May 26, 2006

Box Score

FAIRBORN, Ohio - The battle of No. 1 versus No. 2 in the Horizon League Baseball Tournament lived up to its billing for the first five innings, as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and UIC battled through five lead changes and one tie. Unfortunately for the UWM, the rest of the game was not as kind, as UIC (35-19) scored nine unanswered runs to end the Panthers (32-25) season with a 14-6 victory.

"We played hard and did some special things as a team this season," UWM assistant head coach Scott Doffek said. "Unfortunately, we just couldn't put it together when we needed to in this game."

Milwaukee jumped to a quick 3-0 lead on Flames starter Zach Peterson, only to see UIC answer with four runs in the third to take the 4-3 lead. The teams traded punches and leads in each of the next four at-bats, with the Panthers holding a 6-5 advantage after the top of the fifth.

Senior Joe Nowicki opened the fifth with a single and moved to second when junior Rob Brockel walked. A fielder's choice scored one run before junior Kyle Silver's sacrifice fly turned a 5-5 deadlock into a 6-5 UWM lead.

The momentum of the game changed in the bottom of the fifth when UIC's Ted Rosinksi hit a two-run home run over the scoreboard in right field, giving the Flames the 7-6 lead - an advantage they would not relinquish the rest of the way. The Flames opened the game up with four runs in the bottom of the seventh, taking a 12-6 lead at that point.

The Panthers tagged Peterson (9-3) for a season-high six earned runs, but the First Team All-Horizon League choice settled down and gave his team what it needed. He got stronger as the game wore on, retiring the final 11 batters in order. He finished with seven strikeouts and a season-high three walks, after walking just nine batters in nearly 100 innings coming into the game.

On the mound for the Panthers, senior starter Aaron Sorenson (5-4) took the loss, allowing 10 hits and recording one strikeout in five complete innings.

Milwaukee ended with nine hits in the game, getting two hits each from senior Mike Goetz, Nowicki and Brockel.

Goetz concludes his historic season with a .493 average, currently leading the nation in the category by 25 points. He finishes with UWM season records in batting average, on-base percentage (.579), hits (111), doubles (23), triples (6-tie), total bases (155) and walks (41-tie). He nearly added the runs scored standard as well, scoring 67 runs on the season to miss the mark of 68 by just one.

"I don't know if words can explain what we had the opportunity to watch day-in and day-out this season," Doffek said in reference to Goetz. "That was just a special season for him."

The Panthers season concludes at 32-25, their most victories since they posted 36 during the 2002 campaign.