The Platteville varsity baseball team suffered a 7-1 setback to visiting River Valley last Tuesday evening, but rebounding with back-to-back wins over Southwest Wisconsin Conference foes Richland Center, 4-1, and Prairie du Chien, 8-1, on Friday night to regain sole possession of first place in the SWC.
     With Thursday and Friday’s win the Hillmen improved to 7-2 in league, a half game ahead of River Valley (7-3) and 7-4 overall.
     “I am extremely pleased with our position with 6 conference games to play. We have to be careful not to look by anybody,” said Hillmen head coach Chuck Smet. “We have taken the approach of one at a time, not looking too far ahead. We will just take one pitch at a time, and see what happens. Pitching and defense has gotten us to this place, we will continue to improve as all teams are getting better.”
     Friday night the Hunter Johnston (2x4), Nick Tashner (2x2) and Jesse White (2x3) combined for six of Platteville’s nine hits and scored half of the team’s runs in an 8-2 win over perennial SWC champion Prairie du Chien, which has won or shared the last seven conference titles.
     The Hillmen have now beaten the Blackhawks in consecutive meetings after 12 straight losses to Prairie, a streak that dated back to the 2008 season.
     “I was very, very pleased with the way we played, Friday night,” added Smet. “Prairie has always been a very tough place for us to play over the years.  As I told the team after the game that’s two in a row against them.”
     Senior Logan Emendorfer (4-3) picked up the win allowed just two runs in the final inning, while striking out six for the game.
     Fellow Gaige Lueder was even more efficient in Platteville’s 4-1 victory over Richland Center on Thursday. Lueder didn’t allow an earned run in seven innings and surrendered just four hits in the complete game victory. He struck out six, walked five and helped his own cause with a 2-for-3 night at the plate, which included an RBI single in the first inning.
     This past Monday night Platteville (7-5 overall) dropped a non-conference game to Mineral Point, 9-7. No other information was available at press time.

River Valley 7, Platteville 1
(from Tuesday, May 1 @ Platteville)
River Valley    030    300    1    -   7   8  0
Platteville        000    001    0    -   1   5  4
Leading hitters - RV: Jacobson 3x4. W - Brey (6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 5 SO, 3 BB). L - Logan Emendorfer (3-3, 5 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 2 SO, 1 BB).

Platteville 4, Rich. Center 1
(from Thursday, May 3 @ Platteville)
Richland Center    000    000    1    -   1   3  3
Platteville              010    020    x    -   4   6  3
Leading hitters - RC: Breier 2x4; P: Gaige Lueder 2x3. 2B - RC: Schmidt. W - Gaige Lueder (2-1, 7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 6 SO, 5 BB). L - Sosinsky (6 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 11 SO, 3 BB).

Platteville 8, Prairie du Chien 2
(from Friday, May 4 @ Prairie du Chien)
Platteville              012    131    0    -   8   9  1
Prairie du Chien    000    000    2    -   2   7  0
Leading hitters - Pla: Hunter Johnston 2x4, Nick Tashner 2x2, Jesse White 2x3; PdC: Mezera 2x3. 2B - PdC: Roach. W - Logan Emendorfer (4-3, 7 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 6 SO, 1 BB). L - Mezera (7 IP,  9 H, 8 ER, 3 SO, 7 BB).

Mineral Point 9, Platteville 7
(from Monday, May 7 @ Platteville)
Mineral Point    000    000    0    -   9   ?  ?
Platteville          000    000    0    -   7   ?  ?
Stats unavailable at press time