SOMERS, Wis. -- The Wisconsin-Parkside baseball team will conclude the 2017 regular season on Friday and Saturday (May 5-6) when it hosts Bellarmine in a pair of Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheaders at Oberbrunner Field.
The Rangers enter the final weekend attempting to chase down Saint Joseph's for the fourth, and final, spot in the GLVC Tournament. The top four teams from the East and West Division will advance to the GLVC Tournament and Wisconsin-Parkside currently trails the Pumas for the fourth spot in the East Division. Saint Joseph's currently has a 13-11 record in conference, while the Rangers are 10-12 in league play. Wisconsin-Parkside needs to win three games, or sweep, Bellarmine and then needs Southern Indiana to take three of the four games against Saint Joseph's. If both teams conclude the weekend with .500 records the Rangers would secure the final spot in the postseason by virtue of having won the series against the Pumas earlier this season.
Wisconsin-Parkside, which is 16-20 overall, has been led by the tandem of
Kyohei Makita and
Max Widmar. Makita leads the Rangers with a .400 batting average and four home runs, while Widmar is second on the team with a .375 average and also has driven in 27 runs.
Troy Bittenbender (.317),
Kyle Schulz (.308) and
Jake Kolasinski (.306) are also batting above .300 for the Rangers and Kolasinski leads the team with 13 doubles and 31 RBIs.
Nate Stolte has put together an outstanding season on the mound as he a 3-0 record and a 1.99 earned run average.
Nicholas Rana and
Connor Cunningham each have three wins, while
Mario Samuel has recorded a pair of victories for the Rangers.
Bellarmine, which is ranked third in the Midwest Region rankings, is currently 31-15 overall and 18-6 in the GLVC. Zac Wiley is the Knights leading hitter with a .377 batting average with eight homers and 37 RBIs.
Eddie Mathis leads a strong Bellarmine pitching staff as he has posted an 8-2 record with a 2.87 earned run average.
Both doubleheaders will begin at 12 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Saturday will also mark Senior Day for the Rangers as nine Wisconsin-Parkside players will be honored in between games of the doubleheader.
