Baseball Preview: Stout hosts Tommies in regular season finale

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THIS WEEK'S GAMES: The end of the regular season is at hand for UW-Stout (18-15, 12-12 WIAC) when they welcome the University of St. Thomas (17-12, 9-7 MIAC) to Nelson Field Thursday, May 2 at 2 p.m (note time change). But the team needs to wait for conference play to finish for the other six WIAC teams to see if the Blue Devils can qualify for the WIAC Championship tournament. For the first time in several seasons, the Blue Devils are in the conversation for the WIAC Tournament, May 10-11, either at UW-Whitewater or UW-La Crosse. 

WIAC TOURNAMENT: The Blue Devils are going to need help to get into the WIAC Championship tournament. Stout is currently in fourth place in the WIAC with their conference schedule completed. Four teams will play in the WIAC tournament May 10-11 at either UW-Whitewater or UW-La Crosse. UW-Platteville (16-17, 11-9 WIAC) is currently in third, while UW-Oshkosh (17-18, 10-10 WIAC) is in fifth. But Oshkosh closes the season with four games at Platteville this Friday and Saturday and at the moment, both teams hold the tie-breaker with Stout. Platteville took three of four games from the Blue Devils the end of March, while Stout and Oshkosh split their four games Easter weekend. A split between Platteville and Oshkosh would leave Stout sitting home. Oshkosh took one game from top-seeded UW-Whitewater this season, while Stout lost all four to the Warhawks, giving the Titans the tie-breaker over Stout. If La Crosse would finish ahead of Whitewater, Stout would earn the tie-breaker over Oshkosh. The Titans were swept by the Eagles, while Stout took one of the four games. The simplest way to avoid the tie-breakers - and be the most advantageous for Stout - would be for Platteville to win at least three games or for Oshkosh to earn a four-game sweep, giving Stout the fourth seed.


PARKING: Parking for home baseball and softball games during the business week is limited. Regular parking restrictions are strictly enforced. Parking for baseball and softball spectators during weekday games is restricted to on-street parking and in Lot 29 one hour before the scheduled start of the event. Lot 29 is located just to the north of the outdoor track. DO NOT PARK in Lot 4 during the week. Lot 4 is the parking lot located to the west of the Sports & Fitness Center and north of Don & Nona Williams Stadium (the football stadium). Lot 4 is only open to the general public from 1 p.m. on Fridays until 9 p.m. on Sundays. There is no general parking in Lot 4 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursdays and not until 1 pm on Fridays. Team bus may park in the southeast space in Lot 4 (Emergency Vehicle Only space). Team buses may also park on the east side (outdoor track side - not the metered side) of 3rd Street East. Parking is permitted in all university lots on weekends.


BLUE DEVIL OFFENSE: Hunter Merrill, Kasey Bass, Jordan Wilson and Joel Thimsen are the Blue Devils' leaders at the plate. Merrill leads with a batting average of .386, Bass .378, Wilson .360 and Thimsen .321. Bass and Wilson lead the team in home runs with three each. Bass has 15 doubles, Wilson 12. Jared Jarvensivu has two home runs. Wilson has a team-best nine stolen bases. Merrill has five and Jarvensivu and Danny Deis each have four stolen bases.  | 2019 Statistics

BLUE DEVIL PITCHING: Jack Donahue (4-3) has thrown 50.1 innings with 29 strikeouts. Casey Ryan (3-0) has won three straight games and has 23 strikeouts. Brad Rindfleisch (4-3) has thrown 46.1 innings and leads the team in Ks with 52.

