Baseball Preview: Blue Devils host Pointers - in Mauston

THIS WEEK'S GAMES: The Blue Devils (3-12, 0-4 WIAC) are scheduled to host UW-Stevens Point (12-4, 4-0 WIAC), Wednesday, April 11 at Woodside Sports Complex at 1 p.m. The game was originally scheduled for Menomonie. Stout is scheduled to be at UW-Platteville (6-14, 0-4 WIAC), Saturday, April 14 and Sunday, April 15. To say spring has not been kind to any athletic teams in the Midwest this spring would be an understatement. UW-Stout had their original home opener April 3 moved to La Crosse where it was snowed out and rescheduled for May 1. UW-Stevens Point had their original home openers moved to UW-Platteville last weekend. And everybody played in 30 degree weather last weekend. The Blue Devils are today's home team. The Pointers swept the Pioneers, but three of the games were one run games. Stevens Point won the series, 6-5, 8-7, 9-1, 6-5. The Blue Devils were swept by third ranked UW-Whitewater last weekend in Whitewater, 14-4, 11-1, 6-0, 11-4.


HITTING THE BALL THIS SEASON: Jon Krueger has been hot as of late. In his last seven game appearances, Krueger has accumulated an average of .450 (9-20). He has recorded a hit in all seven of those appearances, while also recording three RBI and three. Krueger is batting .345 for the season. Freshman catcher Hunter Merrill is leading the team in slugging percentage at .458, while Jack Hemsath and Jordan Wilson lead the team in RBI with eight each. Besides Krueger, four other Blue Devils are batting at or over the .300 mark this season: Max Sires, who pitches as well as plays in the field, is hitting .400 (2-5), freshman Danny Deis (13-39, .333), Jack Hemsath (13-43, .302) and Ben Vanhove (9-30, .300). Hemsath saw his hitting streak end at 10 games last weekend.

PITCHING THIS SEASON: New to the hill for the Blue Devils, Jack Donahue has a 2-1 record, working 24.0 innings with an ERA of 3.38. Donahue, a transfer from Iowa Central CC, has a recorded a team-best 18 strikeouts in four appearances and three starts. Zach Carlson has returned to the lineup after sitting out last season due to injury. Carlson has 17 strikeouts and has thrown 24.0 innings. Sires has 13 strikeouts for the Blue Devils over 13.2 innings. Wyatt Enstmeyer has recorded Stout's lone save of the season and has 10 strikeouts over 13.0 innings tossed. Brad Rindfleisch has come out of the bullpen to make a team-best five appearances, recording seven strikeouts and not yet surrendering a run, earned or unearned, over 6.1 innings pitched. The Blue Devils have been able to utilize 15 different pitchers this season.


THE BLUE DEVILS IN PREVIEW: The Blue Devils return a young, but experienced team. Stout opened their season with games against MIAC teams at the US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minn., losing two games to Augsburg College in the opener, Feb. 28, and splitting the two games with Hamline University, March 7. The Blue Devils picked up two wins during their annual spring break trip to Florida, going 2-5 in Fort Myers, Fla. Last season UW-Stout had 15 freshmen, plus a first-year head coach, on the roster. Almost all of those players are back and the year of experience has definitely shown said second year coach Ben Kincaid. The Blue Devils have players returning at six of the eight positions who started 15 games or more last season. Stout will have both experience and talented young players in the outfield.

PITCHING STAFF IN PREVIEW: But the Blue Devils still return a good deal of experience to toe the pitching rubber. Luke Eide threw 64 innings, the most by any Blue Devil last season, and was the hard-luck kid on the mound, not picking up his first win of the season until late. Eide led the team in strikeouts with 37 and posted an ERA of 4.36. Sires started nine games last year and notched 23 strikeouts. The Blue Devils return Zach Carlson to the rotation. Carlson sat out last season due to injury and looks to be back on track. Carlson was a first team all-conference pick as a freshman and the year off has been good for his recovery. In his first three seasons, Carlson picked up at least 28 strikeouts every year and has 89 for his career. Jack Donahue, a transfer from Des Moines Community College, could move into the Blue Devils' starting rotation. Kincaid said Donahue is not overpowering, but tends to force a lot of ground balls. Seniors Wyatt Ernstmeyer and Paul Danczyk have tended to come out of the bullpen, but could start some games. Kincaid is looking at Brad Rindfleisch and Casey Ryan to be the players to finish off games and expects Robert Pilz and Logan Hile to be long relief pitchers. Lefty Phil Schmit will also be looked on to eat up some innings. Four freshmen pitchers - Jace Baumann, Logan Langbehn, James Palmer and Hunter Black - will get their chances to earn their roles early in the season.


