Baseball Preview: Blue Devils to host UW-Platteville Wednesday

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THIS WEEK'S GAMES: The Blue Devils (10-5, 1-3 WIAC) will host UW-Platteville (7-7, 0-0 WIAC), Wednesday, April 8 at 1 p.m. and the University of St. Thomas (13-5, 5-1 MIAC), Saturday, April 11 at 1 p.m. Stout will be at Macalester College (6-10, 0-6 MIAC), Sunday, April 12 at 1 p.m. The Platteville game was originally scheduled for Tuesday. The day will consist of two, nine-inning contests. The St. Thomas and Macalester dates will be seven inning doubleheaders.

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 (3-0 W-L, 1.69 ERA, 26.2 IP, 16K). Zach Carlson (2-2 W-L,6.46 ERA, 23.2 IP, 13 K), Drew Worth (3-1, 6.75 ERA, 20.0 IP, 11K) and Kellen Pearson (1-2, 8.44 ERA, 10.2 IP, 7K) have started all the games this season. Austin Booher (1-0, 1.29 ERA, 7.0 IP, 3K, 2 Sv) has made a team-best six appearances and has two saves.

HITTING THE BALL: Shortstop Nick Nalbach is putting up the best average. hitting at .400 (18-45). Nalbach is also topping the team in runs batted in with 13 and has stolen three bases. Third baseman Jake Lunow is hitting .368 (14-38), but missed parts of the third game with UW-Stevens Point and the final game. Lunow has a team-best six doubles and has three stolen bases in three attempts. Lunow has a fielding percentage of .969. 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 13 games in right field. Halling is hitting .362 (17-47) and has four doubles, two triples and a home run, to sports Stout's top slugging percentage at .596. Centerfielder Brady Burzynski had trouble getting on base against the Pointers, but when he did, he was able to move, stealing three bases to move his total to 18 stolen bases in 19 attempts. Burzynski started the season by stealing 15 consecutive bases before getting tagged out. Burzynski is currently hitting .313 (15-48) and has nine RBI. has moved from the lead-off position last year to third in the line-up, hitting .371 (13-35) with nine RBI. Burzynski leads Stout's stealing parade where the Blue Devils have stolen 34 bases in 43 attempts. Burzynski was leading the country in stolen bases, but slipped to third (1.23 steals/game). Second baseman Jack Schneider is the fifth Blue Devil hitting .300 or betting, weighing in at .305 (18-59) with seven RBI. As a team, the Blue Devils are putting up the second-best fielding percentage in the league, fielding at a .970 clip. | 2015 Statistics

UW-STOUT LAST TIME OUT: The Blue Devils went 1-3 against UW-Stevens Point, April 2-3, losing the first day, 12-0 in seven innings, and 12-2 in eight innings, before coming back to snap a 13-game losing streak to the Pointers with a 4-3 win to open the second day of play. The Pointers took the final game, 7-4. | Day One Game Story and Statistics | Day Two Game Story and Statistics

THIEVERY: Brady Burzynski started off the season with 15 consecutive stolen bases and is currently 18-of-19. Burzynski was leading the country in stolen bases, but has slipped to third with an average of 1.23 per game. The current NCAA averages are determined through games of April 2. 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 11 of the 15 games. Burzynski is currently tied with 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 currenlty has 31 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 40th in Division III in stolen bases as a team with 2.31 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 is the longest so far this season for the Blue Devils. Nick Nalbach currently has the longest active hitting streak at six games. Josh Halling has an active four-game streak.

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 .262 (17-47) with four doubles, two triples, one home run and five RBI.

UW-PLATTEVILLE BASEBALL: UW-Platteville has 18 returning letterwinners from last year's team that posted the most wins since the 2010 campaign. Senior Mike Boushley led the squad with 75.0 innings pitched, 66 strikeouts and a 4.56 earned run average. His strikeouts ranked third in the conference. Junior Casey Schroeder is the team's top returning hitter with a .297 batting average, 10 doubles, 23 RBI and 23 runs scored in 2014.

The Pioneers are currently on a six game winning streak and are coming off a pair of 1-0, 5-4, wins over the University of Chicago Saturday. Colton Borman went the full seven innings, scattering six hits to pick up the shutout. Evan Greco drove in the only run of the game, that coming in the bottom of the sixth inning. In the nightcap, the Pioneers took a 5-1 lead into the seventh inning, but had to hold off Chicago, which scored three runs and left two runners on base. Greco is leading the Pioneers at the plate, hitting at a .397 clip (23-58) with 17 runs batted in, tied for second in the WIAC. Greco's seven doubles puts him on top of the WIAC list. Bobby Bean is averaging .348 (8-23) with 10 RBI, Jonny Frese is hitting .333 (14-42) and Tanner Galeazzi is hitting .316 (18-57). Galeazzi is second in the league in runs scored with 18. Galeazzi has punched out four home runs. On the hill, Riley Vandenberg has five starts and is 3-0 with an ERA of 3.63 in 22.1 innings pitched with 18 strikeouts. Colton Borman is 2-1 with an ERA of 3.45 with nine stikeouts. Mike Boushley is 1-2 overall with an ERA of 4.35 with 15 strikeouts. Austin Daniels has made five appearances with one start and a complete game, posting a 1-2 record with an ERA of 1.69 with 12 strikeouts in 21.1 innings pitched. | 2015 Pioneer Statistics

LAST TIME THEY MET: The Blue Devils took three of four games last year in Platteville. In a slugfest, Stout took an opening game 16-10 win, but the Pioneers came back for a 6-3 second game win. Stout got a 15-strikeout effort from Brent Mueller and took the first game on day two, 8-2. Stout jumped out to an 8-4 lead, then held Platteville off for an 8-7 final game win. | Day One Games and Statistics | Day Two Games 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-Steevns 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, (59-75) 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. 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: The Blue Devils will host the University of St. Thomas, Saturday, April 11 at 1 p.m. and then travel to Macalester College, Sunday, April 12. Platteville is scheduled to return to Menomonie, Wednesday, April 15 at 1 p.m.