UW-STOUT LAST TIME OUT: For the first time ever, UW-Stout swept a four-game series over UW-Stevens Point, completing the four wins Monday with a 4-2, 2-1, sweep at Nelson Field. Stout had won both games Sunday, 12-0, 5-4. Brad Rindfleisch went the distance in game one, striking out six, walking three and scattering seven hits. The Blue Devils scored twice in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI by Joel Thimsen and on Hunter Merrill's fielder's choice. The Pointers tied the score in the fourth inning on a two-run double by Gabe Affeldt. Stout took the lead when Danny Deis reached on an infield error and Kyle Hamilton scored from second. Stout added an insurance run in the eighth inning on Jordan Wilson's RBI double. Blue Devil reliever Jace Baumann made his first start and went five innings, allowing only the one run, four hits and striking out two to get the win. Cody Urban and Brandon Bohl pitched the middle innings and held the Pointers to two hits. Robert Pilz came on in the ninth inning and earned his first collegiate save. Pilz allowed a two-out walk, but forced a fly out to end the game. |  Stevens Point 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.  Jarvensivu 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. The Blue Devils have 12 total home runs, exceeding last year's total of 11. Kasey Bass and Jordan Wilson lead the way with three home runs each, followed by Jarvensivu with two each. Reid Akerman, Joel Thimsen, Hunter Merrill and Alex Jinkins each have a single round-tripper. 


ST. THOMAS: The Tommies will be looking to stop a skid heading into their final weekend of conference play. Over the last week, St. Thomas has gone 1-6 in conference games. The Tommies dropped doubleheaders to St. John's University and to Concordia-Moorhead, lost a resumed game from earlier this month to Gustavus Adolphus, and split with crosstown rival Hamline University.  Avery Lehman is the Tommies' leading hitter, batting at a .322 clip (29-90) with 13 RBI. Kyle Halverson is hitting .302 (32-106) with a team-best 21 RBI. The Tommies aren't afraid to raise havoc on the base paths, stealing 67 bases in 78 attempts. Lehman leads the team in stolen bases with 14.  Dan Bollingbrook has taken 11 bases, Ryan Lust 10 and Chandler Schaefbauer eight.  Henry DeCaster (4-2) and Graham Laubscher (2-3) lead the pitching corp in strikeouts with 48 and 46, respectively. Andrew Tri (3-2) has 31 strikeouts. Nathan Sprouls (2-0) has 26 Ks and Shaun Falbo (1-2) and Dylan Brend (2-0) each have 15. | 2019 Statistics

TOMMIES LAST TIME OUT: St. Thomas managed just one run and seven singles on the afternoon in Monday's (April 29) 2-0, 12-1 losses at Concordia-Moorhead. Both games went seven innings. St. Thomas has lost six of its last seven contests, all over the last seven days. The Toms dipped to 2-11 in games when scoring three or less runs. Austin VerSteeg threw a two-hit shutout for the Cobbers in the opener. Tommie sophomore Graham Laubscher pitched all six innings. He struck out eight and battled to keep the damage to a pair of single runs in the first and third innings. St. Thomas got its leadoff hitter aboard in three different innings, but hit into one double play and was unable to move the runner in the other opportunities. Concordia raced to an 11-0 lead after two innings in game two. Avery Lehman and Kyle Halverson each had one single in each game. Lehman has hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games. | Game Story and Statistics

LAST TIME STOUT AND ST. THOMAS MET: Derek Graves matched his UW-Stout best by striking out seven batters, but St. Thomas handed the Blue Devils a 4-1 loss in the first game of a doubleheader March 30, 2017, at Koch Diamond. The Blue Devils lost the second game, 2-0. | Game Story 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: Casey Ryan was selected the UW-Stout/Toppers Athlete of the Week April 22 after pitching consecutive wins over UW-La Crosse and UW-Oshkosh...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 (38-69) 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.  ST. THOMAS: Chris Olean will enter his 10th year as head coach of the University of St. Thomas baseball in 2018-19. He's established himself among the top coaches in Division III with a 275-120-1 record (.700 win %) and seven MIAC championships in his first nine seasons, including third-place national finishes in both 2012 and 2014. Olean has mentored six D-III All-America pitchers in his first nine seasons as head coach. He was voted conference and Midwest Region Coach of the Year in 2012 and 2013. In addition Coach Olean works with the Tommie pitching staff; which is a perennial top-10 staff in Division III baseball.

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 will have to wait until Saturday, May 4 to see if the get a berth to the WIAC Championship, scheduled for May 10-12.