“Bitter Sweet. We accomplished a lot, but finishing so close is a hard pill to swallow,” senior infielder, Lee Hawkins, said.

On April 29 UW-P and UW-Whitewater split the doubleheader. UW-P defeated UW-W 3-2 in the first game and the Warhawks took game two 5-3.

Photograph by Jodi Krautkramer
The UW-P baseball team split a doubleheader with UW-Whitewater April 29. Pioneers beat the Warhawks 3-2 in game one then lost 5-3. The team ended their season 11-13.

On May 2 the Pioneers played host to the UW- Stevens Point Pointers in a two game series. Once again, the Pioneers split the doubleheader, demolishing the Pointers in the second game 11-1 and UW-SP taking the first 10-1.

May 3 was the same as May 2, the Pioneers and the Pointers split the doubleheader for the second day in a row. UW-P defeated UW-SP 4-2 in the first game but were unable to pull through in the second losing 3-2.

According to the Sports Information Web site, in the second game, senior Joe Lange pitched into the ninth and made WIAC history. He struck out six batters, bringing his career total to 247, tying for fourth all time in the league.

Junior outfielder and first baseman, Steve Bomkamp, has mixed feelings about the end of the season.

“Yea we had one of the best seasons in school history record and statistics wise but at the same time our goal all year was to get into the playoffs and we just missed it,” Bomkamp said.  “We were so close and frankly are a disappointed we couldn’t make that final push into the post-season.”

Even with the disappointment, Bomkamp is still satisfied with all the accomplishments the team has made this season.

“Our disappointment doesn’t take away from what we accomplished however,” Bomkamp said. “We had third most wins in regular season play in school history, Joe Lange moved into the ranks with some of the greatest pitchers to ever play in the league and offensively we put up numbers that I haven’t seen since I have been here.”

Despite the outcome of the season, UW-P’s baseball program is headed in the right direction.

“Getting a taste of success this year really makes us hungry to work harder in the off season and have even more success in the immediate future,” Bomkamp said. “As a senior on next years team, we are going to have the approach of being the best, playing our best, and not settling for anything less.”

UW-P played against UW-Parkside in the first game, Marquette University in the second game and, long time rival, UW-Whitewater in the championship game but was unable to pull through.

Platteville started off sluggish against Parkside but were able to come through in the second half and defeat Parkside by more than 30 points.

“Parkside was in the lead for a little in the first half and in the second half we really pulled everything together and eventually pulled away over Parkside with a convincing win,” Zizzo said.

In the second round of the tournament, UW-P was up against Marquette. Once again, the ruggers had a slow start against the Golden Eagles and were down going into the half. Platteville was able to pull it back together in the second half to defeat Marquette after a 30 point run.

“Our team was faced with a few speedy players from Marquette, but as soon as we caught on to their game plan we started to get good hits again to come out with the win,” senior rugger Conner Wiesner said.

The championship was between rivals UW-P and UW-W where, in the end, Whitewater came out with the win. UW-P was once again down in the first half but were able to pull within five points with five minutes left in the second half.

“At half, we discussed what we needed to do and we went and played at a skill level that was very impressive,” Zizzo said. “During the whole second half we played great. No matter what we did wrong in the first half we really capitalized on it in the second.”

The game ended on a penalty and the sir [referee] stopped the game, giving the win to Whitewater.

“When the lead was within a try [five points] with under five minutes to play, we really started to take it to them [UW-W],” Wiesner said. “We had the ball on their side of the field for all of the last five minutes, and we had three or four good scoring opportunities but couldn’t capitalize on them. The game ended on a couple questionable calls including an illegal one to end the game. The penalty was awarded to us, and the sir stopped the game.”

The ruggers off the bench contributed greatly to the success of the Men’s Rugby Club.

“The biggest impacts were made by some of our subs, like Cody Black, Travis Rudesill and Justin Horack,” Wiesner said. “The ability of our team to have fresh, experienced players in the game who could make an impact was imperative to our success.”

UW-P  hosts the annual Alumni Tournament Saturday, April 25.

“I was disappointed that we didn’t win the tournament, but I think that overall we had an awesome day,” Wiesner said. “Teams know now that we are back and in full-force and I am excited tosee what the future brings for this team.”

“It’s great to be out of the off season in the weight room and on the field again playing football,” Jimmy Spehn, sophomore wide receiver, said.

The Pioneers are allowed to hold a total of 16 practices during the spring season. Practices are held on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays and end May 7.

Photograph by Kate Olsen
The linemen work on their blocking skills in Spring football practice April 14. The Pioneers hold practices on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

Second year defensive coach Nolan Krajco said that spring practices are a great way for the team to get back out on the field after a long off season of weight training.

“It’s a chance for the team to get back out on the field and learn some new techniques and make our fundamentals more sound,” Krajco said. “With spring practices we are able to learn new plays and that allows us to practice more during the regular season; it takes less time to learn implementation if they know it coming into camp and the regular football season.”

Krajco also said that spring practice is a way for the coaches to see how the off season weight training and fundamentals translates onto the field.

“Instead of seeing Xs and Os we get to see the actual plays on the field and how the guys run them,” Krajco said.

