The UW-Whitewater baseball team swept UW-Stevens Point in a doubleheader Monday at Prucha Field in James B. Miller Stadium in Whitewater. The Warhawks won game one, 15-9, and game two, 3-0. UW-W is 22-13 overall and 12-8 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The Pointers fall to 25-11 overall and 13-7 in the WIAC.
The scoreboard started lighting up early and often for both teams in game one. The Pointers struck first scoring one in the opening frame.
The Warhawks fought back with two in the bottom of the first. Matt Beyer (Janesville/Parker) started the inning by reaching on an error and advanced to third on an errant pickoff attempt. Dylan Friend (Burlington/Burlington) followed with a single to center to plate Beyer and tie the game at one. Jared Fon (Germantown) gave UW-W a 2-1 lead with a double to center on the next at bat that scored Friend.
Stevens Point snatched the lead back in the top of the second when they batted around and scored four runs on five hits.
UW-W crept to within two, 5-3, scoring one in the bottom of the third. Friend doubled to right center, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Marty Herum (River Falls/River Falls) sacrifice fly to center.
A bases loaded, and clearing, double by Herum highlighted a four run fourth for the Warhawks that gave them a 7-5 lead. Friend was responsible for the other RBI in the inning when he singled to right to score Fred Gromalak (Kettle Moriane/Kettle Moraine).
With two outs in the top of the fifth, and runners on first and second, the Pointers regained the lead, 8-7, with back-to-back doubles, one to each gap in the outfield.
The seesaw battle continued as the Warhawks took the lead back in the bottom of the sixth on back-to-back doubles by Herum and Ryan Leavitt (Merrill/Merrill), and a single by pinch hitter Michael Gonzalez (Delavan/Darien) … all with two outs.
Point notched a run in the top of the seventh to tie the game without recording a hit. The leadoff batter was hit by a pitch, advanced to second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on a sacrifice bunt.
Herum tallied his fifth and sixth RBIs of the game and gave UW-W an 11-9 lead in the bottom of the seventh with a bases loaded double to left.
UW-W earned some insurance runs, particularly valuable in a game where there have been seven lead changes and one tie, in the bottom of the eighth to extend their lead to 15-9. Travis Wessels (Tomah/Tomah) started the inning with a single to center. Brandon Egnarski (Watertown/Watertown) came in to pinch hit and notched his first collegiate hit with a double down the left field line. With one out the Pointers intentionally walked Matt Beyer (Janesville/Parker) to load the bases. Friend followed with a sac fly to left that plated Wessels for the first run of the inning. Fon followed with a single to center that scored Egnarski, and Herum collected his seventh RBI of the game when he hit a single to center on the next at bat. Fon came in to score the final run of the game on a passed ball.
The two teams combined for 32 hits, 24 runs, nine walks, 13 strikeouts, ten doubles and three hit batsmen. The Pointers chipped in four errors and each team used four pitchers.
Jack Larsen (Menomonee Falls/Menomonee Falls) earned the win to improve to 2-1 and Eric Schmitz (Fond du Lac/Fond du Lac) collected his first save of the season.
Game two was quite the opposite of game one. It was forty minutes shorter, had 21 less hits, used five fewer pitchers, and only had three runs, all by the Warhawks.
UW-W scored a run in the bottom of the fifth, sixth and seventh to take a 3-0 lead. Matt Beyer (Janesville/Parker) drove in Egnarski on a single to right in the fifth, Egnarski drove in Leavitt in the sixth, and Herum earned his eighth RBI of the day on a single that plated Friend in the seventh.
That was all that Schmitz and Tom Kerndt (Lansing, IA/Lansing) needed. Schmitz scattered four hits across six and two-thirds while striking out seven and walking one. Kerndt came on in relief and pitched a perfect two and a third, striking out three. Schmitz is now 6-2 and the save was the first for Kerndt.
For the day Schmitz pitched 8.2 innings, gave up four hits, two walks, and struckout nine, all without surrendering a run. Herum also had a solid day going 5-for-9 with eight RBIs and two doubles. Herum is batting .404 this season and either leads or is tied for the lead on the team in hits, doubles, and RBIs.
The Warhawks will travel to UW-Superior for doubleheaders on May 4 and 5. The twinbill on Friday the fourth begins at one and the games on Saturday begin at noon.
For additional information, John Vodenlich, UW-W head coach