Baseball Preview: Friday moved to Mauston, Saturday in Oshkosh

 UW-Oshkosh: Live Stats

THIS WEEK'S GAMES: Coming off a split with second place UW-La Crosse, UW-Stout (11-10, 6-8 WIAC) is scheduled to play at UW-Oshkosh (13-14, 6-8, WIAC), Friday, April 19 at noon and Saturday, April 20 at noon.  The Friday games have been moved to Mauston at the Woodside Sports Complex.   The Blue Devils are currently in a tie for fourth place in the WIAC with the Titans. 

BLUE DEVIL OFFENSE: Junior first baseman Kasey Bass has been leading the Blue Devils in hitting for most of the season and is hitting .390, going30-for-77 with a a game-high 17 RBI. Bass hit his third home run of the year when he unloaded in the first inning against UW-La Crosse Tuesday. Bass has clubbed out nine doubles and, coupled with his three home runs, has a slugging percentage of .623. Bass has also drawn a team-high eight walks. Jordan Wilson and Jared Jarvensivu each have two home runs. Wilson is posting a batting average of.384, and has a team-high 33 hits, going 33-for-86  with 21runs scored. Wilson, the Blue Devils' lead-off hitter, has eight doubles. Wilson has stolen six bases. Joel Thimsen, who has been getting the majority of his at-bats as the team's designated hitter. and is hitting .349, going 15-of-43.  | 2019 Statistics

BLUE DEVIL PITCHING: Jack Donahue (2-3) leads the team in innings pitched with 36.1 innings. The senior has started six games and has 26 strikeouts, second on the team to Brad Rindfleisch (3-2) who has 37. Rindfleisch has made five starts and has thrown 25.1 innings. Aaron Plotsky (2-2) has made four starts and has 20 strikeouts. Cody Urban (2-2) has made three starts and has 15 striketouts. Jace Baumann (1-0) has tossed 9.1 innings, all in relief, and has registered 12 Ks, five more than his entire 2018 total of seven when he made seven appearances with 13.2 innings pitched. Baumann earned his first career win in a 2-1 win over UW-Platteville. Bauman has yet to allow an earned run.  Brandon Bohl has made six appearances, and the sophomore has thrown 11.0 innings with 11 strikeouts and an ERA of 0.82, to go along with one save The Blue Devils have utilized 14 pitchers so far this season. Blue Devil pitchers have recorded 152 strikeouts after 21 games, more than two-thirds of all of last year's 196 total strikeouts. Blue Devil pitchers racked up 42 strikeouts over Finlandia. 

UW-STOUT LAST TIME OUT:Just one day after not scoring a run in a couple of rough losses at UW-Whitewater, the Blue Devils found their offense in game one against second place UW-La Crosse, scoring two runs in the first inning on a two-run home run by Kasey Bass on their way to a 7-3 first game win over the Eagles. Bass drove in two more runs in the second inning and finished the game with four RBI. In game two, Stout stranded 10 runners and did not cross home plate in a 9-0 loss to the Eagles. The win gave the Blue Devils one more win than all of last year with 15 games still on the schedule.  |  La Crosse Game Story and Stats

BLUE DEVIL SEASON PREVIEW: UW-Stout's seven WIAC wins a year ago were the most since accumulating 10 victories during the 2014 campaign. The Blue Devils bring back eight starting position players from last season's group, including Jordan Wilson, who led the squad with a .327 batting average, 12 doubles, 34 RBI and 23 runs scored. Jack Donahue had a team-high 60.0 innings pitched, while Brad Rindfleisch was second with a 2.91 earned run average and 33 strikeouts. Stout will return starters at every position except right field. Six seniors - all-conference outfielder Jordan Wilson, catcher Tim Bott, infielder Jared Jarvensivu and pitchers Brad Rindfleisch, Casey Ryan and Jack Donahue - provide a solid group of leaders. | Complete Season Preview



WIAC PRESEASON POLL: UW-Stout is picked to finish fifth in the WIAC, according to a preseason poll conducted by the conference. UW-Whitewater was picked to win the conference, followed by UW-Oshkosh, UW-La Crosse, UW-Stevens Point, UW-Stout, UW-Platteville and WIAC newcomer Finlandia University. | Complete WIAC Preview

JARVI GOES YARD: Coming into the season, UW-Stout senior captain Jared Jarvensivu had not hit a collegiate home run. Now, Jarvensivu is tied for the team lead in home runs with two, launched his first collegiate home run when he led off the third inning and sent the ball over the left field fence against Millikin University, March 25, then hit his second round-tripper against Finlandia University, April 6. 