Spring practice is also a time for new members who weren’t on last year’s roster to practice with the team and to test out if they have what it takes to be a Pioneer.

“Spring practice also allows us to evaluate the talent of the new guys trying out for the team; we get to see the work in the off season get put onto the field,” Krajco said.

The upcoming 2009 football season looks to be better than the last. Krajco says with spring ball the team hopes to become a better all around team and the

Pioneers look forward to the upcoming season. Camp for the Pioneers begins in August.

“Spring practice allows the team to fine tune our fundamentals”, junior offensive linemen Mike Tharp said. “We get to knock out the rust from the winter and learn new plays and new formations. It also allows us to come together as a team which is something we strive for.”

The UW-P ruggers took the tournament with a 3-0 record by defeating UW-Stevens Point, Ripon and their own B-side squad. The B-side squad didn’t fair so well as they held a 0-3 record losing to Stevens Point, Ripon and the A-side squad.

Sophomore rugger Ross McAbee said his first Mudfest was a great experience for him and the B-side team.

“It was my first Mudfest while on the team and it was an awesome experience,” McAbee said. “B-side put up a good fight against Stevens Point only losing by a kick at the end of regulation. Against Ripon, we had played back- to- back games and ended up losing by a few tries, but I think they were just more rested.”

There is a different story for the A-side squad. Senior back captain Santino Zizzo said he thought Platteville did awesome in the Mudfest Tournament. The ruggers took everything they did in practice and made good use of it, and almost every little thing they had done bad in the past was not shown in any of the games.

“Our defense was stopping everything and our offence was unstoppable,” Zizzo said. We won our first game by 10 or 11 tries to 0 tries. Against Ripon we only allowed a kick at post for 3 points. The only team that scored a try on us the whole day was our B-Side.”

Senior rugger Connor Weisner said Mudfest was a good experience and it was a great way for the younger guys on the team to get their first real taste of what a rugby tournament is really like.

“It seemed like the team, as a whole, meshed very well at practice leading up to Mudfest, and you could tell by both of our teams play,” Wiesner said. “You could tell that they were ready and eager to play as soon as the tournament had started, making solid tackles and hard runs. As soon as they get used to the pace of the game they will be a hard team to beat.”

Mudfest is UW-P’s annual rugby tournament, and was founded in 1995. Mudfest has includes  collegiate teams from all over the state. Each year, Mudfest attracts more and more fans and the team gains notoriety in the eyes of rugby organizations in Wisconsin. Besides having a collegiate tournament this year, there was also a Men’s League tournament that took place at Miners Field.

The UW-P Men’s Rugby Club Alumni team held a 2-0-1 record tying only with the Milwaukee Black and Blues while defeating UW-Oshkosh and UW-Fond Du Lac.

“Having the men’s league teams there to participate at Mudfest was great,” Zizzo said. “It gives our fans a different level of rugby to watch and also it was nice to have the alumni here on Friday to practice with us.”

The number of fans that showed up to watch and support UW-P rugby and Mudfest was outstanding Wiesner said.

“It is great to see all the old faces from all the past years along with all the new ones that come down to see their first rugby match,” Wiesner said. “Next year we hope to expand the tournament to more teams, maybe include some out of state competition and see some new teams that we haven’t played before. It is always something we are working and hoping for.”

The UW-P Men’s Rugby Club plays in the Milwaukee Cup tournament Saturday, April 18 and they are ready to play at full force.

“I think that at the Milwaukee Cup most teams will be shocked to see us competing the way we have,” Zizzo said. “I don’t mean to sound arrogant but I have a lot of faith in the team we have right now and I see us going places.”

The UW-P ruggers hosted UW-Madison March 28 in their first tournament of the semester, Ruck-a-Palooza.

Ruck-a-Palooza is played with UW-P’s B-side team in order to give the younger members some game time and practice. The final score of the tournament was 7-0 in favor of Madison, who also played their B-side team.

Photograph by Anthony Bauer
Pioneers’ Rugby team participated in Ruck-a-Palooza March 28. This is the first of two home UW-P Rugby tournaments. The tournaments bring rugby clubs and enthusiasts from the Tri-state area.

“Even though the B-side lost, they played very well and showed a lot of promise,” Tim Eickholt, senior member, said. “This was one of the most organized B-side teams in Platteville history.”

One thing that really stood out from the match was how dominate the B-sides scrums were Eickholt said.

Madison scored their seven points during the first 40 minutes of play with the second 40 minutes, or second half, of play going back and forth between the two B-side teams, both teams showing good defense.

“I think the B-side has some minor things to work on but overall we played well considering for a lot of guys that it was their first rugby game experience,”

Ross McBee, sophomore rugby member said. “We hope to work on not committing dumb penalties and also meshing as a team this week so we are ready to compete as a B-side at Mudfest”

Santino Zizzo, senior rugby member and forward captain, said 7-0 against UW-Madison is an amazing score considering they are ranked nationally and went to the Midwest playoffs.

The UW-P Men’s Rugby Club will continue their season on Saturday, April 4 in the annual Mudfest Tournament. Both A and B-sides will participate.This year, not only will the collegiate teams be playing, but an addition has been made that will allow men’s rugby leagues to participate in a side tournament as well. Games start at 9 a.m., concessions and apparel will be for sale.