FRIDAY'S GAMES: The UW-Eau Claire at UW-Stout baseball games scheduled for Friday, April 9 have been moved to River Falls where the conference doubleheader will be played at First National Bank of River Falls Field, 600 Hanson Drive, River Falls, WI, 54022. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
THIS WEEK'S GAMES: It's Eau Claire week for the Blue Devils (4-6, 1-3 WIAC) with the teams scheduled to play three doubleheaders against the Blugolds (0-10, 0-4 WIAC), traveling to Carson Park, Tuesday, April 6 with a 1 p.m. start. The series moves to Menomonie, Friday, April 9 at 1 p.m., then returns to Eau Claire's Carson Park for games scheduled at 2:30 p.m. and a 6:30 p.m. start for the second game to allow the teams to play under the lights at the storied field. The first two dates are scheduled as conference games. The Saturday date is scheduled as non-conference games.
Always check with the home team on their current spectator policy.
LAST TIME THEY MET: James Palmer pitched eight strong innings and
Alex Mahaz picked up the save in game one and UW-Stout exploded for 13 runs in the second game to earn a soggy split with UW-Eau Claire on a rainy, chilly March afternoon at First National Bank of River Falls Field March 27. The Blugolds took the early 1-0 lead after the first inning, but Stout answered back on a two-run blast by
Joel Thimsen in the bottom of the first, then added the final run late when
Kasey Bass came home on a balk. Stout stranded 10 runners in the game. In game two, Stout took a 13-3 seven inning win.
2021 WIAC SCHEDULE: The schedule for each of the teams in the WIAC in 2021 includes 28 conference games, as well as a "non-conference schedule" consisting of contests against only WIAC schools. The league has been separated into divisions, with Stout, UW-Eau Claire, UW-La Crosse and UW-Platteville in the West Division and UW-Whitewater, UW-Oshkosh, UW-Stevens Point and Finlandia in the East Division. The teams will play the schools in the same division in four doubleheaders, with two of the doubleheaders serving as non-conference contests. Two doubleheaders will serve as conference contests. The conference tournament has been expanded to six teams with the No. 3 thru No. 6 seeds participating in "play-in" games at the site of the higher seed on May 19. The winners of the single-elimination contests will join the No. 1 seed and No. 2 seed at the double-elimination finals in Whitewater May 21-22.
2021 UW-Stout Baseball Schedule
Date / Opponent / Time or Result
Sat, Mar. 20 / at UW-Platteville / W 16-2 (7), L 11-6
Thurs, Mar. 25 / at UW-La Crosse / L 11-5, L 6-1
Sat, Mar. 27 / UW-Eau Claire (at River Falls) / W 3-1, W 13-3 (7)
Thur, Apr. 1 / at UW-Stevens Point* / L 12-2 (7), L 5-1
Fri, Apr. 2 / UW-Stevens Point* / L 9-4, W 9-7
Tues, Apr. 6 / at UW-Eau Claire* / 1 p.m.
Fri, Apr. 9 / UW-Eau Claire* / 1 p.m.
Sat, Apr. 10 / at UW-Eau Claire / 2:30 p.m.
Wed, Apr. 14 / at UW-Oshkosh* / 1 p.m.
Sat, Apr. 17 / UW-Oshkosh* / 1 p.m.
Tues, Apr. 20 / UW-La Crosse* / 1 p.m.
Fri, Apr. 23 / at UW-La Crosse* / 1 p.m.
Sat, Apr. 24 / UW-La Crosse / 1 p.m.
Wed, Apr. 28 / at UW-Whitewater* / 1 p.m.
Sat, May 1 / UW-Whitewater* / 1 p.m.
Tues, May 4 / UW-Platteville* / 1 p.m.
Fri, May 7 / at UW-Platteville* / 1 p.m.
Sat, May 8 / UW-Platteville / 1 p.m.
Fri, May 14 / Finlandia University* / 1 p.m.
Sat, May 15 / Finlandia University* / 1 p.m.
PARKING: There is no free parking for weekday baseball & softball games. 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. Spectators that park in Lot 29 (located just north of the outdoor track) must pay parking fees and register their license plate at the pay station near the main East entrance of the Sports & Fitness Center. Lot 29 parking restrictions end at 4 pm on Monday through Friday.
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 buses may 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: Charlie Szykowny leads the Blue Devils at the plate as the junior shortstop is hitting .395 (15-38) with five RBI and has scored 13 runs. Szykowny has two doubles, a triple, a home run and six stolen bases. Senior first baseman
Kasey Bass is hitting .344 (11-32) with a team-best 10 RBI and has scored 10 runs. Bass, along with
Hunter Merrill, has a team-best three doubles. Freshman
Riley Boushack is hitting .324 (11-34) with nine RBI and blasted his first collegiate home run last weekend.
BLUE DEVIL PITCHING: James Palmer was cruising along with two straight wins to open the season, but picked up his first loss of the season against UW-Stevens Point. Palmer has an ERA of 3.15 and has recorded 23 strikeouts - second in the WIAC - over a team-best 20 innings, while only allowing five walks.
Cody Urban is 1-1 and has an ERA of 6.75 with 11 strikeouts in three starts in 14.2 innings.
Ethan Kjellberg is 0-2 with an ERA of 8.64 in two appearances.
Brock Burg is 0-1 with one start and two appearances.
Jace Baumann is 0-1 in one start.
Alex Mahaz has made three appearances and has not given up an earned run in 5.1 innings pitched and has one save.
