Softball Preview: Blue Devils host Eagles Wednesday in home opener

THIS WEEK'S GAMES: The Blue Devils (9-11, 1-3 WIAC) will open the home portion of their schedule and are scheduled to host UW-La Crosse (15-10, 0-2 WIAC), Wednesday, April 13 at 3 p.m., UW-Platteville (2-12, 0-0 WIAC), Saturday, April 16 at 1 p.m. and Wartburg College (11-17, 2-2 IIAC), Sunday, April 17 at 2 p.m.

UW-STOUT: The Blue Devils are under new leadership this year as Becky Iaccino takes over as head coach. The Blue Devils return ace pitcher Tori Workman, as well as her entire supporting cast of pitchers - Beth Wood, McKayla Brunner and Abbey Ball. Workman, who recently set the school record for career strikeouts for a pitcher, has a 4-6 overall record. Workman has an overall ERA of 2.28 with 55 strikeouts in a league-best 67.2 innings pitched. Wood has a 3-3 overall record and a 4.69 ERA over 37.1 innings pitched. Brunner, who was able to pitch only one game last year, has a 2-1 record and appeared in seven games, has 18 strikeouts over 18.1 innings pitched. Wood leads the team in batting average at .410 (25-61) and in RBI with 14. Catcher/outfielder Rachel Thomas has an average of. 373 (25-67). Thomas has also stolen five bases in seven attempts and has scored a team-best 17 runs. Heather Bol is maintaining a batting average of .350 (21-60) and has 12 RBI. Kaylee Francois, Karley Wiensch and Kelly Austin all have a batting average of .333. Francois has nine RBI and lifted her first collegiate home run last weekend. Alicia Meyer has 10 RBI. Sara Griesbach leads the team in home runs with two.

BLUE DEVILS LAST TIME OUT: The Blue Devils split a pair of games at UW-Whitewater, April 9, winning the first, 6-2, but falling in extra innings, 9-8, in nine innings. UW-Oshkosh swept the Blue Devils with a pair of 9-1 wins, April 10. | Game Story and Statistics


WIAC PRESEASON POLL The Blue Devils were selected to finish fifth, according to a WIAC preseason poll. UW-Whitewater was picked first, followed by UW-Oshkosh, UW-Eau Claire and UW-La Crosse. UW-River Falls, UW-Stevens Point and UW-Platteville were chosen sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively.

RECORD BEATER: When UW-Stout collected 25 runs in a 25-0 win over Southern Vermont University, March 15, it established a school record for most runs scored in a single game. The Blue Devils scored 11 runs in the first inning alone. Stout finished the game with 13 hits, but only three hits were extra base hits, with a double by Alicia Meyer and triples by Sara Griesbach and Kelly Austin. Stout drew nine walks in the contest and twice Blue Devil batters were hit by a pitch. The previous record was 20 runs scored against Wisconsin Lutheran in 2000. Austin is thought to have tied a school record when she scored four runs against Southern Vermont.

WORKMAN WORKING THE Ks: Pitcher Tori Workman holds the school record for most strikeouts in a single season (160) and recently set the school record for most career strikeouts, surpassing Karen Lien's 409 strikeouts. Lien, a Blue Devil Hall of Fame member, pitched from 1992-95. Workman currently has 452 career strikeouts and moved up to seventh on the WIAC career strikeout list, moving past UW-La Crosse's Sally Wenzel (432 - 2000-03). Karen Guckenburg (504 - 2000-03) of UW-Stevens Point is sixth on the list. Ronessa Stampfli (2005-08) of UW-Oshkosh has a firm grip on the WIAC career record with 1019 strikeouts. Workman also moved onto the WIAC list for most innings pitched. Workman is tied for 12th overall with 560.1 innings pitched. Workman needs two wins to tie Lien and Carolyn Bare for the most UW-Stout wins by a pitcher. Lien and Bare (1995-98) both have 53 wins. Workman has four wins this season to move her total to 51 career wins.

TRIPLE TIME: The Blue Devils have put up nine triples so far this year, with Rachel Thomas one of the conference leaders with three. Kaylee Francois has two, while Kelly Austin, Tori Workman, Sara Griesbach and Alyssa Germscheid each have one.


UW-LA CROSSE: The Eagles are currently third in the WIAC in team batting average with a .326 mark. The Eagles are not afraid to run the base paths once they get on base. As a team, La Crosse is 48-of-54 in stolen bases. Sydney Murphy is fourth in the conference in batting average at .435 (30-of-69) with 20 RBI. Emily Holdorff is also hitting .388 (31-80). Emily Wiltzius has driven in 19 runs. Brittany Baldwin leads the WIAC in stolen bases and is perfect in 15 attempts. The Eagles have five pitchers who share time in the circle - Jesse Carignan (2.05 ERA, 41.0 IP, 5-4 W-L, 32 SO), Caitlyn Hughes (3.42, 43.0, 5-1, 39), Heather Grelle (2.83, 29.2, 2-1, 21), who was named the WIAC pitcher of the week, Megan Nelson (3.23, 21.2, 2-1, 12) and Katie Klein (2.60, 29.2, 1-3, 30).

