For the Gazette
STEVENS POINT – Lucas Luedtke (River Falls) belted a home run in the first inning as part of an eight-run frame as the UW-Stevens Point baseball team (12-3) rolled to a 16-0 non-conference win over Finlandia (0-15) to sweep the five-game weekend set.
Luedtke hit two home runs and went 4-for-4 with six RBI in the win. He scored three runs.
Aaron Simmons (Franklin) extended his hitting streak to 13 games with an RBI single in his second at-bat of the first inning. He scored two runs and drew two walks.
Matt Baumann (New Berlin) and Tommy Duddleston (Chicago, IL) has two hits each in the game. Baumann drove in two and scored a run. Duddleston scored once and drove in another.
The Pointers sent 12 hitters to the plate in the bottom of the first en route to an 8-0 lead after one. Simmons and Payton Nelson (Wausau) drew one-out walks. With two away, Luedtke launched his first home run to put UWSP in front 3-0. The next six UWSP batters reached with Jacob Lillge (Little Chute) hitting a two-run single, Duddleston driving in one with a single and Simmons plating the eighth.
Bradley Comer (Rhinelander) was hit by a pitch to start the second. Luedtke singled and Brenden Canterbury (Waupaca) waked to load the bases. Baumann lifted a sac fly to left for a 9-0 lead.
In the third, Simmons drew a base on balls and Nelson was hit with a pitch. Two batters later, Luedtke crushed his second three-run home run of the game to make it 12-0.
Nelson singled to start the fifth. Two batters later, Luedtke doubled to put two in scoring position. Pinch hitter Bradley Hansen (Racine) ripped a first-pitch double to right to plate both runners. Baumann followed with a single and another run scored on the play following an error. Zach Hanson (Gladstone, MI) was hit by a pitch later in the inning and an errant pickoff throw to first allowed another run to score.
Jacob Meinholz (Middleton) picked up his first collegiate win with 5.0 frames. He struck out six and allowed just an infield hit. Jacob Thome (Wausau) struck out one in a perfect relief inning. Seth Seefeldt (Coleman) tossed a scoreless seventh inning.