Skip To Main Content

University of Wisconsin-Superior Athletics

schedule

Wisconsin-Superior
Yellowjackets
Travis Elwood
Stevens Point Sports Information

Baseball

Pitching pushes Yellowjackets past Pointers

Travis Elwood pitched eight sparkling innings on Sunday to earn his third win of the season.
Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

On Saturday it looked as if the Yellowjacket baseball team would get its doubleheader off on time, only to have rain wash it away after just one inning and pushing the series opening doubleheader to Sunday.

Yellowjackets 8, Stevens Point 3

The first game of the weekend was the longest game of the season, and possibly the longest game in UW-Superior history.

Not really.

The game started on Saturday morning and it started in a good way for the Yellowjackets. Tom Fairbanks (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd) got the scoring started with a two-run home run in the first inning to stake the Yellowjackets to a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the inning starter Kyle Gauger (Spooner, Wis./Spooner) set the Pointers down in order. Alex Quinones (Waterloo, Iowa/) drew a walk to start the second inning, but then the rains came and within an hour of the start of the rain delay, the games were called and pushed to Sunday, picking up where Saturday left off.

And the Yellowjackets kept things rolling.

Up by a pair the Yellowjackets made it 3-0 in the top of the third inning. With one out Tony Remund (Andover, Minn./Coon Rapids) doubled to left and went to third on a Fairbanks single. Two hitters later Quinones singled to bring Remund home.

The Yellowjackets put the game out of reach in the top of the fourth. Back-to-back singles from Wyatt Soderquist (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) and Matt Vold (St. Croix Falls, Wis./St. Croix Falls) preceded a walk to Remund, loading the bases. With one out Fairbanks again came through, clearing the bases with his second home run of the day, his tenth home run of the season and his first grand slam of the campaign to push the Yellowjackets ahead 7-0. Two hitters later Quinones got in on the act, stroking his third home run of the season over the fence in left field and it was 8-0.

Stevens Point got three of those runs back in the bottom of the inning, scoring one run on a Jimmy Coady double and adding two more on a two-run home run from Taylor Carlson to close the gap to 8-3.

The Yellowjackets had another threat to build on the lead in the top of the seventh, but they were retired and left the bases loaded. The Pointers, meanwhile, had runners on base in every inning the rest of the way with the exception of the sixth, but were unable to draw any closer to the Yellowjackets.

Fairbanks continued his remarkable season in the first game, going 4-for-5 with the two home runs. He drove in six and scored twice. Quinones had three hits and Remund had two to pace the Yellowjacket 14-hit attack.

After Gauger's one perfect inning on Saturday, Travis Elwood (Ramsey, Minn./Anoka) took over and pitched the final eight innings to earn the victory. Elwood allowed three earned runs on six hits to go along with a walk and six strikeouts. He is now 3-1 on the year with a 2.32 earned run average. He has 33 strikeouts in 31 innings.

Yellowjackets 4, Stevens Point 3

In the second game it looked as if the Pointers would flip the script from the first game, as they set the Yellowjackets down in order in the top of the first and then jumped out to the early lead.

Yellowjacket starter Damian Wiblin (La Crosse, Wis./Logan) got two outs in the inning, but also loaded the bases with Bryton Guckenberg coming to the plate. Guckenberg cleared the bases, driving a double to center field that scored all three runs to give the Pointers the 3-0 lead.

After the first inning Wiblin settled in, allowing just three hits the rest of the way and keeping the Pointers off the board, giving the Yellowjackets the chance to get back in the game.

The score stayed at 3-0 until the top of the fourth inning when the Yellowjackets broke through. Vold and Remund led off the inning with back-to-back walks. Two hitters later Sam Holden (Spooner, Wis./Spooner) ripped a single through the left side to get the Yellowjackets on the board.

With the score at 3-1 the Yellowjackets drew even and pulled ahead in the top of the eighth. Soderquist got things started with a single and went to second on Vold's base hit. Remund sacrificed the runners to second and third. Fairbanks was intentionally walked to load the bases and Holden made the Pointers pay, singling to right-center field to score Soderquist and Vold to tie the game. Quinones followed with a single to right field, bringing home Fairbanks to give the Yellowjackets their first lead of the game at 4-3.

In the bottom of the ninth the Pointers got a one-out double to put the tying run in scoring position, but Wiblin slammed the door shut, using a strikeout and a ground out to close out the contest and give the Yellowjackets the sweep.

Holden and Soderquist each had two hits in the game for the Yellowjackets, who had six for the game. Holden drove in three.

Wiblin went the distance for the Yellowjackets, allowing three runs on six hits to get the complete game win. He walked two and struck out six to improve to 3-1 for the season.

Carlson and Brandon Kranz each had two hits for the Pointers, who also had six hits in the game.

The Yellowjackets (12-7, 4-4 WIAC) and the Pointers will play the third and fourth games of their series on Monday, April 14. Game time is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.
 
Print Friendly Version