EAGLES LAST TIME OUT: The Eagles hosted UW-Eau Claire Tuesday in both team's conference opener and the Blugolds swept the series, 8-0, 3-2. In the opener, Eau Claire built on a four-run second inning and held La Crosse to only one hit. In the second game, the Eagles spotted the Blugolds a run in the second inning, but took the lead when Brittany Baldwin drove in a run with a triple, then scored the go-ahead run moments later on a fielders' choice. The Blugolds tied the score in the sixth, then went ahead in the top of the sixth with an unearned run. Caitlyn Hughes struck out six for La Crosse.  The Eagles were scheduled to play DePauw University and Illinois Wesleyan at the Illinois Wesleyan Tournament, April 10, but those games were rained out. The Eagles were able to play two games on the first day of the tournament, losing to Hope College, 4-3, in eight innings and downing 13th ranked Washington University, 2-1. The Eagles got the game-winning run in the fifth inning when Brooke Baldwin led off with a triple, then came home on Emily Holdorf's single. The Eagles are scheduled to host UW-Eau Claire, Tuesday, April 12, the day before they travel to UW-Stout. 

LAST TIME THEY MET: UW-Stout could not get a run across the plate in either game and fell to UW-La Crosse twice, 2-0, 5-0, April 11, 2015. Stout stranded seven runners in the first game and six runners in the second game. The Blue Devils collected five hits in the first game and seven hits in the second game. The Eagles had five hits in game one and six hits in game two. The Blue Devils had no errors in the first game, but were tagged with four in the second game. 

UW-PLATTEVILLE: After dropping their first 10 games to open the season, the Pioneers won two of the next four contest, splitting with Loras College and Wartburg College. Carley Rote and Crystal Rote lead the Pioneer starters in average with Carley hitting .279 (12-43) and Crystal .263 (10-38).  

PIONEERS LAST TIME OUT: The Pioneers had a pair of game against Beloit College scheduled for Tuesday, April 12 postponed. Platteville had a common opponent this week with the Blue Devils. Platteville downed Wartburg College, 7-6, to open a two-game series, but were hammered by the Knights, 17-1 in five innings in the nightcap. The Pioneers are scheduled to host UW-Whitewater, Wednesday, April 13. 

LAST TIME THEY MET: Stout swept UW-Platteville in two tight games against the Pioneers in Platteville, April 12, 2016. The first game ended 9-7 and the second 6-4. Stout scored eight total runs the seventh inning of both games to take the win. The runs were bolstered by Sarah Griesbach who had five RBIs on the day.


WARTBURG COLLEGE: After going 6-14 over their first 20 games, the Knights are 5-3 over their last eight. 

KNIGHTS LAST TIME OUT: The Knights will play Coe College the day before they meet the Blue Devils. The Knights are 5-3 over the last eight games, including a 17-1 win and a 7-6 loss to UW-Platteville.

LAST TIME THEY MET: UW-Stout split a pair of games to Wartburg College at the Augustana College Tournament Saturday in Rock Island, Ill, winning the first game, 4-3, but losing the second game, 4-3, in eight innings, March 28, 2015.


NFCA RANKINGS: No WIAC schools were listed in the latest National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Top 25 poll. 

BLUE DEVILS LAST SEASON: The Blue Devils were 16-27 overall and 7-9 in league play. The Blue Devils advanced to the WIAC tournament and knocked off second seeded UW-Whitewater in the first game of the tournament. 

AWARDS AND HONORS: Tori Workman was the WIAC pitcher of the week after allowing no earned runs in a loss to St. Benedict to open the season and after seeing action in the circle in seven of UW-Stout's final 10 games at the Fastpitch Dreams Softball Classic in North Myrtle Beach, S.C. She started four games in South Carolina, finishing with an ERA of 1.28 and a record of 3-2....Tori Workman was a first team all-WIAC selection in 2015.

2016 TEAM LEADERS: The designated team leaders for the 2016 season are Tori Workman, Nicole Rogers and McKayla Brunner.

COACHES: Blue Devil coach Becky Iaccino (27-29) is in her first year as the head coach of the Blue Devils. Iaccino played professionally in Italy played professionally in Italy from 2003 to 2011 and with the Italian National team from 2005-07. She has been the head coach at Marian University where she was selected as conference coach of the year, and has eight years of experience as an assistant coach at Division I and III programs, most recently at Concordia University Chicago. UW-La Crosse: Chris Helixon recently won his 300th career game and is in his 11th season at La Crosse ..UW-Platteville: Lee Negrelli is in her fifth year with the Pioneers...Wartburg College: Jamie Mueller is in her first year as the head coach at Wartburg.

ON DECK: The Blue Devils are scheduled to be at the University of Northwestern, Wednesday, April 20, then return home to resume WIAC play by hosting UW-River Falls, Thursday, April 21.