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| Joe Lange pitches a shutout in game one |
Posted March 29, 2008
Joe Lange threw a complete-game shutout, and Mike Flood blasted a three-run home run to dead center field, lifting UW-Platteville to a 10-0 victory over UW-Stout Saturday in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener for both teams.
Flood, who was hit by pitches three straight times in the nightcap, delivered poetic justice with a two-out two-run ninth-inning double that gave the Pioneers a 14-13 victory and the sweep.
"It feels good," Flood said about the sweep, not the beanings. "We didn't play real well in the second game, but we got the win ... The day was huge for us."
Lange held the Blue Devils, who were hitting . 348 coming into the game, to four singles over seven innings in the opener. The junior left-hander dropped his ERA to 0.98 with the shutout. No Blue Devil made it past second base.
Flood, Mike Kuhn and Lee Hawkins all doubled in the second, giving the Pioneers a 2-0 lead. After UWP scored two in the third, Flood bombed his home run 400 feet to center field, giving the Pioneers a 7-0 bulge. UWP added two in the sixth then ended the game early in the seventh via the 10-run rule when Brett Benesh singled home pinch-runner Jason Jacobson.
The Pioneers had 12 hits, with Gabe Neitzel joining Flood, Kuhn and Hawkins with two apiece.
In the nightcap, Blue Devil pitcher Matt Doornink hit Flood with pitches his first three times up in game two, earning Doornink an ejection in the fourth inning.
"It was a little frustrating, especially coming up with opportunities to hit in runners," Flood said. "It's part of the game, I guess."
UW-Stout then nearly won the game, rallying from a 7-3 deficit to take a 13-11 lead into the ninth inning.
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| Derrick Rice scores in game two |
In the Pioneer ninth, Nick Aplin singled and Jerod Haxton walked. With two outs, the Blue Devils had a throwing error on Ross Bennett's ground ball, that scored Aplin, moved Haxton to third and Bennett to second, setting the stage for Flood.
"After the coach went out there, I knew I'd see all balls or unhittable strikes, and that's what the first two strikes were," the senior said. "He just left the last one up a little."
Flood crushed the ball to the gap in left-center, bringing home two runs.
The Pioneers won despite being out-hit 19-10. Stout's Ben Bengston had five hits and drove in three runs, while Greg Smolinski had three hits in the second game and five in the doubleheader.
Haxton had three hits and tied the Pioneer record with five runs scored. Flood and Derrick Rice each drove in three runs.
The Pioneers (8-6 overall, 2-0 in the WIAC) and the Blue Devils (6-7, 0-2) meet again Sunday at noon. The first game will be broadcast on WSUP Radio and as well as webcast at http://www.uwplatt.edu/athletics/stream/index.html.
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