BB: WIAC: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[badgerwarhawk]

Three pitchers from Whitewater's 2025 National Championship squad have transferred to the DI level, following in the footsteps of former teammate Michael Hilker (Arizona):

Cade Hansen -----> Baylor
Logan Eisenbarth ----> Florida Gulf Coast
Jack Hagen ----> Butler

I'd pretty much figured Hansen and Eisenbarth were likely candidates for the portal but Hagen was a surprise.  I hope they all do well and find a spot they like. It really hurts though. Pitching was going to be a strength next year and now the starting rotation is decimated. I've got a feeling we're going to be relying on some young pitchers. 

[tomt4525]

https://athletics.uwsp.edu/news/2025/8/20/haupt-returns-to-uwsp-as-assistant-baseball-coach.aspx

New assistant coach for UWSP is a familiar name.  Former Pointer player Zack Haupt is back in Stevens Point.  In his short time as an assistant coach after his playing days, has an impressive resume.

[cubs]

A couple WIAC arms have committed to D1 schools from the portal...

Michael Hilker Jr to Arizona
Tyler Schmitt to Illinois
Mason Weckler to UW Milwaukee

Thought for sure that I had already mentioned this, but it appears not... 

Hard to argue with Hilker and Schmitt transferring to a couple of Power 4 schools, as they were also able to parlay those transfers into also being selected in the 2025 MLB Amateur Draft.

Schmitt went in the 17th Round to the San Diego Padres while Hilker went in the 20th Round to the Minnesota Twins.  Congrats to both former All-WIAC Pitchers!

It will be interesting to see if any of the trio of Hansen/Hagen/Eisenbrath can duplicate the feat with all of them also transferring to a D1 school this offseason.

[cubs]

Tough start to the season for the defending 2025 National Champion as Whitewater travels to San Antonio and drops three out of four games vs Trinity.  They won the opener 6-2 and then lost the final three by scores of 12-1, 5-4, and 6-5. 

Whitewater actually held a 4-0 after six innings in the series finale, but then gave up two in the 7th, three in the 8th to tie it, and then got walked off in the 9th.  This was after falling behind early in Game #3 of the series only to tie it up 4-4 before Trinity scored the eventual game winning run in the 8th inning.  Game #2 could be described with just one word... U-G-L-Y!

I have a feeling that despite all of the pitching that transferred out, people around the WIAC might not want to get their hopes up just yet.  The duo of Gradin Taschner and Theo Zeidler are going to cause some headaches for opposing hitters this season.

[cubs]

Stout also opened the season over the weekend, however things didn't go well...  Pitchers combined to give up 26 runs while the offense tallied just a single run while being swept in a DH by Coe, by 11-0 and 15-1 scores.