Trevor Miller is 1-0 after two appearances and earned the win against Stevens Point.
UW-STOUT LAST TIME OUT:
Kasey Bass hit a two-out, three-run double to left center to lift UW-Stout to comeback 9-7 win over UW-Stevens Point in the nightcap, Friday, April 2 at Nelson Field. The Pointers won the first game, 9-4. The teams battled toe-to-toe in the second game with the Pointers scoring three runs in the third inning to take a 3-0 lead, but Stout came back two score two runs in the fourth inning on RBIs by
Justin Schnell and
Nolan Harke, then took a 4-3 lead with a two-run fifth inning on an RBI double by
Riley Boushack and bunt single by
Alex Jinkins. The Pointers jumped out a 5-4 lead with two runs in the sixth and extended the lead to 7-4 with a two-run seventh. Stout got two of those runs back in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI single by Bass and a sacrifice fly by Harke, and Stout trailed 7-6.
Trevor Miller came on to pitch in the bottom of the eighth, and it wasn't a good start for MIller as he walked the lead-off batter on four straight balls, the got behind 2-0 in the count. A mound conference settled Miller down and he forced a double play and recorded the third out on a looking strikeout. In the eighth, Stout picked up two quick outs on flyouts on the first pitch to the first two batters. But the Blue Devils proved to be patient. Boushack drew a walk, then moved on
Charlie Szykowny's single. The both moved on
Alex Jinkins single to load the bases for Bass. The senior delivered on a 2-1 count, sending the ball off the bottom of the left field fence to clear the bases and and give Stout the lead. Miller finished the game with a solid effort to record his first collegiate win, forcing a flyout, another strike out looking and sealed the game on a pop fly to third base. Miller went two complete innings, allowing only the one walk and striking out two. Bass was 2 for 5 with four RBI. Szykowny was 4 for 5 with three runs scored. Boushack and Jinkins both were 2 for 4. Boushack scored two runs and Jinkins crossed home plate three times. In the opener, the Pointers jumped on starter
James Palmer for seven runs, four earned, to take a 7-1 lead off Palmer. The senior surrendered a season-high seven hits, but did strikeout four. The Pointers' Payton Nelson hit a three-run double to highlight a four run fourth inning for the Pointers, and scored single runs in the first, second, sixth, eighth and nine innings to down UW-Stout, 9-4. Nelson finished the game going 2-for-5 with four RBI. Stout scored three runs in the eighth inning as
Riley Boushack hit his first collegiate home run. Stout also got RBIs out of
Kasey Bass and
Hunter Merrill in the inning. Bass was 2 for 4 with an RBI in the first game and finished the day going 4 for 9 with five RBI.
SCOUTING UW-EAU CLAIRE: The Blugolds are still looking for their first win since returning to varsity status since 1995. After getting 10-runned in the first two games,the Blugolds have had competitive games, seeing losses of 3-1, 5-4, over the last two weeks. Logan Matson is posting the team's top batting average with a .250 (8-32) with six doubles and eight RBI. Anthony Pogodzinski is hitting .222 (6-23) with four RBI. Tom Ginther (3), Will Mosinski (3), Charley Griffin (2), Wes Brand (1) and Brendton Boldt (1) have gained all of the starts this season. Ginther has 17 strikeouts and Mosinski 16.
LAST TIME OUT: Eau Claire lost their Friday afternoon doubleheader with UW-Oshkosh, 18-5 and 13-4. The games were played at historic Carson Park, the first Blugold baseball games played there in over two decades. Eau Claire's first run of game one came in the bottom of the second inning. David Janssen walked to get on base and later scored off a sacrifice fly from Henry Pitsch. The Blugolds would add another run in the fourth and then two more in the fifth off a two-run homer from Logan Matson. Huge eighth and ninth innings from Oshkosh helped them secure the victory in the opener. The Blugolds were able to nearly match them in hits, 10-8, but five home runs from the Titans proved to be a major difference. Pitsch provided much of the offense for UWEC, tallying three hits and stealing a base. Five different Blugolds also got in the hit column, with one each. The second game was tight nearly the entire way. It was Eau Claire who scored the first run of the game when Otto Treichel scored Nate Witte in the bottom of the first. They would add three more runs over the next seven innings, with two RBIs coming from Elyjah Johnson and one from Anthony Pogodzinski. With the score tied 4-4, Oshkosh had a nine-run ninth inning. The Blugolds had just one half-inning to try and build a comeback, but fell short. Johnson was the top offensive player in game two for UWEC with the two RBIs and a double. On the mound, Tom Ginther got the start and went six innings, striking out seven batters.
TEAM CAPTAINS: Kasey Bass,
Hunter Merrill,
Dan Deis and
Jace Baumann will serve as 2021 team captains.
AWARDS AND HONORS: 2021: James Palmer earned WIAC player of the week honors after recording nine strikeouts in a season-opening 16-2 win over UW-Platteville.
COACHES: Ben Kincaid (46-78) is in his fifth year as the Blue Devils' head coach with the 2021 season, 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 right-handed 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, Kincaid played for the local Eau Claire Express.
2019 BLUE DEVILS: Stout finished the 2019 season at 20-17 overall, 12-12 in the WIAC. | 2019 Statistics
DOWN THE ROAD: The Blue Devils are scheduled to play at UW-Oshkosh, Wednesday, April 14, then host the Titans, Saturday, April 17 at 1 p.m.
