April 30, 2002

Box Score

EVANSTON, Ill. - UWM scored four times in the top of the first inning and held on for a 6-5 win over Northwestern Tuesday afternoon.

Cory Kleeba (2-1) worked five innings of relief, allowing just two runs on three hits, to claim the win. Matt Freisleben surrendered a two-run home run in the ninth but closed out the inning for his seventh save.

David Michna extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a 3-for-4 effort to lead UWM. Dave Pudlosky, the Horizon League Player of the Week, went 2-for-4 with two RBI while Steve Guden and Troy Doering also added two hits apiece for the Panthers.

UWM (19-14) won for the eighth time in its last nine tries and moved to 6-1 in one-run games during a stretch that has seen the Panthers win 15 of 19 contests.

Dan Pohlman (2-2) took the loss for Northwestern (17-21), which had won eight of 10 entering the contest.

UWM's big first inning started with a Troy Doering single and stolen base. Adam Christ drove him in with a single to center before stealing second and scoring on a Michna single. A Pudlosky double drove in another run before he scored the fourth run of the inning on an error.

Northwestern chipped away at the lead with single runs in the second, third and sixth, but UWM appeared to put the game away with two more runs in the ninth. Ben Beno and Doering recorded back-to-back singles, then moved to second and third on a sacrifice bunt. Pudlosky drove in Beno with a single to center and Guden drove in the other run with a fielder's choice.

The Wildcats pulled back to within a run on a one-out, two-run home run by Jason Krynski, but Freisleben recorded the final two outs sandwiched around a single to wrap up the win for the Panthers.

UWM returns to action Thursday afternoon, hosting UW-Parkside in a 3 p.m. doubleheader.