OVER THE FENCE: Jarvensivu is not the only Blue Devil to clear the fence. Coming into the Oshkosh series, the Blue Devils have nine total home runs, only two short of last year's totals. Kasey Bass leads the way with three home runs, followed by Jarvensivu and Jordan Wilson, with two each. Reid Akerman and Alex Jinkins each have a single round-tripper. 


UW-OSHKOSH: Alex Kohn leads the team in average at .388 (33-85). Colon Treml tops the Titans' pitching staff, posting a 4-3 record with an ERA of 2.77. Treml has completed four games and ahs started seven. Treml leads the league in strikeouts with 48. Christ Atwood is right behind with 39 striketout, going 3-3 with an ERA of 3.31. Atwood has started seven games. Ryan Wilkening has 26 strikeouts in eight appearances and five starts with an ERA of 5.25. 

UW-Oshkosh secured a NCAA bid a year ago for the first time since the 2008 campaign and compiled 34 victories, which were the most for the program since 35 wins in 2007. The Titans, who own 29 conference championships, entered this season ranked No. 18 in the D3baseball.com/NCBWA Preseason Top 25. Dylan Ott had a team-high .454 on-base percentage in 2018, while ranking third with a .349 batting average. On the mound, Colan Treml led the WIAC with 12 starting assignments, a 10-0 record, 88.0 innings pitched and five complete games, while placing third with a 2.15 earned run average and 74 strikeouts. | 2019 Statistics

OSHKOSH LAST TIME OUT: UW-La Crosse won a pair of home games over the UW-Oshkosh baseball team by scores of 9-6 and 8-1 to conclude their season series Monday (April 15).UW-La Crosse, which also won two games over UW-Oshkosh on Sunday, earned its first four-game sweep of the Titans since winning the league title in 2016. | Game Story and Statistics

LAST TIME STOUT AND OSHKOSH MET: The Titans took three of four games last season when they teams had to move their four-game series to Copeland Park in La Crosse because winter weather damaged the Titans' field. The teams split the first day, with Oshkosh winning the opener, 7-2, and Stout captured the second game 6-5. The Titans swept the second day, 9-1, 10-5. | Day One Game Stories and Statistics | Day Two Game Stories and Statistics


2019 TEAM CAPTAINS: Team captains for the 2019 season are seniors Jared Jarvensivu, Jordan Wilson, Jack Donahue and junior Ben Vanhove. Jarvensivu and Wilson are team captains for the second consecutive year..

AWARDS AND HONORS: 2019: Kasey Bass was selected as the UW-Stout/Toppers Athlete of the Week after hitting .615 over four games against Finlandia University...Jordan Wilson was selected as the WIAC athlete of the week after driving in six runs in a sweep over Principia College...2018: Jordan Wilson was a first team all-WIAC selection. Brad Rindfleisch, Kasey Bass, Jon Krueger, and Ben Vanhove were honorable mention selections...Jordan Wilson was the WIAC athlete of the week after his performance against UW-Platteville to close out the season...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.

COACHES: Ben Kincaid (31-64) is in his third 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-Oshkosh:  Kevin Tomasiewicz (tom-ah-shev-its) enters his sixth season as UW-Oshkosh's head baseball coach. Tomasiewicz owns a 118-87-1 overall record in his first five seasons at the helm. He has helped 11 Titans garner a total of 15 All-WIAC first team accolades as well as five players to seven NCAA Division III All-Midwest Region honors and one player to All-America recognition. Last season, Tomasiewicz led UW-Oshkosh to a 34-10 record and its first Division III regional appearance since 2008.  

2018 BLUE DEVILS: Stout finished the 2018 season at 10-27 overall, 7-16 in the WIAC. | 2018 Statistics

DOWN THE ROAD: The Blue Devils are scheduled to host UW-La Crosse, Tuesday, April 23, Macalester College, Thursday, April 25, and UW-Stevens Point, Saturday, April 27 and Sunday April 28.