RIVER FALLS, Wis. — The UW-River Falls baseball team fell by scores of 18-6 and 8-6 Wednesday afternoon from First National Bank of River Falls field in a WIAC doubleheader against UW-Stout.
The Falcons, now 8-11 overall and 3-7 during WIAC play, totaled 22 hits on the day while the Blue Devils tallied 29. Five Falcons finished with a combined three base hits through two games; Cade Bruett, Kale Twombly, Tanner Hraby, Kole Paulsen, and Colton Skoglund.
UWRF hosts a non-conference matchup against St. Scholastica tomorrow at 1 p.m.
UW-Stout 16, UW-River Falls 8
In game one of the doubleheader, the Blue Devils earned an early lead and maintained an advantage throughout to take a 1-0 series lead.
UWRF twice came within two runs of the Blue Devils but couldn't break the visitors' lead. Stout totaled 16 hits compared to UWRF's 15.
Both teams scored at least two runs in each of the first three innings, leading to a 9-6 Blue Devil lead.
In the fifth, trailing by four runs, a 2-RBI single by Connor Weltzien cut the UW-Stout lead to 10-8, however in the ensuing inning the Blue Devils plated four runs off four hits to gain a six-run lead. They added two more in the seventh and shut out the Falcons the rest of the way to secure the victory.
All nine Falcon batters in the starting lineup recorded at least one base hit, led by three hits from Cade Bruett and two each from Kale Twombly, Tanner Hraby, Kole Paulsen, and Weltzien.
UW-Stout 8, UW-River Falls 6
Game two saw significant scoring bursts from both teams, with UW-Stout's fifth-inning surge proving decisive.
After a pair of scoreless innings, Stout opened the scoring in the third off a 2-out RBI double down the right field line to take a 1-0 lead. In the fifth, the Blue Devils broke the game open in the fifth with five runs, including a grand slam from AJ Kargel to extend their advantage to 6-0.
UWRF responded though in the bottom of the fifth with a
Max Krebs RBI single that scored
Kaleb Zabielski, followed by a
Kale Twombly sacrifice fly, trimming the Blue Devil lead to 6-2 and knocking out starting pitcher Tim Kohls – who held the Falcons hitless through the first three innings. With the bases loaded,
Kole Paulsen and
Cade Bruett were both hit by pitches to plate a pair of runs and UWRF trailed 6-4 heading into the sixth.
Just when the Falcons were threatening, Stout responded with a two-run homer in the sixth to go back up by four runs at 8-4. The Falcons didn't quit however, scoring two in the bottom half from a Twombly RBI single and a Blue Devil error, leading to an 8-6 deficit.
Stout held the Falcons scoreless for the remainder of the game as pitchers Quintin Gonzalez and Drew Buss earned the win and save, respectively.
Despite four solid innings of pitching after receiving the starting nod, Bruett conceded the loss on the mound, allowing two earned runs.
William Eckstein and
EJ Kuster pitched a pair of scoreless innings to give the Falcona a chance late in the game.
