Baseball Preview: Blue Devil to host familiar foe Superior Tuesday

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THIS WEEK'S GAMES: The Blue Devils (12-20, 4-12 WIAC) step out of conference play and welcome former conference opponent UW-Superior (13-13, 9-5 UMAC) back to Nelson Field, Tuesday, May 3 at 1 p.m. Stout will then close out league play when they travel to UW-Whitewater (22-9, 9-7 WIAC), Friday, May 6, and Saturday, May 7.


THE 2016 BLUE DEVILS: The Blue Devils return 11 pitchers from last year's squad and return all five pitchers who started five or more games. The pitching staff returning accounts for 307 of 324 total innings pitched last year. In the field, the Blue Devils return infielder Noah Brown, who plays at both first base and third base, as well as Austin Littmann, who has played predominately at second base. Tyler Nalbach has seen time at middle infield and Taryn Tierney has held down third base. Clay Gale and Tyler Kinderman are expected to share time at catcher. In the outfield, Brady Burzynski returns to center field, but an injury during the spring break trip may keep him out for an extended time. Josh Halling returns after seeing his 2015 season shortened due to illness. Hunter Dicus and Ryan Connor saw considerable time in the outfield. | 2015 Statistics

PITCHING STAFF:  Wyatt Ernstmeyer has made six appearances and has allowed only two earned runs for a team-best 2.08 ERA. Zach Carlson is the team's strikeout leader, racking up 26 Ks. Derek Graves has 20 strikeouts and has thrown 31.2 innings, second only behind Carlson's 35.0 innings. Hayden Bowe has 18 strikeouts, Patrick Gullickson 17, Drew Worth 16 and Ernstmeyer and Kellen Pearson have recorded 12. Gullickson has made a team-best nine appearances. Brett Steinmeyer has made eight appearances and has recorded nine strikeouts over 10.0 innings thrown. .

HITTING THE BALL: Noah Brown has been extremely steady for the Blue Devils all season and the third baseman leads the team in batting average with a .384 mark (48-125), ranking seventh in the WIAC, and in RBI with 28.  After missing much of the early part of the season, Brady Burzynski has been back in full swing, averaging .372 (29-78) with 12 RBI and 10 stolen bases.  Hunter Dicus is hitting .296 (29-98) had has 17 RBI. Josh Halling has gotten in a full season and has driven in 16 runs and stolen seven bases. Austin Littmann is hitting .294 (32-109) and has stolen five bases in first attempts. | 2016 Statistics

THIEVERY: An injury to Brady Burzynski in March slowed Burzynski's pace to become the UW-Stout all-time stolen base leader. Burzynski came into the 2016 season with 37 stolen bases, sixth on the all-time Blue Devil career list. Burzynski now has 10 stolen bases on the season and is the school's all-time stolen base leader with 47 and eight games remaining. Following Burzynski as stolen base leaders are: Tate Cummins 44 (1997-99); Brad O'Connell 43 (1998-2001); Mike Niemczyk 43 (1990-94); Tim Buswell 41 (1986-88); JR Dachel 40 (1997-2000).

UW-STOUT LAST TIME OUT:  The Blue Devils had a busy week, playing eight games. Stout lost to St. Thomas, 2-0, 6-1, April 19, split with Northland College, losing the first, 4-2, but winning the second, 6-0, then lost all four games to UW-La Crosse, 13-9, 14-6, 13-1 (7 inn), 7-0, April 23-24. | Platteville Day One Story and Statistics | Platteville Day Two Story and Statistics



UW-SUPERIOR BASEBALL: Chad Patko leads the everyday players, hitting .378 (31-82) with 13 RBI and eight stolen bases. The Yellowjackets have been running this year, stealing twice as many bases as their opponents. Drew Thomas and Seth Wage each have 10 stolen bases. Greg Pitts has nine thefts. Travis Miller has a team-best 28 RBI and is hitting at a .344 clip (31-90). The Yellowjackets have 11 players hitting better than .300..  | 2016 Statistics

LAST TIME OUT: The Yellowjackets were downed in league play 12-4 by Bethany Lutheran in game one, but Superior came back for an 8-2 nightcap win as Yellowjacket starter Richard Vanden Branden on April 30. Vanden Branden kept the Viking hitters off balance all game, allowing only two runs (one earned) on four hits while striking out one in the complete-game gem. He improves to 2-2 with the win. | Bethany Lutheran Game Story and Statistics

LAST TIME STOUT AND SUPERIOR MET: The teams split their games last season in Superior. In an April 22, 2015, meeting, the Yellowjackets won the first game, 5-0, but Stout came back with a 1-0 win in the nightcap. A week later, Superior won the first game, 3-2, but Stout powered back for an 11-1 win.  | April 22 Game Story and Statistics | April 29 Game Story and Statistics


UW-WHITEWATER BASEBALL: The Warhawks are currently in second in the WIAC.  | 2016 Statistics

LAST TIME OUT: The Warhawks handed UW-La Crosse their first conference loss of the season, but the Eagles went 3-1 against the Warhakws. The Warhawks are scheduled to meet Concordia-Wisconsin Wednesday, May 4 and St. Norbert Thursday, May 5.  | April 30 Game Story and Statistics | May 1 Game Story and Statistics

LAST TIME STOUT AND WHITEWATER MET: The Warhawks took all four games last year in Menomonie, 10-4, 6-1, 5-1, 17-5.  | May 2 Game Story and Statistics | May 3 Game Story and Statistics


2016 TEAM CAPTAINS: Team captains for the 2016 season are Brady Burzynski, Hayden Bowe, Patrick Gullickson and Austin Littmann.

AWARDS AND HONORS: Kellen Pearson was selected as the UW-Stout/Northwestern Mutual Athlete of the Week and the WIAC pitcher of the week after going 11 complete innings to get the win over UW-Stevens Point...Derek Graves was selected as UW-Stout/Northwestern Mutual Athlete of the Week...Brady Burzynski was selected as the most valuable player for the Eau Claire Express last summer. The Express play in the Northwoods League, a circuit made up of predominately Division I players...Hayden Bowe was a first team all-WIAC pick last season at pitcher...Brady Burzynski and Zach Carlson were first team all-WIAC selections in 2014.

COACHES: Toby Gardenhire, (81-112) is in his fifth season with UW-Stout. Gardenhire coached the Blue Devils to a 17-22 record in 2015. 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-Superior: Nick Bursick is in his third year as the head coach of the Yellowjackets. Bursick is also the interim athletic director at Superior. UW-Whitewater: John Vodenlich enters his 13th season at the helm of the UW-Whitewater baseball program in 2015-16. He has taken the Warhawks to heights unreached prior to his arrival on campus. Vodenlich-led teams won national championships in 2005 and 2014.


2015 BLUE DEVILS: Stout finished the 2015 season at 17-22 overall, 5-19 in the WIAC. | 2015 Statistics

DOWN THE ROAD: The Blue Devils will close out the year Monday, May 9 when they host Macalester College at 2:30 p.m. in a make-up contest from early April.