March 30, 2004

Box Score

LINCOLN, NEB. - In a season of 50-plus games there are bound to be some stinkers. Unfortunately for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team one such stinker took place here Tuesday (March 30)as the Panthers fell 10-0 to No. 20 University of Nebraska at Hawks Field. The red-hot Panther bats were held in check by three different Husker hurlers while NU scored 10 runs on 12 basehits. UWM dropped to 7-9 overall with the loss while Nebraska improved to 17-5 on the campaign.

The Huskers took advantage of some early wildness by UWM starter Korey Keller and scored four runs in the first three innings en route to the 10-0 blanking. Nebraska scored two first inning runs thanks to two hits, two hit batsmen, a walk, and a wild pitch. The hosts added another run in the second when Colin Shockey singled, moved to second on a passed ball and then third on a wild pitch before scoring on a Daniel Bruce base hit. NU added an unearned run in the fourth when Beau Sullivan doubled, advanced to third on rightfielder Brooks Graff's error, and scored on a Braden Keith base knock.

Keller settled down after that and got seven of the next eight batters before getting into a litte trouble in the sixth. Meanwhile the UWM offense was stone cold, thanks to the left arm of starter Justin Pekarek. The Husker starter held the Panthers hitless through six innings with the only blemish being a Sullivan error in the first inning. Pekarek struck out seven Panther batters in his six innings while facing one over the mininum.

Nebraska took a 4-0 lead into the sixth inning before breaking the game open with a four-run frame. With one out, freshman Tyler Vaughn singled up the middle and moved to second when Colin Schockey was hit by a pitch. NU then attempted a double steal and both moved up a base when Jeremy Wilson's throw ended up in right field. Following a strikeout, Jeremy Leibfried replaced Keller and was then rudely greeted with a first-pitch, two-run home run off the bat Alex Gordon. NU added solo runs in the seventh and eighth to push the eventual final score to 10-0.

Milwaukee managed to avoid being no-hit thanks to a solid single to right field by Ben Stanczyk in the seventh. The hit came off of Tim Schoeninger who worked two innings in relief of Pekarek. UWM couldn't muster anything else offensively the rest of the day as the three NU hurlers combined to face two batters over the minimum. Pekarek improved to 4-0 with the victory while Keller dropped to 2-1 on the season.

The two teams will be right back at it on Wednesday (March 31) with the first pitch slated for 1:05 p.m.