UW-STOUT LAST TIME OUT: The Blue Devils were swept by UW-Whitewater this weekend, 14-4, 11-1, 6-0, and 11-4. 

WIAC PRESEASON: UW-Stout is picked to finish fifth in the WIAC, according to a preseason poll conducted by the conference. UW-Whitewater is picked first, followed by UW-La Crosse, UW-Oshkosh, and UW-Stevens Point. UW-Platteville is picked sixth and league-newcomer, the Illinois Institute of Technology, was picked to finish seventh. ITT will be in the league for one year only.


UW-STEVENS POINT: UW-Stevens Point has reached double-digits in WIAC wins 15 consecutive seasons and brings back 22 letterwinners from last year's squad. In 2017, Kyle Mrozinski led the Pointers with a .310 batting average, .408 on-base percentage, .511 slugging percentage, 44 hits, 12 doubles and 34 RBI. His 34 RBI ranked third in the WIAC. Cole Erickson had team highs with four victories, 60.1 innings pitched and 44 strikeouts.

Stevens Point has been hot as of late, winning their last seven contests and nine of their last 10. The Pointers opened up conference play last weekend at UW-Platteville and took all four games by scores of 6-5, 8-7, 9-1 and 6-5. At the plate, Tommy Duddleston leads the way for the Pointers, batting .433 (third best in the WIAC) with seven RBI and a slugging percentage of .483. Kyle Mrozinski has a team-best 17 RBI, leading the team in doubles with seven and home runs with two, for a slugging percentage of .537. Ryan Stanicek leads the team in slugging at .567, punching out three doubles and three triples. The Pointers have outscored their opponents 109-69. Duddleston has stolen eight bases and Stanicek seven. Stevens Point has been strong on the mound this year, averaging a team ERA of 3.61. Five pitchers hold an ERA of 3.00 or less, including Ben Miller, who is 1-1, but has a 1.73 ERA and has thrown two complete games in three starts. Cole Erickson is 3-0 with a 1.93 ERA and has held opponents to a .194 batting average this season, while striking out 27 batters along the way, averaging just under one strikeout per inning while throwing 28.0 innings.Nathan Mulzer is averaging just over one strikeout per game, recording 26 in 22.1 innings pitched. Stevens Point has reached double-digits in WIAC wins in 15 consecutive seasons and brings back 22 letterwinners from last year's squad. In 2017, Kyle Mrozinski led the Pointers with a .310 batting average, .408 on-base percentage, .511 slugging percentage, 44 hits, 12 doubles and 34 RBI. His 34 RBI ranked third in the WIAC. Cole Erickson had team highs with four victories, 60.1 innings pitched and 44 strikeouts. 

LAST TIME STOUT AND STEVENS POINT MET: UW-Stevens Point hosted UW-Stout to close out the regular season in 2017. Over the four game weekend, Stout went 1-3, falling 15-5, winning 6-0 and then losing the last two the following day 4-1 and 5-4. Noah Brown had a career afternoon on the Friday matchups, hitting four home runs in a two game span (3 in the second game), accounting for seven RBI. The last time a Blue Devil hit three home runs in a single game was March 15, 2001 when Brad O'Connell went 5-for-5 with eight RBI in a 14-7 win over Albion College in Fort Myers, Fla. After dropping the first game of the Saturday Double Header, the Blue Devils battled, but ultimately fell on a walk-off double by Stevens Point to lose the final game of the season.


UW-PLATTEVILLE: UW-Platteville brings back 16 letterwinners from last season's squad the produced at least 19 wins for the third straight year - the longest stretch in program history. Josh Moses led the WIAC with a .612 slugging percentage, 16 doubles and five triples, while ranking fifth with a .354 batting average. He also led the team with a .422 on-base percentage, 52 hits, 30 RBI, 29 runs scored and four home runs.

