games due to an injury during the UW-Stevens Point series. Lunow returned during the first game against UW-Platteville, then started the second game. After sitting out the season opener and playing in part of the second game, Josh Halling has soared into the lineup and has started the last 15 games in right field. Halling is hitting .352 (19-54) and has four doubles, two triples and a home run.  When centerfielder Brady Burzynski gets on base, he causes havoc for the opposing team. Burzynski leads the conference in stolen bases with 19 in 20 attempts. Burzynski started the season by stealing 15 consecutive bases before getting tagged out. Burzynski is currently hitting .298 (17-57) and has 10 RBI. Burzynski is simply the team leader on the base paths. Six players have stolen at least two bases this year and nine players have tolen at least one. As a team, the Blue Devils have stolen 36 bases in 46 attempts. Burzynski at one point was leading the country in stolen bases, but slipped to third (1.12 steals/game). Second baseman Jack Schneider is hitting .303 (20-66) with seven RBI. As a team, the Blue Devils are putting up the second-best fielding percentage in the league, fielding at a .968 clip, and are ranked 16th nationally. | 2015 Statistics

UW-STOUT LAST TIME OUT: The Blue Devils dropped both games to UW-Platteville Wednesday, falling by two-runs in each game, 8-6, 4-2. Noah Brown hit is first career home run in game one, a two run shot to right centerfield.| Game Story and Statistics

THIEVERY: Brady Burzynski started off the season with 15 consecutive stolen bases and is currently 19-of-20. Burzynski was leading the country in stolen bases, but has slipped to third with an average of 1.12 per game. The current NCAA averages are determined through games of April 5. Burzynski has stolen more than one base in five games and stole three bases against Hamline University on March 10. Burzynski has stolen a base in 12 of the 17 games. Burzynski just moved ahead of Andy Koehler (1997) for most bases in a single season. All-American Brad O'Connell holds the school record for most stolen bases in a single season with 26 in 2000. Rick Angell (1996) and Tate Cummins (1998) both have 21 and Mike Niemczyk (1994) has 20. Burzynski currently has 32 career stolen bases, placing him 11th on the UW-Stout all-time stolen base list. Tate Cummins (1997-99) holds the school record with 44. Stout is currently ranked 42nd in Division III in stolen bases as a team with 2.12 per game. Three WIAC schools - UW-Oshkosh (3.21, 3rd), UW-Whitewater (2.08, 61st) and UW-Platteville (1.71, 89th) - are ranked in the top 100 in stolen bases as a team.

HITTING STREAKS: Brady Burzynski saw his hitting streak come to an end at eight games when he went hitless in back-to-back games against UW-Stevens Point last weekend. His streak of eight games has been matched by Nick Nalbach, who has an active streak of eight games. Hunter Dicus is currently carrying a five game winning streak, while Jack Schneider and Noah Brown have hit safely in four consecutive games.

WHERE DID HE COME FROM?: After not making the roster the last two seasons, Josh Halling has worked his way into a starting role for the Blue Devils in right field. Halling saw no action in the first game of the season, came in as a pinch hitter in the second game to collect a hit and score a run, and has started ever since. On the season, Halling is hitting .352 (19-54) with four doubles, two triples, one home run and five RBI. Halling also has two stolen bases, including one theft of home.

ST. THOMAS BASEBALL: The Tommies have been one of the premier teams in the NCAA Division III for many years and come into today's game ranked fourth in the latest American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) NCAA Division III poll, moving up two spots from the previous week. The Tommies bring an eight game winning streak into today's game after finishing off a 3-2 suspended game win over Gustavus Adolphus Friday afternoon. The Tommies have won 12 consecutive MIAC titles and are coming off a third place finish at the 2014 NCAA Championship, finishing at 39-9 last year.  The Tommies have seven players who have seen action in 10 or more games who are hitting over 300.  Ryan Gerber is ranked sixth nationally in home runs with seven and and has an average of .387 (29-75) with a team-best 25 RBI and four doubles, a triple and the seven round trippers for a slugging percentage of .747. Other heavy hitters include Brady Johnson (.377, 23-61), Cory Quinlan (.333, 15-45), Anthony Winters (.367, 111-30), Keller Knoll (.333, 13-39), Hunter Hart (.326, 14-43) and Jake Smith (.316, 25-79, 17 RBI). On the hill, Dominic Reed has started four games with 28.2 innings pitched, an ERA of 1.88 with 23 strikeouts. Eric Veglahn has started four games and has tossed 31.2 innings, with an ERA of 2.56, a team-best 41 strikeouts and has earned three saves. Bill Ferderer has made five appearances in short relief, throwing 11.1 innings with an ERA of 2.38, 16 strikeouts and two saves. Tyler Feyersein has six appearances, five starts with 22.2 innings and 21 strikeouts. | 2015 Statistics

LAST TIME STOUT AND ST. THOMAS MET: The Tommies took both games last year in St. Paul, Minn., snagging decisions of 9-4, 10-7. | Game Story and Statistics

MACALESTER BASEBALL: The Scots finished 10th in the MIAC last season (5-15 MIAC) and are slated to finish there again, according to a preseason poll. The Scots went 14-24 overall last year and this year are 6-12 overall, 0-8 in league play. The Scots return 23 of 32 players from last year's squad. | 2015 Statistics

LAST TIME STOUT AND MACALESTER MET: The Scots took both games, 7-6, 4-1, on March 27, 2013, in the Metrodome. | Game Story and Statistics

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

AWARDS AND HONORS: In four games against nationally ranked UW-Stevens Point, Josh Halling batted .429 (6-14) with three runs batted in, hitting two doubles and a home run and was named the UW-Stout/Northwestern Mutual Athlete of the Week...Hayden 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, (59-77) 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. St. Thomas: Chris Olean is in his sixth season as the Tommies' skipper. Macalester College: Matt Parington is in his 16th season with the Scots. UW-Platteville: Eric Frese is in his 17th season overall (263-408-3) and his ninth at Platteville (129-207-2).

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: UW-Platteville is scheduled to return to Menomonie, Wednesday, April 15 at 1 p.m. Stout takes to the road for a weekend series at UW-La Crosse, Saturday, April 18 and Sunday, April 19.