April 16, 2005

Box Score

CHICAGO, Ill. - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team rebounded from a 12-2 loss in game one, to win the second game of its doubleheader with Illinois-Chicago, 10-5, Saturday afternoon in Chicago. With the split in the twin bill, the Panthers (14-14, 5-2 Horizon) have now taken two of the first three games in the series with the Flames (16-14-1, 2-5 Horizon).

UWM rebounded quickly from its loss in game one, striking for a pair of runs in the opening inning. Junior Mike Goetz and senior Brooks Graff hit back-to-back singles to lead off the game. Two batters later, junior Joe Nowicki scored Goetz with a single and Graff scored when sophomore Nick Wichser grounded out to second base.

The Panthers made it 5-0 with three more runs in the third inning. Goetz and Graff once again led off the frame with consecutive singles, this time followed by a double from junior Zak Rivera, which scored Goetz. Nowicki grounded out to score Graff, before Wichser reached on an error that scored Rivera.

After UIC got on the board with a single run in the fourth inning, Milwaukee took a 9-1 lead with four runs in the fifth. Wichser stroked a one-out single and senior Charlie Reschke plated him with a two-run home run to left field. Sophomore Ross McCoy then reached on a long single, and scored on a three-base error off the bat of sophomore Matt Curran. Freshman Grant Berkovitz scored Curran with a single to left field. UWM made it 10-1 with another run in the seventh.

UIC threatened in the seventh, scoring four runs to pull within 10-5. After a single and walk led off the inning, Mark Hallberg hit an RBI single anbd Bryan Russo followed with a sacrifice fly. Another single by Larry Gemp and, after a Bart Babineaux double, a ground ball to third each scored runs and proved a scare for the Panthers.

Sophomore Robert Michalkiewicz (2-2) threw UWM's second complete game of the series. The southpaw allowed 10 hits and five runs over seven innings of work, as UIC rallied for four runs on six hits in its final at bat.

At the plate, three players collected two hits, while three others drove in two runs in a balanced offensive attack. Nowicki extended his team-best hitting streak to 11 games with his first-inning single, after a late-inning single in the first game pushed it to 10.

In game one, the Flames batted around in both the fifth and sixth innings to break open a 1-1 game. In the fifth, UIC strung together five-straight RBI hits on its way to six runs in the frame. It was more of the same in the sixth, as the Flames collected five runs on six hits to push their lead to 12-2.

The Panther offense was paced in the opening game by Rivera, who hit his second home run of the year to tie the game at 1-1 in the fourth and finished with two hits. Nowicki drove in UWM's other run with a bloop single in the sixth.

Junior Rick Cavaiani (1-4) suffered the loss, giving up seven runs in five innings of work. The righthander also allowed seven hits and struck out three.

Milwaukee returns to action next weekend (April 22-24), when it hosts Cleveland State in a four-game league series at Henry Aaron Field. The series kicks off with a single game Friday at 7 p.m.