PLATTEVILLE, Wis. — The UW-River Falls baseball team concluded its WIAC road series at UW-Platteville Sunday afternoon with a thrilling 13-12 win before falling in the series finale.
UWRF's overall record moves to 10-15 and 4-10 during league play. On Tuesday, the Falcons are slated to travel to St. Paul, Minn., to face the University of Northwestern in their final non-conference game of the season.
UW-River Falls 13, UW-Platteville 12
In game one of the day and three on the weekend series, the Falcons erased a 7-1 deficit with 12 consecutive runs in the fifth through eighth innings to take a 13-7 lead, and held on during the final two innings for the win.
The Pioneers set the tone early, launching a three-run homer in the first inning.
Kaleb Zabielski answered with an RBI double in the second to put the Falcons on the board, but Platteville added another homer in the second and extended the lead to 7-1 by the end of the fourth, capitalizing on both power hitting and UWRF's defensive miscues.
UWRF began its rally in the fifth, scoring three runs, followed by two more in the sixth. The Falcons' offense continued to surge, adding three runs in the seventh and four in the eighth, turning the game around and taking a 13–7 lead.
Carter Klein's second homer of the season gave the Falcons their first lead of the weekend at 8-7 in the seventh. Zabielski's sacrifice fly in the eighth pushed across UWRF's 13th run, the eventual game-winner.
Trailing 13–9 heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Pioneers mounted a comeback. They managed to score three runs, narrowing the gap to a single run. However, the rally fell just short, leaving the tying run on base as the game concluded.
Connor Weltzien entered the game to pitch with runners in scoring position and the game-tying run on base, and despite hitting a batter and allowing a base on balls, he got the final out with a fly out to
Kale Twombly in right field to pick up the save - the first of his career.
William Eckstein pitched 4.1 innings in relief and received the win, allowing three earned runs.
Both teams totaled 14 hits, with Klein leading the Falcons with four RBI and three hits.
UW-Platteville 10, UW-River Falls 3
The Falcons took the first lead in the final game of the weekend series but the Pioneers responded with five runs in the middle innings while holding on to the lead for the rest of the game.
In the first inning,
Andrew Athmann drew a leadoff walk and came around to score off an RBI single from
Carter Klein. UWRF added another run in the third with a
JV Castillo solo homer - his third of the season.
The Pioneers tied the game in the bottom of the third and their big push in the fifth and sixth proved to be the difference, batting runs in off a home run and three doubles. UWP extended its lead to 10-2 with a three-run eighth inning, and limited the Falcons to just one more run on the day.
Castillo led the Falcons with three hits while
Cade Bruett took the loss on the mound, allowing three earned runs in 4.1 innings pitched with four strikeouts.
