April 17, 2005

Box Score

CHICAGO, Ill. - Trailing 14-7 in the ninth inning, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team rallied for four runs, but it was not enough as the Panthers fell, 14-11, to Illinois-Chicago, Sunday afternoon in Chicago. It was the series finale for these two teams, as UWM (14-15, 5-3 Horizon) UIC (17-14-1, 3-5 Horizon) split the four-game series.

Junior Joe Nowicki led off the ninth inning with an infield single and was followed by a pinch-hit double by freshman Jesse Hart. Two batters later, senior Blake Kangas pulled Milwaukee within four with a three-run home run. After back-to-back singles, junior Mike Goetz plated another run with a single up the middle. A strike out and ground out killed the Panther threat.

Milwaukee had held a 3-0 lead after scoring a single run in each of the first three innings, before UIC rallied for five runs in the third and three runs in the fourth to go ahead 8-3. Five-straight Flames reached base in the third before a sacrifice fly by Jeff Gremley. In the fourth, UIC struck for five hits and another sac fly for a five-run lead.

The Panthers struck for four runs in the fifth to pull within one at 8-7, before the Flames set the lead back at five with four runs of their own in the bottom half of the frame. Junior Zak Rivera led off the frame with a solo home run and, two batters later, sophomore Nick Wichser hit another solo shot for UWM. Freshman Grant Berkovitz plated two more runs with a two-out double.

UWM and UIC combined for 25 runs on 33 hits in the slugfest, while the Panthers slugged three home runs to the Flames' one. Rivera picked up three hits, including his second home run of the series, to lead six Panthers with multiple hits. Ted Rosinski paced the home team, finishing 3-for-5 with five RBIs.

On the mound, junior Korey Keller (3-3) took the loss, allowing 11 hits and eight runs in four innings of work. He also struck out three and walked two in his first loss in four decisions. Junior Jed Dolske als threw two innings, allowing six runs, while sophomore Rob Brockel contributed two solid innings to close out the game. The Purdue transfer allowed just one hit, while striking out two on the day.

Four Flames combined on the win, with John Foster (5-5) picking up the win in relief. Foster threw four innings, allowing six runs, before giving way to Scott Saling, who retired the final two batters for his first save of the season.

Milwaukee returns to action with a doubleheader at Creighton on Wednesday (April 20) at 2:05 p.m. Next weekend Cleveland State comes to town for a four-game league series (April 22-24) at Henry Aaron Field. The Panthers and Vikings kick off the series on Friday with a single game, starting at 7 p.m.

Notes: Joe Nowicki extended his team-best hitting streak to 12 games with an infield single in the ninth inning ... He has now collected a hit in each game he has played in April ... Jeremy Wilson was ejected in the ninth inning for arguing.