Skip To Main Content

University of Wisconsin-Superior Athletics

schedule

Wisconsin-Superior
Yellowjackets
Alex Quinones
Wade Gardner-d3photography.com

Baseball

Yellowjackets, Blue Devils split again

Alex Quinones had five hits and drove in three in Friday's split at UW-Stout.
Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

It's the final week of the WIAC baseball season, and the Yellowjackets have one tall task ahead of them. With six games to play in the regular season (minus two postponed contests with UW-Stevens Point) the Yellowjackets are faced with six games over three days. The games, while putting quite a strain on the lineup, especially the pitching staff, will also decide whether or not the Yellowjackets will crack the top four in the WIAC standings and make a trip to the conference playoffs, something that has eluded the program for decades.

On Friday, the Yellowjackets had the first two games of the final stretch, playing a pair at UW-Stout, games that were supposed to be played on Wednesday, but were postponed twice due to weather.

Yellowjackets 11, Stout 1 (8 innings)

The Yellowjackets opened the twinbill with a convincing 10-run win in eight innings, taking down the Blue Devils 11-1.

The scoring started early, as the Yellowjackets scored three times in the top of the first inning. With one out Matt Vold (St. Croix Falls, Wis./St. Croix Falls) singled and two hitters later Tom Fairbanks (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd) brought him home, launching his 14th home run of the season to give the Yellowjackets a 2-0 lead. Sam Holden (Spooner, Wis./Spooner) followed with a double and he came around to score the third run of the inning on a single by Alex Quinones (Waterloo, Iowa/).

Stout scored its lone run of the game in the bottom half of the first.

Things stayed at 3-1 until the top of the sixth when the Yellowjackets broke the game open.

Fairbanks got it started with a one-out single. He went to third on a single by Holden, putting runners on the corners. Fairbanks then scored on a single by Quinones, his second RBI of the game. Suguru Homma (Tsuruoka, Yamagata, Japan/Nihon University Yamagata) singled to right-center field, scoring Holden with the second run of the inning. With runners on first and third and still only one out, the Yellowjackets executed a perfect squeeze play, as Derek Cagle (Sauk Rapids, Minn./Sauk Rapids-Rice) laid down the bunt and Quinones scored to push the Yellowjacket lead to 6-1.

In the top of the seventh the Yellowjackets continued the onslaught.

Wyatt Soderquist (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) led off with a single and Vold reached on an error to put two runners on. The next two hitters were retired, but both Soderquist and Vold came in to score on a double by Holden. Quinones then drove in his third run of the game with a base hit, scoring Holden. Homma then reached on an error, which eventually brought home Quinones and the Yellowjacket lead was 10-1.

The Yellowjackets scored their final run of the game in the top of the eighth inning when Soderquist scored on a two-out double by Tony Remund (Andover, Minn./Coon Rapids) to make the final score 11-1.

Holden and Quinones led the way offensively for the Yellowjackets, each contributing three hits in the win. Soderquist, Fairbanks, and Homma each added two hits as the Yellowjackets banged out 15 in the game.

After a rough outing at La Crosse last weekend, senior Travis Elwood (Ramsey, Minn./Anoka) got back to his dominant ways, shutting down the Blue Devils to earn the complete game win. Elwood allowed just one run on seven hits in eight innings to improve to 5-2 on the year. Elwood's five wins and five complete games both lead the Yellowjacket pitching staff.

Stout 8, Yellowjackets 3

Eyeing a sweep, the Yellowjackets were never able to get on track offensively in the second game of the day, and the Blue Devils salvaged the split, and staying one spot ahead of the Yellowjackets in the WIAC standings. More importantly, the Blue Devils hold down the fourth and final playoff spot with just two days left in the regular season.

The Yellowjackets went down in order in both the first and second innings and the Blue Devils capitalized to take the lead, a lead they wouldn't give up.

In the bottom of the second Jared Francois, Jack Schneider, and Brady Burzynski all had RBI hits to stake Stout to a 3-0 lead. The lead bulged to 4-0 with a single run in the bottom of the bottom of the fourth.

The Yellowjackets broke through in the top half of the fifth and cut the four-run deficit in half.

With one out Holden was hit by a pitch. Quinones then singled and Homma followed with a walk to load the bases. Jordan Koepp (Grand Rapids, Minn./Grand Rapids) singled to bring home Holden, and then Quinones scored when Cagle hit into a double play to make it a 4-2 game.

Stout scored a single run in the bottom of the seventh but the Yellowjackets got it back in the top of the eighth. Pinch runner Chad Patko (Stone Lake, Wis./Hayward) came around to score on a Vold single to right field, pulling the Yellowjackets to within two at 5-3.

The Blue Devils put the game out of reach in the bottom of the eighth, scoring three times. The big blow as a two-run double to left field by Nick Nalbach made it 7-3. Later Nalbach scored the final run of the game on a balk, making the final 8-3.

For the Yellowjackets, Quinones and Koepp each had two hits, as the Yellowjackets had seven in the game.

Damian Wiblin (La Crosse, Wis./Logan) got the start and went the distance for the Yellowjackets. He gave up eight runs (seven earned) on 11 hits over eight innings. He walked four and struck out seven to drop to 4-3 on the year.

The Yellowjackets (17-14, 8-10 WIAC) will travel to Whitewater to take on the conference-leading Warhawks on Saturday and Sunday. Games are scheduled to begin at 12:00 p.m. each day. The Yellowjackets trail the Blue Devils and UW-Stevens Point by two games, so they will need to go at least 2-2 and more than likely 3-1 on the weekend to open the door to the post-season. Stout and Stevens Point will play four games in Menomonie, Wis.
Print Friendly Version