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

UPDATE 3/27: The weekend series has been shifted to Louisville, Kentucky and will be a Sunday-Monday series due to inclement weather in southeast Wisconsin

SOMERS, Wis. (Mar. 26, 2015)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside baseball team opens up divisional play this weekend, closing out its homestand against Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division rival Bellarmine University at Simmons Field.
 
The Rangers and Knights begin the series on Saturday with a doubleheader getting underway at noon and return to the diamond the following day with another twinbill starting at noon. All four games will be played at historic Simmons Field, home of the Northwoods League Kenosha Kingfish.
 
About the Rangers: UW-Parkside (4-7, 3-5 GLVC) secured a series split last weekend against Rockhurst University in the "home" opener that was moved down the road from Oberbruner to the artificial turf at Carthage College's Augie Schmidt Field.
 
The visiting Hawks stole a pair of games on the opening day on Friday, prevailing 5-3 and 7-5 before the Rangers even the score on Saturday, receiving stellar pitching performances from starters Mario Samuel and Tyler Jandron, securing 2-1 and 2-0 wins to level the series.
 
The Rangers led 1-0 in Friday's opener but the Hawks pushed across the next four runs en route to the 5-3 win. In game two, Rockhurst plated the opening seven runs, including four in the sixth inning and survived a furious comeback attempt by the Rangers, holding on for the 7-5 win. The Rangers plated five runs in the sixth inning and had the bases loaded before reliever Alex Merithew induced a flyout to escape the inning and preserve the win for RU.
 
On Sunday, RBI singles from Ryan Ruediger and Zach Thompson gave the hosts a 2-0 lead after four innings in game one. Mario Samuel claimed the win, tossing the first 5 2/3 innings before giving way to John Perez who recorded the final four outs of the contest to collect the save in the 2-1 win.
 
In game two, freshman Tyler Jandron tossed a complete game shutout, striking out nine in the 2-0 win to secure the doubleheader sweep. Both Ranger runs came in the third inning with a Zach Thompson double scoring Troy Bittenbender before a Jake Kolasinski sacrifice bunt scored Thompson for the game's final score.
 
Five Rangers are hitting above .300 on the season with Bittenbender leading the way with a .357 average and a team-best .571 slugging percentage. The redshirt freshman has scored a team-high 13 runs this season while claiming six stolen bases. Kolasinski and DJ Peltz are hitting at an identical .333 clip and share the team leading in RBIs with nine on the year. Nick Janssen has a .313 average while Ryan Ruediger is batting .310.
 
On the mound, Tyler Jandron and John Perez both own a 2.45 earned run average to pace the pitching staff. Jandron has 14 strikeouts in 14 2/3 innings of action, making two starts for the Green and White while Perez has seven strikeouts in four relief appearances with one save. Josh Serio leads the team in innings pitched, tossing 20 2/3 innings and striking out 27.
 
About the Knights: Bellarmine (9-9, 3-5 GLVC) won six of seven games before running into a buzzsaw in Quincy, Illinois, dropping all four games last weekend against Quincy University.
 
The Knights took three games from Maryville University to open up GLVC play, suffering a 3-1 setback in the opener on Mar. 15 before coming away with 7-5, 4-2, and 5-3 wins to secure the series victory. Last weekend in Quincy, the host Hawks scraped up 4-1 and 2-1 wins on Saturday before rolling to 4-0 and 10-6 wins on Sunday to complete the sweep of Bellarmine.
 
Cole Metcalfe is the Knights' top hitter with at least 50 at-bats, owning a .322 batting average with 14 RBIs. Austin Crutcher carries a .321 average with seven doubles and 11 RBIs, while scoring 15 runs and claiming 10 stolen bases.
 
On the bump, Michael Messier has been lights out, having yet to allow a run in 6 1/3 innings of work. Ben Fuchs owns a 2.28 earned run average, striking out 18 in 23 2/3 innings of work while Eddie Mathis has pitched a team-leading 28 2/3 innings with 22 punchouts.
 
Looking Ahead: UW-Parkside will capitalize on its spring break next week by playing seven games in Illinois over a four-day stretch. The week begins on Wednesday against arch rival Lewis University with a twinbill in Romeoville, Illinois before facing non-conference foe Saint Xavier University in a single game the following day in Chicago.
 
The Rangers head further downstate for a Friday twinbill against GLVC East rival McKendree University and cap off the trip with another doubleheader against the Bearcats on Saturday in Lebanon to close the week.