Any questions about whether the UW-River Falls baseball team would be able to compete in the highly competitive WIAC after a 23 year absence were erased in the Falcons’ first homestand of the season.
UW-River Falls vs. UW-Stevens Point (9 photos)
UWRF won three of four games against UW-Stevens Point, splitting a doubleheader with the Pointers before sweeping both games Monday at First National Bank of River Falls Field. UWSP finished third in the WIAC a season ago.
Freshman outfielder JV Castillo, who hit a two-run homer in the first inning of the Falcons’ 12-8 loss in the opener of Friday’s first game, smacked a two-out, two-strike single in the bottom of the ninth to give UWRF its first WIAC victory, 7-6, in the nightcap.
After two days of postponements, the Falcons went on to sweep the Pointers Monday, 6-3 and 12-7 to move to 3-1 in the WIAC and 8-5 overall.
The Falcons wasted no time jumping on the scoreboard in Friday’s first game as Castillo drilled a two-run home run to left field in the top of the first that marked the first runs scored at home since the reinstatement of the program.
The Falcons scored two runs in each of the first three innings, but Stevens Point came back to tie the game 7-7 in the top of the fifth and scored five more unanswered runs to break the game open.
Castillo’s game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth in the nightcap capped a five-run UWRF comeback to give the Falcons their first WIAC victory since 2002.
Trailing 6-2, the Falcons scored three times in the bottom of the seventh on a two-run double by Max Krebs and an RBI single by Connor Weltzein. Ryan Eckerle had an RBI fielder’s choice in the bottom of the eighth before John Santleman pinch ran following a Weltzien single, stole second, took third on a wild pitch and scored on Castillo’s single to the right field gap to give UWRF a 7-6 win.
Kale Twomby led the Falcons at the plate with three hits while Weltzein, Tanner Hraby and Max Stocco had two hits each. E.J. Kuster pitched a perfect ninth to earn the win in relief.
Monday Andrew Athman had two hits, including a two-run home run, and Kale Zabielski and Isaac Mens combined to throw seven innings of one-run ball in a 6-3 victory over the Pointers.
Krebs added a solo home run in the seventh to push UWRF’s lead to 4-1 and Krebs hit a two-run shot in the eighth to close out the Falcon scoring.
Cade Bruett held the Pointers hitless through the first four innings of the nightcap as the Falcons completed the sweep with a 12-7 win.
Athman had four hits, including a double, and two RBI and Hraby went 3-for-4 with two runs scored while Eckerle and Krebs drove in two runs each. William Eckstein threw two innings of relief to earn the pitching victory.
The Falcons’ home doubleheader against St. Scholastica scheduled for Wednesday, April 1, has been postponed to a later date. UWRF will host a pair of twinbills against defending conference champion and No. 1 ranked UW-Whitewater this Saturday and Sunday, April 5-6, at noon each day at First National Bank of River Falls Field.
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