For Alumni Weekend and Senior Day, UW-Eau Claire baseball hosted the UW-Platteville Pioneers from April 25-26 at Carson Park. 

The Blugolds entered the weekend 10-9 in conference play, sitting in the final spot for the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) tournament. The first game of Saturday’s doubleheader featured the team’s top pitchers.

Sam Callow took the mound for the Pioneers, going eight innings and allowing two earned runs with a career-high nine strikeouts. For the Blugolds, third-year pitcher Nicholas Meuser started for the Blugolds and allowed zero earned runs (two unearned) in eight innings.

After the Blugolds struck out to end the bottom of the eighth inning, third-year pitcher Ben Dorantes came in to pitch in relief with the score tied 2-2. With two outs and a runner on second base, an RBI single from Connor Gresens gave the Pioneers a 3-2 lead.

Despite a lead-off walk in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Blugolds weren’t able to score the runner, falling 3-2. 

Of the three runs allowed, two were unearned, caused by Blugold errors. The Blugolds struck out 11 times on offense with four batters striking out multiple times.

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Pioneers took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. The Blugolds responded with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first inning from the bat of first-year outfielder Kellen Smith.

The Pioneers led the Blugolds 5-1 heading to the top of the eighth inning. In the last two innings of the game, the Pioneers erupted for 11 runs on eight hits. The Blugolds were held to two runs on eight hits, leaving eight runners on base.

The four combined runs scored in the doubleheader sweep are the fewest number of runs from the Blugolds in a WIAC doubleheader this season. 

Looking to get back into the win column, fourth-year pitcher Sebastian De La Toba made the start for the Blugolds for the first game on Sunday. In De La Toba’s previous start on April 20 against UW-La Crosse, he recorded his first career shutout.

De La Toba said his gameplan against the Pioneers was to get ahead in the count.

“Get that first strike, [it] just makes it harder for any hitter,” De La Toba said.

For the first time in the series, the Blugolds were first to score with a two-run home run from second-year infielder Will Johnson, giving the Blugolds a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, a single into right field from fourth-year infielder Diego Caicedo extended the Blugolds’ lead to three. In the top of the sixth inning, De La Toba allowed his first of the day off a Caleb Parker double.

While De La Toba allowed a run to score in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs, he stayed in the game to record his second shutout in as many games. De La Toba finished the game with two earned runs allowed while collecting 14 groundouts on 115 pitches.

De La Toba’s 241 pitches in his last two starts accounts for 44 percent of his pitch total on the season.

Sunday’s start was just De La Toba’s second on the season, with the majority of his appearances coming in relief. He said the transition to starting games doesn’t matter to him.

“I just want to pitch,” De La Toba said. “I try to post up every day, lead by example.”

De La Toba, who is originally from Chula Vista, California, had over 10 family members at the game to support him on Senior Day.

“I was pitching for a lot today – – the team, my family [and] the program,” De La Toba said.

With the win, the Blugolds moved into third place in the WIAC. Before the start of the second game, the 12 seniors on the team were recognized with a ceremony on the field. 

Fourth-year pitcher Aaron Skrypek made his fourth start of the season for the season finale versus the Pioneers. Through three innings, Skrypek retired the first nine Pioneer batters.

In the top of the fourth inning, fourth-year infielder Austin Buck drove in the first run of the game with an RBI double to left field. The rest of the game featured five lead changes with back-and-forth action.

Heading into the ninth inning, the Blugolds held a 5-4 lead until Pioneer Anthony Massa drove in the tying run with a single. 

The Blugolds went three up three down on offense in the bottom of the ninth. In the top of the 10th inning, a solo home run from Mason Molitor gave the Pioneers a 6-5 lead. 

Needing at least one run to tie the game, second-year infielder Logan Hesselman got on base to start the inning for the Blugolds. With one out, an RBI single from Caicedo tied the score 6-6.

Due to an error made in the outfield, Caicedo advanced to second. With two outs in the inning and Caicedo in scoring position, second-year catcher Carter Vieth came up to bat. 

Vieth entered Sunday with one career walk-off, which came from a home run last season against UW-River Falls on May 3 in the Blugolds’ season finale. On the second pitch of the at-bat, Vieth hit the ball down the third-base line, where it deflected off Massa’s glove.

The Pioneers weren’t able to get a throw to home plate. Caicedo scored, giving the Blugolds their first walk-off win of the season. Vieth said he thought about his walk off home run last year before coming up to bat.

“I was like, ‘Maybe not a home run this time, maybe just a base hit,’” Vieth said. “I was super confident in myself to be able to [get] the job done.”

Vieth, who had been battling an injury throughout the season, set a season-high mark in hits with four.

“Getting injured sucks, but being able to come back and feel confident to be put back in the game is incredible,” Vieth said.

Just one year ago following a series against the Pioneers, the Blugolds had one conference win. Now with the Sunday doubleheader sweep, the Blugolds hold a 12-11 record in WIAC play.

Head Coach Patrick Reilly said last year was a tough and challenging year for the program.

“Our guys in the offseason attacked it in the weight room. We asked them to lift more often [and] asked them to do more in the community,” Reilly said.

After an upcoming make-up game on April 19 versus UW-Whitewater, the Blugolds will play their season series on May 1-2 against UW-River Falls. The Blugolds and UW-River Falls were the two bottom teams in the conference last season.

A year later, the teams are third and fourth respectively in the WIAC with the upcoming series having major WIAC tournament implications.

“[I] told our guys this is pretty cool for the program to be playing for games in late April that actually matter,” Reilly said.

If the Blugolds reach the WIAC tournament, it will be their first appearance in program history.

Benes can be reached at [email protected].