FORT MYERS, Fla. (March 13, 2022) - Joel Thimsen led the charge with three RBI and
Charlie Szykowny picked up two two-out RBI to help UW-Stout secure their first win of the season.
The Blue Devils (1-3) started their spring break trip to Fort Myers, FL by beating Bethel University 7-5. The Blue Devils, who played Bethel two times last week, losing 5-1 and 10-5, bounced back with solid defense and timely hitting.
The Royals jumped out to an early lead in the first inning.
Joel Thimsen collected his first RBI of the day in the third inning to even the score at one.
Connor Hemme scored on the single. The Blue Devils added two more runs in the fifth inning when Szykowny scored on a balk and
Jacoby Endreas scored on a Thimsen sacrifice fly to left field.
The Royals answered back with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning. The Blue Devils wasted no time and would answer with three runs of their own the next half inning on singles by Skykowny and Thimsen to jump to a 6-3 lead.
After the Royals scored in the bottom of the seventh inning to make it 6-4,
Colin Hageman scored on a single by Skykowny to make it 7-4 in the top of the eigth inning. Bethel would answer right back to make it 7-5 but could not manage to score again as the Blue Devils would collect the final four outs without any damage.
Newcomer
Drew Buss was stellar on the mound. Despite not picking up the win, Buss threw four and two thirds innings collecting three strikeouts whil giving up three earned runs.
Chase Higgins (1-0) picked up the win in the effort, going one and a third innings, giving up zero runs on zero hits.
Luke Kallod followed up going two innings and Szykowny picked up the save, working a scoreless ninth inning.
The win marks the first of the season for the Blue Devils. They are back in action tomorrow when they face Eastern Connecticut State at 9 a.m. and Skidmore College at 1 p.m. est.
