The University of Wisconsin-Platteville began the 2012 baseball season dropping a doubleheader to Huntingdon College, 9-4 and 5-2 on Friday.
In the first game, the Pioneers stranded 13 baserunners in the last seven innings of the game as well as they made four errors in the defeat. UW-Platteville jumped out to a 2-1 advantage until Huntingdon plated two in the four and added five insurance unearned runs in the sixth en route to the 9-4 win.
In the loss, the Pioneers were led by Cody Luther, who went 3-for-5 with a RBI and teammates Trevor Kattre, Levi Ney and Zach Demmon each had two hits for the UW-Platteville attack.
The Pioneers got on the board first on an unearned before the Hawks answered with a solo home run to tie it in the bottom half of the inning. UW-Platteville went ahead 2-1 in the third on a two-out RBI single by Ney. The Pioneers would leave the bases loaded to end the inning.
In the fourth, the Hawks regained the lead on a two-RBI single by T. Blackwell and in the sixth, they added to their lead with a five-run effort on just two hits. In the sixth, they capitalized on a pair of UW-Platteville errors. They added another insurance run in the seventh before the Pioneers mounted a threat with a two-run eighth inning.
Bill Oppriecht was the losing pitcher on opening day for UW-Platteville, pitching five innings, giving up just five hits and striking out three and he falls to 0-1. Grant Lowman for the Hawks was the winning pitcher with a five-inning effort, scattering five hits and striking out four for his first win of the season.
In the nightcap, a three-run sixth inning led Huntingdon to the 5-2 win over the Pioneers. The Pioneers were held to just two hits as Cody Luther and Zach Demmon were the only ones with a hit. Hawks' starter Cory Belyeu went six innings and struck out six to raise his record to 2-0.
The Hawks got on the board in the second and fourth innings for an early 2-0 lead until the Pioneers tied it in the fifth. Demmon reached on an infield single and Jesse Wiley got on base by a walk to start the inning. The duo moved up a base on a sacrifice bunt. Then, following a strikeout, the Pioneers loaded the bases after Charlie Beckman was hit by a pitch to bring the hot-hitting Cody Luther to the plate. Luther delivered a two-RBI single to tie the game.
A double play ended a UW-Platteville threat in the sixth and in the bottom half of the inning, the Hawks scored three times on three hits for the victory. Austin White and Evan Agnew each had two hits to lead Huntingdon and Trey Smith scored three times in the win.
Next, the weather forecast for rain on Saturday has forced changes to the schedule for this weekend. Instead of a game on Saturday, the two will not play and just play a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m.