March 19, 2004

Box Score

BRADENTON, FLA. - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team overcame some adverse obstacles to split its first two games on its annual spring break trip here Friday (Mar. 19). The jetlagged Panthers fell to the University of Massachusetts 11-5 in the 9:00 a.m. opener before bouncing back to defeat Bucknell 7-6 in the nightcap. With the split, UWM moves to 3-5 on the young campaign.

The Panthers took the field versus UMass after spending all day and all Thursday night travelling before finally reaching Bradenton at 5:00 Friday morning. UWM then ate breakfast and headed to the field for the early start versus UMass. The affects obviously showed as the Minutemen scored four first inning runs en route to the 11-5 victory.

Frank Curreri got the Minutemen off on the right foot when he drove a Ben Stanczyk pitch out of the park for a first inning grand slam. Stanczyk, UWM's ace, never could find his rhythm as he allowed eight runs on nine hits with three strikeouts in five innings of work. The righthander suffered the loss, his first defeat as a collegian.

Milwaukee notched nine hits in the seven-inning game while being aided by three Minutemen errors. Matt Alexander continued his torrid hitting, going 2-3 with an RBI. Shane Davis added two hits while Brooks Graff and Steve Sanfilippo each added base hits and RBI's.

The resiliant Panthers turned right around in the early afternoon and held off a solid Bucknell squad for a 7-6 win in the second game of the day. Korey Keller moved to 2-0 on the young season as he struck out six while allowing four earned runs in 5.1 innings. Jed Dolske continued to excel out of the bullpen as the righthander earned his third save of the season, this time allowing one unearned run while striking out two in 3.2 innings of work.

UWM pounded out 14 hits to Bucknell's 12, including five doubles. Five different batters notched two base hits on the day, with Graff adding two RBI on one base hit. Alexander improved his hitting streak to a season-long eight games thanks to a 2-5 showing. Shortstop Steve Sanfilippo added two hits on the game as did Davis, Zak Rivera, and outfielder Joe Nowicki.

The Panthers will return to action Saturday (Mar. 20) with a 2:00 p.m. contest with Indiana University. The IU contest will be UWM's third out of six in the Sunshine State.