UW-Platteville is off to a 6-14 start this season after being swept by UW-Stevens Point last weekend in their conference play opener. The Pioneers have battled in almost all of their games this year, having lost five games by one run, and another three by two runs. They did go on a four game winning streak earlier this season, beating Belhaven twice, followed by wins over Millsaps and Edgewood. Josh Moses is back to leading the way for Platteville. He is off to a blistering start, batting .392 with a .658 slugging percentage and a .525 OBP. Platteville has struggled on the mound this season, giving up an average of 7.47 runs a game and a .282 batting average for opponent batters. Tyler Vogel has led the way for the Pioneers, holding a 1-2 record, but has struck out 29 batters in only 26.0 innings. He holds a 4.50 ERA, while holding rival batters to a .207 batting average. The Pioneers are scheduled to be at UW-La Crosse, Wednesday, April 11.

LAST TIME STOUT AND THE PIONEERS MET: UW-Stout came from behind in the first game win over UW-Platteville and held off the Pioneers in the second game to record a conference opening sweep over the Pioneers, 5-4, 8-7, at Nelson Field Saturday. UW-Stout split on the second day of their weekend series with UW-Platteville, but the weekend proved to be a success for the young Blue Devil squad that took 3-of-4 games from the Pioneers to open the WIAC season.


2018 TEAM CAPTAINS: Team captains for the 2018 season are seniors Jared Jarvensivu, Max Sires and Zach Carlson, along with junior Jordan Wilson.

THREE HOME RUNS IN A SINGLE GAME:
Noah Brown vs. UW-Stevens Point, May 5, 2017 (W 6-0) 3-for-5, 4 RBI
Brad O'Connell vs. Albion College, March 15, 2001 (W 14-7) 5-for-5, 8 RBI

COACHES: Ben Kincaid (11-35) is in his second year as the Blue Devils' head coach, following two years as a Blue Devil assistant coach where he worked primarily with the pitchers. Kincaid played collegiately at at Minnesota State University-Mankato, where he was a four year letter winner, playing in 149 games. He finished with a .339 batting average, 38 doubles (5th on MSU's career list), six home runs and 140 runs batted in (6th on MSU's career list). As a righthanded pitcher he sported a 14-8 record with a 3.45 earned run average and had 148 strikeouts in 172 innings pitched. Kincaid was named to the All-Central Region team three times in his career. An Eau Claire native, Kincaide played for the local Eau Claire Express. UW-Stevens Point: Jeremy Jirschele (55-44) enters his third year as the head coach for the Pointers. He took over the head coaching job on July 1, 2015 after four seasons as an assistant coach. In his first two seasons as head coach, he led the Pointers to a 43-40 record, including a 21-19 record in the WIAC. In his four seasons as an assistant at UW-Stevens Point, Jirschele helped the Pointers to three NCAA Tournament appearances, including a fourth-place finish in 2013. UW-Stevens Point also won two Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tournament titles in his time as an assistant (2013, 2015) and finished as the NCAA West Regional runner-up in 2014. As an assistant coach at UW-Stevens Point for four seasons, he helped the Pointers to a 133-53 record in that span. Jirschele was a four-year letterwinner at UW-Oshkosh and was twice named the WIAC Position Player of the Year (2004, 2005) and was a two-time First Team American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-American. He also earned First Team All-WIAC accolades twice and hit over .430 in his final two seasons.; UW-Platteville: Eric Frese (186-274-1, Platteville; 320-475-3, overall) is entering his 12th season as the head coach at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and his 20th season overall. Throughout his career at UW-Platteville, the Pioneers have constantly set new school records. Frese won his 300th game as a collegiate head coach on March 12, 2017 when the Pioneers defeated Stockton College (New Jersey) 5-2. Frese is the all-time winningest coach in Pioneer Baseball history. The 2017 Pioneers won 19 games, which included a ten game win streak. Colton Bormann earned first-team all-WIAC, while Colin Deboer and freshman Josh Moses earned honorable-mention.


2017 BLUE DEVILS: Stout finished the 2017 season at 10-27 overall, 6-14 in the WIAC. 

DOWN THE ROAD: Weather and field conditions permitting, the Blue Devils are scheduled to host UW-La Crosse, Tuesday, April 17, at 1 p.m., then will host the Illinois Institute of Technology, Saturday, April 21 at 11 a.m. and Sunday, April 22 at 12 p.m.