FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Albanese, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Media Relations

UPDATE ON 2/28: Inclement weather has pushed the weekend series from Saturday-Sunday to Sunday-Monday. Gametimes will remain 12 PM (EST) for both days.

SOMERS, Wis. (Mar. 26, 2014)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside baseball team will repack its bags this week and head south to Greyhound Park, opening divisional play against Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division rival University of Indianapolis.

UW-Parkside and UIndy will begin the series with a doubleheader on Sunday beginning at 12 p.m. (Eastern Time). The two squads will close the four-game showdown on Monday with doubleheader action again slated to get underway at noon (Eastern).

About the Rangers: UW-Parkside (4-11, 2-6 GLVC) continues life on the road this week after the divisional clash was relocated from Oberbrunner Field in Somers, Wis., to Indianapolis due to poor field conditions. So far all 15 games this season for the Green and White have been on the road.

Last weekend the Rangers dropped three of four against the University of Missouri-Saint Louis. UMSL tallied 1-0 and 5-1 wins on Saturday before the squads split the Sunday twinbill. The Rangers prevailed 6-0 in game one behind a complete-game shutout from Cole Kroncke before suffering a 7-1 setback in the nightcap.

Kroncke was dialed in on the mound, allowing just three hits in seven innings of work while striking out three. The senior right-hander became the first Ranger to toss a complete game shutout since current pitching coach Ryan Windt tallied a seven-inning shutout on April 9, 2011. Windt scattered six hits while striking out four Greyhound batters, helping Parkside dismantle UIndy 12-0 at Greyhound Park.

Offensively, Zach Thompson was three-for-three at the plate in Sunday's opener while Jake Kolasinski paced all hitters over the course of the series, hitting .455 with two extra-base knocks.

Juan Bowers paces the Rangers at the plate, sporting a .319 batting average on the season with five RBIs. Kolasinski is hitting .298 with five RBIs while Zach Cunningham has belted in a team-high eight runs.

On the mound, Kroncke leads the squad with a 3.15 earned run average, having tossed 20 innings this season. Josh Serio owns a team-best 21 strikeouts, logging a team-high 25 1/3 innings while Mario Samuel is close behind with 17 punchouts on the year.

About the Greyhounds: Indianapolis (9-11, 5-3 GLVC) has a midweek clash with non-conference foe Oakland City University before hosting the Rangers.

UIndy began GLVC play by stealing three of four on the road at the expense of UMSL before splitting last week's games at home against league newcomer Truman State University. The Hounds fell 10-5 to the Bulldogs to begin the day last Saturday before edging the visitors 10-9 in the nightcap for a split. Truman seized game one on Sunday 7-5 before UIndy pounded the Bulldogs 11-1 to finish off the weekend.

Alex Ritchie is the Hounds leading hitter, sporting a .489 batting average. Zach Jacobs is hitting .389 with 10 extra base hits, Joe Trennepohl hits .310 on the year while Kenny Mahala has driven in a team-leading 16 runs.

On the mound, Matthew Kaplanis leads the team in earned run average (1.41), strikeouts (24), innings pitched (32) and starts (five) while Jordan Tackett has a 3.70 ERA with a team-leading two complete games.

Ober-bummer: After logging 15 home games in 2012, the Rangers have played just four home games since at Oberbrunner Field. UW-Parkside played its first 30 games on the road last season before playing the final four games at home against Saint Joseph's College and has currently played its first 15 games of 2014 on the road.

Streaking: Juan Bowers saw his hitting streak come to a halt on Saturday in game one against UMSL, snapping the streak at 10 straight games. Jake Kolasinski now owns the longest active hitting streak at five games.

Battle for Wisconsin: The Badger State's only two scholarship baseball programs will meet on Tuesday, Apr. 22 at Simmons Field in Kenosha when the Rangers square off against the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. First pitch for the single game is slated for 6 p.m.