Baseball Preview: Stout hosts Pointers again in Mauston

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THIS WEEK'S GAMES: The Blue Devils (5-16, 2-8 WIAC) are scheduled to host UW-Stevens Point (18-5, 10-1 WIAC), Wednesday, April 25 at Mauston beginning at 1 p.m. Stout will then go to La Crosse where they will play UW-Oshkosh (18-4, 5-2 WIAC), Saturday, April 28 and Sunday, April 29 at Copeland Park.

HITTING THE BALL THIS SEASON: Jon Krueger has continued his tear as of late. Although Krueger's hit streak ended at 10 in Game 2 against IIT, he did more than made up for it in the two games that followed last Sunday, going 5 for 8 with 2 RBI and 2 Runs. The junior outfielder is batting .400 over the season and .412 in WIAC Play. Sophomore first baseman, Kasey Bass leads the team in slugging percentage at .562 after launching Stouts first Home Run of the Season this past weekend. Bass has been solid in his 8 appearances, going 5 for 16 for a .313 average while holding a .421 OBP. | 2018 Statistics

PITCHING THIS SEASON:  Jack Donahue earned another win over the weekend, moving his record to a team best 3-1 while posting a 2.73 ERA over 33 innings pitched.  Donahue, a transfer from Iowa Central CC, has a recorded 22 strikeouts in six appearances and four starts. The junior has thrown the only two complete games for the Blue Devils this season. Zach Carlson has returned to the lineup after sitting out last season due to injury. Carlson picked up his first win of the season, pitching 8.0 innings, allowing only 5 hits and giving up zero earned runs, while striking out eight. Carlson leads the team in strikeouts with 26.

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. | Complete Season Preview

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 split both days at Illinois Tech. Stout won the opener both days, taking a 12-1 seven-inning win to open the series, then lost 7-2 to close out April 21. The Blue Devils opened the April 22 doubleheader with an 8-2 win, but lost 10-8 in the series finale.  | First Day Game Story and Stats | Second Day Game Story and Stats

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: Stevens Point has stayed hot since their double header win over Stout two weeks ago, winning four of their last five contests since. The Pointers are 10-1 in WIAC play and boast an 18-5 overall record. Tommy Duddleston continues to lead the way for the Pointers, batting .374 (sixth best in the WIAC) with 11 RBI and a slugging percentage of .451. Kyle Mrozinski has a team-best 22 RBI, leading the team in doubles with eight and home runs with three, for a slugging percentage of .500. Ryan Stanicek leads the team in slugging at .523, punching out seven doubles and three triples. The Pointers have outscored their opponents 144-91. Duddleston and Stanicek have both stolen 10 bases, while only being thrown out three times each.Stevens Point has been strong on the mound this year, averaging a team ERA of 3.29. Four pitchers hold an ERA of 3.00 or less, including Ben Miller, who is 3-1, with an impressive ERA of 1.10. Miller has been consistent all year, throwing three complete games and holding opposing batters to a .217 batting average. Cole Erickson is 5-0 with a 2.55 ERA and has held opponents to a .240 batting average this season, while striking out 38 batters along the way, averaging just under one strikeout per inning while throwing 42.1 innings. Nathan Mulzer has held opposing batters to a .176 batting average while averaging just over one strikeout per inning, recording 44 in 36.1 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. | 2018 Statistics

LAST TIME STOUT AND STEVENS POINT MET:  UW-Stout dropped a 10-1 first game to first placed UW-Stevens Point, then took the Pointers to 14 innings before falling in the nighcap marathon, 4-1, two weeks ago at Woodside Sports Complex. Brad Rindfleisch, making his first start of the season for the Blue Devils, went eight innings, striking out six and scattering five hits, but was not involved in the decision. The Pointers' Drew Spaeth pitched the final seven innings of the game and got the win, recording seven strikeouts.


UW-OSHKOSH: UW-Oshkosh is off to a great start to 2018, boasting a 18-4 overall record and a 5-2 conference record. The Titans swept UW-Platteville last weekend, scoring more than nine runs in each of the four games.  Oshkosh is one of the most deadly teams in the nation at the plate, having the top two, and also three of the top seven batting averages in the WIAC  First baseman Andy Brahier is batting a remarkable .500 in WIAC play, with a .700 slugging percentage and a .556 On Base Percentage. Taylor Grimm is right behind him hold a .452 batting average in WIAC play. The Titans are batting an impressive .324 as a team while holding opponents to a .238 average. Nick McLees and Colan Treml lead the way for UW-Oshkosh on the mound. The Senior and Junior are a combined 11-1 with 70 strikeouts and ERA's of 2.51 and 2.54 over the course of a combined 89.0 innings.  UW-Oshkosh brings back seven starting position players from a year ago, including Andy Brahier, who had a .317 batting average, .460 slugging percentage, 30 RBI and four home runs. Among the eight pitchers returning that have starting experience are Colan Treml, who threw a team-high 72.0 innings and had a team-best 3.00 earned run average and 53 strikeouts. Jesse Sustachek compiled a 3.82 earned run average in 66.0 innings of work with 34 strikeouts.| 2018 Statistics

LAST TIME STOUT AND OSHKOSH MET: On a chilly Senior Day, the Blue Devils fell in two games (5-15, 2-3) to the Oshkosh Titans. Senior Noah Brown led the charge, racking up three hits, including his ninth career homerun. The Blue Devils started fast, but couldn't quite finish in either of the two games, holding a 5-1 lead in the first game and a 1-0 lead in the second. | Game Stories and Statistics


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

AWARDS AND HONORS: Brad Rindfleisch was selected the UW-Stout/Toppers Pizza Athlete of the Week, April 17, after throwing eight innings and allowing only one run in an eventual 14-inning loss to UW-Stevens Point, April 11...2017: Joel Hollow was selected as a first team all-WIAC pick at third base...Max Sires was selected as the WIAC Pitcher of the Week and was the UW-Stout/DigiCopy Athlete of the Week after pitching a season opening 1-0 shutout win over Bethel College, Feb. 27 at the US Bank Stadium...Noah Brown and Derek Graves earned WIAC honorable mention selection last spring.

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 (15-43) 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 (61-45) 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-Oshkosh: Kevin Tomasiewicz is in his fifth season at UW-Oshkosh (102-82-1).


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

DOWN THE ROAD: The Blue Devils are scheduled to finally be home when they are to host UW-La Crosse, Tuesday, May 1 at 1 p.m. at Nelson Field. Stout takes off the following weekend from conference play and will be at Bethel University, Sunday, May 6.

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