EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – The University of Wisconsin-Eau baseball team were back in Eau Claire on Tuesday for a makeup doubleheader against UW-Platteville at Bollinger Fields. As the two Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) squads brought plenty of offense in both games, the Blugolds found late inning magic in game to force the contest to extras but eventually feel in both games, 13-7 and 15-10 (10 inn.).
Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score (10 Innings)
In game one, UW-Eau Claire wasted no time finding home plate as the Blugolds erupted for five runs in the bottom of the second inning. Nate Witte (So. – Woodbury, MN/East Ridge) singled to the outfield and advanced to second after the Platteville outfielder mishandled the baseball, allowing Drew Salyers (Fr. – Centennial, CO/Arapahoe), Cade Mueller (So. – Coal City, IL), and Nick Zezulka (Jr. – St. Anthony, MN/St. Anthony Village) to score. Ryan Venne (So. – Eau Claire, WI/North) started his stellar day at the plate the next at bat with a two-run homerun for a 5-0 lead. Platteville cut the UWEC momentum short with five runs of their own in the next inning to tie the game at five a side.
The Pioneers added eight more runs in the fifth through eighth innings for the first Blugold deficit of the afternoon. Venne and Zezulka tallied RBIs in the bottom of the eighth and ninth to cut the UWP lead to six runs, but it wasn't enough as Eau Claire would fall 13-7 in game one.
UW-Eau Claire stuck to their gameplan in game two with four first inning runs and an early lead. Ryan Venne started things off by reaching first on a throwing error that drove Nate Witte across home for the opening lead. Later that inning, Nick Zezulka hit an opposite field double down the right field line to score Venne and Andrew Murphy (Fr. – Mahtomedi, MN). The very next batter, Jacob Lacy (Sr. – Shawano, WI), drove in the fourth run of the inning with a sacrifice fly to left field for a 4-1 lead. The visitors didn't let the lead last long as they rattled off three runs of their own in the following inning for a 4-4 tie. Otto Treichel (Jr. – Madison, WI/West) answered for UWEC with a solo homer in the bottom of the third to make it 5-4.
After scoreless innings by both sides in the fourth and fifth innings, the Pioneers took their first lead of game two in the sixth with a two-run single up the middle and extended that lead with four runs in the top of the eighth. The Blugolds answered in the bottom of the eighth with Andrew Murphy RBI single into the right center gap to score Nate Witte from second base to make it a 10-6 deficit.
UW-Eau Claire kept Platteville quiet in the ninth by retiring the side and getting straight back to the plate. With the first two batters unable to get on base, Eau Claire grinded out their time with one final out left. Drew Salyers, Diego Caicedo (Fr. – Pompano Beach, Fl/Northeast), and Nate Witte all found themselves on base to load the bases for Ryan Venne. After hitting three homeruns in their previous doubleheader in Platteville earlier in the month, Venne found his grove and hit a game tying grand slam over the right field fence to tie the game at 10-10. Venne finished the day leading the Blugolds at the plate with five hits, eight RBIs, four runs, and two home runs in nine at bats.
In extra innings, the heroics were cut short as Platteville tallied five runs in the tenth and retired all three Blugold batters for the 15-10 UWEC loss.
The Blugolds (7-23, WIAC 2-18) will continue WIAC doubleheader play on Saturday, April 30th at Carson Park against Finlandia University (Mich.). First pitch of game one is scheduled for 3PM.
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