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Mike Swanson

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Yellowjackets complete sweep of Platteville

Mike Swanson


It was a picture-perfect day for baseball in the Twin Ports on Monday, a refreshing change of pace from the cold, wind and rain that was experienced over the weekend.  The Yellowjackets took advantage and put together one of their best efforts of the season, taking a pair of games and sweeping the weekend four-game set from UW-Platteville at Wade Stadium in Duluth.

With the sweep, the Yellowjackets now have 16 wins on the season.  Only three times - 1974 (17), 2007 (17) and 2008 (18) in the last 40 years has a Yellowjacket team won more games than the 2012 edition.

Game 1
Yellowjackets 5, Platteville 0
Box Score

Senior Mike Swanson (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) got the call in the first game of the day and he answered the bell in a big way, shutting down the Pioneers to pick up the complete-game win.

In the bottom of the first the Yellowjackets put two runs on the board with a two-out rally.  Tom Fairbanks (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd), moved into the two-slot in the batting order, walked and came around to score two hitters later when Jeff Miller (Minneapolis, Minn./Washburn) doubled to center field.  A wild pitch moved Miller to third and he would score when #T.J. Evanson# reached on an error to give the Yellowjackets a 2-0 lead.

Platteville put runners on in each of the first six innings, but every time Swanson escaped unscathed.  Then in the bottom of the sixth, the Yellowjackets piled on three more runs to salt the game away.

With two outs and Michael Doescher (Wausau, Wis./Wausau West) on second, Robbie Veith (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd) struck out swinging, but reached base on the wild pitch, putting runners on the corners.  Fairbanks followed with a single to left field, scoring Doescher to make it 3-0.  Wyatt Soderquist (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) then cleared the bases with a sharp triple to right field, making it a 5-0 score.

From there Swanson took care of business, setting the Pioneers down in order in the seventh and eighth innings, before stranding a pair of runners in the ninth to get the shutout.  Swanson gave up just two hits (singles in the third and ninth innings) while walking five and striking out nine.  Swanson also hit three batters.  It was the first complete game of the year for Swanson, who improves to 3-2 on the year.

For the third game in a row the Yellowjackets had eight hits in a game, led by Soderquist and Miller who had two hits apiece.  Soderquist also drove in two runs.

Game 2
Yellowjackets 10, Platteville 3
Box Score

Through the first three games of the series, the Yellowjackets scored 15 runs.  Entering the series the Yellowjackets were averaging nearly 7.4 runs per-game, meaning that the bats had cooled slightly.  The offense that had gone missing, however, reappeared in a big way in game two.

In the bottom of the first inning Soderquist and Miller hit consecutive two-out singles, bringing Evanson to the plate.  Evanson teed off, sending a long drive over the 380-foot sign in center field to stake the Yellowjackets to a 3-0 lead.

An inning later the Yellowjackets doubled the lead.  Justin Haag (Big Lake, Minn./Big Lake) singled and Casey Dittel (Woodbury, Minn./Woodbury) reached on an error to put runners on second and third.  Veith scored Haag when he legged out an infield single to make it 4-0.  Two hitters later Soderquist brought a run home with an RBI single.  Two hitters after that Evanson drove in his fourth run of the game and the Yellowjackets had a huge 6-0 lead after two innings.

Platteville finally got on the board in the top of the third inning.  With runners on first and third the Pioneers executed a perfect double steal, breaking the shutout and making the game 6-1.  It was the first run the Pioneers had scored in 19 innings.

The Yellowjackets got the run back in the bottom of the fourth when Veith singled, stole second and was sacrificed to third.  Miller plated Veith with a single up the middle, and the lead was back to six at 7-1.

The Pioneers' Cody Luther was hit by a pitch to lead off the fifth.  After moving to third on a base hit, Luther scored on a wild pitch and it was a 7-2 game.  In the top of the seventh Topher Scheeler legged out an infield single came around to score on a single by Steve Wolke and the Pioneers were within four at 7-3.

In the bottom of the inning, however, the Yellowjackets put a ringer on things by adding three more runs.  With two outs Doescher singled to left field.  Next up was Haag and he blasted a long, two-run shot over the left-center field wall to stretch the lead to 9-3.  Dittel scored the final run of the game, singling to left-center field and coming around to score on Veith's double, making the final score 10-3.

Veith was the offensive catalyst for the Yellowjackets, going 3-5 with two runs scored and two RBI.  Haag, Soderqiust and Miller all had two hits each, while Evanson had one hit and four RBI.

Dan Genrich (Wausau, Wis./Wausau West) got the start on the mound and picked up the win, giving up three runs (two earned) on five hits over eight innings.  The freshman lefty walked one and struck out 11, improving to 4-2 on the year.  Cody Johnson (Owatonna, Minn./Owatonna) pitched a perfect ninth inning to close out the game for the Yellowjackets.

Scheeler went 2-5 to lead the Pioneers in game two.

The Yellowjackets (16-13, 7-7 WIAC) will play their final two road games of the regular season when they travel to UW-Stout on Wednesday, April 25.  The two teams met just two weeks ago splitting a doubleheader in Menomonie.  Game time is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.


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