PLATTEVILLE, Wis. (blugolds.com) — The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire baseball team earned its first Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) victory of the season with a 21-13 win over UW-Platteville on Friday. The second game of the doubleheader was suspended in the sixth inning and will be resumed on Saturday.
A late push in the first game of the day gave the Blugolds their first conference victory of the season. The Blugolds scored six times in the eighth inning and seven more times in the ninth.
The Pioneers led 1-0 after two innings before UW-Eau Claire took its first lead of the afternoon in the top of the third. Walter Johnson (So. - Minnetonka, Minn.) hit a two-RBI double to put the Blugolds in front, and Chase Yaeger (Jr. - Black River Falls, Wis.) added an RBI single to make it a 3-1 Blugolds lead.
UW-Platteville got a run back in the bottom of the third and retook the lead in the fourth on a three-run homer. The blast put them ahead 5-3. UW-Eau Claire didn't need long to respond though, as Dustan Green (So. - Prior Lake, Minn.) hit a two-RBI double to tie the game at 5-5 in the top of the fifth. Green and Yaeger both scored on a Pioneers error later in the frame, putting UW-Eau Claire ahead 7-5.
The Pioneers plated two runs in the sixth to knot the score up at 7-7, but Yaeger gave the Blugolds the lead for good with a go-ahead RBI double in the seventh. Nate Witte (Jr. - Woodbury, Minn.) drove in two more runs with a double in the eighth and Scott Richards (Sr. - Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandberg) chipped in with a two-RBI single. The Blugolds also scored one run on an error in the inning, and led 14-7 heading to the bottom of the eighth. UW-Platteville plated three runs in the bottom half of the frame, but the Blugolds answered with a huge ninth inning to put the game away. UW-Eau Claire crossed the plate on another error before Johnson and Drew Salyers (So. - Centennial, Colo./Arapahoe) pummeled a two-run homer and a grand slam, respectively.
Johnson finished 4 for 6 with a double, home run and four RBIs. His four hits were a career best. Yaeger finished 3 for 4 with two doubles and two RBIs, and Green had two hits and two RBIs. The Blugolds had 15 hits, and eight of them went for extra bases.
PJ Ford (Fr. - Arlington Heights, Ill./Rolling Meadows) started on the mound and threw four innings. He struck out two and allowed five runs. Travis Thompson (Fr. - Laurel, Md./Reservoir) earned the victory with three innings of relief, holding the Pioneers to two runs in that span.
Game 2 of the doubleheader was suspended due to darkness in the top of the sixth inning with UW-Eau Claire trailing 14-9. The game will be resumed at 9 a.m. in Platteville on Saturday, April 15, with another doubleheader to follow the conclusion of that game.
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