The Pioneer baseball team spent spring break in Fayetteville, N.C. where they played five games. Platteville went 5-0 while outscoring opponents 81-31 and averaging just over 16 runs per game.

So far the Pioneers look strong in the hitting department and solid enough on the mound to win many ball games this season.

To make things even tougher for WIAC baseball teams the conference will be dropping a team in the conference tournament meaning that just three teams will have the opportunity to play in the tournament.

My personal belief is that with just three teams in the tournament the league is making it very difficult for the other schools in the conference to compete with the likes of UW-Whitewater and UW-Stevens Point.

This is such a good conference that my initial reaction to hearing about the fourth team being dropped was that of shock. It seems to me that the more quality baseball teams you have fighting for that tournament title the better off the conference will be.

However not everybody feels the way I do.

I had a chance to talk to senior outfielder Steve Bomkamp and he really does not think one less team really changes the landscape in the WIAC.

“Generally the top three teams make it to the regional anyway with at large bids so really our goals don’t change,” said Bomkamp.

When asked if the new format puts added pressure on the team Bomkamp had this to say.

“Obviously it’s in the back of our minds that our final goal is to make the postseason but there are a lot of games in between now and then and our focus is on winning each game as they come.”

Platteville will be traveling to St. Louis this weekend to play two double-headers against Washington University. The Pioneers make their home debut at 1 p.m. on Thursday, April 1 against Loras at Kendall Murray Field.

Good luck to the Pioneers this season as they embark on what has the makings of being a very exciting spring at UW-Platteville.