May 7, 2006

Box Score

MILWAUKEE - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team came from behind on five different occasions on Sunday afternoon, finally edging past Cleveland State by a score of 11-10 in the bottom of the tenth inning at Henry Aaron Field. The Panthers (24-20, 14-10 Horizon) trailed 9-8 in the ninth and 10-9 in the tenth before completing the weekend sweep of the Vikings (8-34, 6-17 Horizon).

Junior Ross McCoy tied the game in the bottom of the ninth inning with a home run to left field, his team-leading 11th of the season. It was McCoy again in the 10th, plating junior Kyle Silver with a sacrifice fly to tie the game before UWM won on a fielding error in sophomore John Sarcia's at-bat.

"Ross (McCoy) came up with a huge home run in the ninth to tie the game," UWM assistant head coach Scott Doffek said. "We just kept battling back. The tough part for (John) Sarcia is that he will go down [in the scorebook] without an RBI because of the error. But, he put a great swing on an 0-2 pitch and good things happen when you put the ball in play."

"Ugly is about the only word I can use to describe all of it, but a win is a win."

Milwaukee had to battle back against the Vikings all day, falling behind 1-0 in the first. Silver had a two-run double in a three-run second inning to make it 3-1, but just as quickly, the lead vanished. The Vikings struck for four runs in the third, three on a home run from Rich Ranells to retake a 5-4 advantage.

UWM plated a run each in the third and fourth innings, getting run-scoring base hits from senior Zak Rivera and McCoy.

Sophomore Jesse Hart's triple in the sixth plated two and gave the Panthers their biggest lead of the day at 7-5. But, CSU added three more - just one earned - in its half of the seventh, helped along by two UWM errors.

The sloppy game featured 12 errors, including a season-high five committed by Milwaukee.

The offense pounded out 13 hits on the day, including six doubles. Silver had his best day in a Panther uniform, finishing with a season-high three hits, four runs and two runs batted in. Goetz added three more hits to extend his current hitting streak to 24 games, while McCoy was 2-for-4 with a team-high three runs batted in. For Cleveland State, John Westra had a team-high three hits and two RBI.

Senior Jed Dolske (3-1) picked up the win in relief, going 2.2 innings. He allowed one run and struck out two. The Panthers also received a quality effort from senior Korey Keller, who relieved junior starter Mike Rauwerdink with three scoreless innings of work. For CSU, Josh Hungerman (0-8) pitched the 10th and took the loss, allowing two runs on one hit, walking two.

UWM returns to action next week Wednesday, traveling to Peoria, Ill., for a doubleheader against Bradley University. Game one is scheduled for a 5 p.m. start time.