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| Kyle Mack threw two scoreless innings |
Posted April 17, 2008
What a difference 24 hours make.
A day after a lackluster 10-4 loss to Edgewood, the Nothern Athletic Conference third place team, UW-Platteville rebounded to beat NAC leader Rockford 8-4 Thursday at Kendall Murray Field.
The Pioneers exhibited quality pitching, stellar defense, aggressive base-running and timely hitting while improving to 12-12 on the year. The Regents fell to 15-9.
Gabe Neitzel jump-started the offense with hustle plays. He had a bunt single in the third inning, stole second and third, and scored on a Brett Benesh groundout to third.
A trio of Kyles shut out the Regents in the first five inning, as Kyle Mack threw two scoreless innings, Kyle Kubatzke followed with one inning (and earning the win), and then Kyle Larson allowed no hits in two innings.
The Pioneers added insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth. Benesh doubled, and Nick Aplin and Jerod Haxton followed with run-scoring singles for a 3-0 lead.
UWP added single runs in the sixth and seventh, and the freshman Benesh hit his first career home run to cap a three-run eighth for an 8-1 lead. Benesh's blast was the first for the Pioneers at Kendall Murray Field since Mike Flood went deep in the home opener March 29.
Nick Budden, Mike Davis, Jay Lindner and Justin Crotty finished up the pitching duties. Davis allowed a lead-off triple in the seventh, then retired the next three batters.
The defense had just one error, a far cry from Wednesday's six. In UWP's 12 wins, they Pioneers have 20 errors, while they have 43 micues in the 12 losses.
The Pioneers play a four-game series at UW-Stevens Point Saturday and Sunday.
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