The UW-Platteville baseball team made a valiant effort against the defending WIAC champion, UW-Whitewater last weekend at Kendall Murray Field in Platteville.  The Pioneers and Warhawks hashed it out in two double-headers, with the Warhawks coming out on top on both Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday’s games ended with scores of 14-3 and 7-6 in favor of the Warhawks, and Sunday’s games ended with the Warhawks ahead 17-0 and 10-8.

In the first game of the weekend, Jonathan Kelso and  Brooks Chandler each earned themselves a run batted in. Josh Moses was able to earn a run by taking advantage of a passed ball.  Tyler Vogel faced 23 batters on the mound, throwing 101 pitches during the game.

In the next game, Kelso earned himself a home run, while Moses, Brennan Kearney and Brendon Reifsteck were able to earn RBIs. Scottie Gordon made the deepest start of the Pioneers’ season on the mound, going eight innings and facing 39 batters in the process.

On Sunday, the Pioneers had a rough start, being unable to score on offense and rotating four pitchers in across seven innings.  They fared better in the second game, as once again Kelso earned himself a home run as well as two more RBIs.  Moses, Connor Crotty, and Chandler also earned themselves each an RBI, and both Moses and Collin Mormann were able to take advantage of errors and score.  Caleb Kaufmann faced 32 batters on the mound, throwing 92 pitches during the game.

Although the Pioneers went 0-4 on the weekend, the players and staff weren’t altogether displeased with the performance. Junior mechanical engineering major Josh Moses said that being able to play Whitewater was exciting.

“Knowing that they are nationally ranked gave us a huge challenge.  It was a great opportunity to see some of the best pitching in the Division III level.  We have a lot of young talent but had trouble piecing everything together each game,” Moses said.

Freshman mechanical engineering major Jonathan Kelso is one of these young talented players.

“It’s been a rough year thus far going 6-26 but we’ve been close to putting all the pieces together.  All year we’ve competed with the best teams but have fallen short on executing wins. We aren’t 6-26 for no reason though.  It’s clear we have to cut down on our mistakes in the field and make adjustments with our hitting and pitching,” Kelso said.

Players and coaches alike have shared that they are optimistic about the remainder of the season, as well as the upcoming season.

“The players have done a tremendous job of playing hard and preparing hard and are looking to finish strong to get some momentum going into next season.  We will return 30 players, and this year of experience will pay off down the road,” head coach Eric Frese said.

The Pioneers will continue their season with games against Illinois Tech on May 5 and 6 and finish it off against UW-Stout on May 11 and 12.