April 11, 2004

Box Score

INDIANAPOLIS, IND. - Aaron Bushong couldn't wait to get to Horizon League play. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee pitcher, who has struggled against non-league foes in 2004, pitched 6.2 innings of no-hit ball while leading UWM to a 6-2 victory over Butler University in the final of a four-game weekend series here Sunday (Apr. 11). Bushong (2-3) allowed just one hit in seven shutout innings to help the Panthers split the four game series. Milwaukee is now 10-13 overall and 2-2 in the league while Butler is 13-17 overall and 2-2 in the loop.

"We threw Ben Stanczyk yesterday so we thought we would try to get four or five innings out of Aaron today," UWM assistant coach Cory Bigler said. "But we obviously got a lot more than that so it worked out perfectly. Bushong pitched great and we got two innings out of Stanczyk. It really worked out well."

UWM wasted little time scoring and took a 1-0 lead after one inning. Matt Curran led off the game with a single and moved to second on a Brooks Graff base hit. Charlie Reschke moved both runners over with a sacrifice bunt which led to an RBI sacrifice fly by Stanczyk. Both pitchers kept the offenses at bay for the next four innings before Milwaukee added a second run in the sixth. Zak Rivera and Ross McCoy notched one-out singles before Robert Michalkiewicz drove home Rivera with an RBI base hit.

Meanwhile, the righty Bushong kept the Butler hitters off balance, blanking the hosts through seven innings. The senior had a no-hitter going into the seventh before a two-out Justin McKinley double ended Bushong's no-hit bid. The Rhinelander native allowed just one hit and three walks with two strikeouts in his seven shutout innings.

The Panther offense, which rapped out 17 hits on the day, put the game out of reach with four more runs in the final two innings. Michalkiewicz and Sam Jansen both singled with two outs before Michalkiewicz scored on a throwing error by Butler's third basemen. Stanczyk then added the icing on the cake in the ninth when he blasted his team-leading fifth-home run of the season, a two-run, ninth-inning shot. Luke Behning (1-6) took the loss for Butler as he allowed two earned runs and 11 hits in 8.0 innings of work.

Milwaukee will head to Omaha, Neb., on Wednesday (Apr. 14) for a doubleheader with Creighton University. UWM will then finally open the home portion of its schedule when the league-leading Flames of UIC come to town for a four-game weekend series beginning on Friday (Apr. 16).