March 16, 2007

Box Score

HONOLULU, Hawaii - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team took a quick early lead, only to see the University of Hawaii plate three unearned runs in the fifth inning en route to a 9-2 victory on Friday night. The Rainbows (16-8) scored four more in the seventh to break it open and extend the Panthers (0-10) losing streak.

"Robert (Michalkiewicz) came out and gave us another solid start on a night when he didn't have his best stuff. He came out and really battled," UWM head coach Scott Doffek said. "But, once again on offense, we were unable to take advantage early in the game when opportunities presented themselves."

Milwaukee trailed 4-2 in the seventh but started a rally by loading the bases with just one out. Walks to sophomore Dan Buchholz and juniors Grant Berkovitz and Jesse Hart in the inning put the go-ahead run on base, but Rainbow reliever Jayson Kramer recorded a strikeout and induced a ground ball to end the threat.

Errors hurt UWM's cause once again, as two miscues in the fifth inning allowed all three runs in the frame to come across the plate unearned. Senior Robert Michalkiewicz (0-3) had scattered five hits to that point, giving up just one earned run in the fourth. He ended the night with 6.0 innings of work, allowing five earned while striking out three.

UH counterpart Ian Harrington (4-4) evened his record, allowing two earned runs on seven hits in 5.1 innings, striking out six. Kramer went on to earn the save with 2.2 scoreless frames.

The Panthers took an early lead in the top of the first, as Berkovitz led off the game with a line drive single and was driven in by Hart's double to the left field gap. It was 4-1 in the sixth when UWM scored again, getting a sacrifice fly from junior Troy Vesling to make it 4-2 at the time. His fly ball scored sophomore Andy Hetebrueg, who had doubled to open the inning.

Hart and Vesling each led the way with identical 2-for-3, one RBI performances. Justin Frash and Kris Sanchez each had four hits to pace Hawaii.

These two teams will be back at it on Saturday, playing a doubleheader with a first game scheduled to start at 6:05 p.m. CST at Les Murakami Stadium.