May 25, 2007

Box Score

CHICAGO, Ill. - Junior Dan Luczak threw a complete game shutout to lead the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team to a 9-0 victory over Youngstown State in an elimination game Friday afternoon in the Horizon League Tournament. The Panthers (25-31) beat the Penguins (19-37) for the second time in the event and will advance to play Saturday.

Luczak (4-7) pitched a gem, scattering eight hits in his nine innings of work. He struck out one in his first shutout in a Panther uniform. The shutout was the first of the league tournament this year and the first for Milwaukee since beating these same Penguins, 3-0, April 15.

"Danny (Luczak) didn't have his best stuff but he kept the ball down and we got some critical double plays when we needed them," UWM head coach Scott Doffek said. "He really minimized their offense and threw a shutout ... what else can you say?"

Milwaukee got all the runs they would need in the second inning, scoring the first run of the game innocently enough after junior Grant Berkovitz led off with a double. YSU starter Corey Vukovic then threw senior Ross McCoy's sacrifice bunt attempt down the right field line, allowing McCoy to advance all the way to third and Berkovitz to score. McCoy then came home on sophomore Shawn Wozinak's ground out to make it 2-0.

That would be all Luczak would need, getting help from his defense every time the Penguins would put runners on base. He induced a bases loaded double play in the fifth inning and twin-killings with one out and runners at first and second in both the sixth and eighth innings.

"Our defense made some huge plays all game, especially with the double plays," Doffek said. "And those are huge because, in the middle part of the game when it was 5-0, if we don't turn those double plays they creep back into it and make it a ballgame."

Junior Jesse Hart would make it 3-0 in the third, sending the first pitch he saw off the left field foul pole for his second home run of the tournament and season. Senior Rob Brockel then extended his hitting streak to 19 games, plating sophomore Josh Groves - who had doubled - with a single up the middle to make it 4-0.

The Panthers continued to come through with two outs late in the game to build their advantage, going 6-for-14 in those situations in the game, including run-scoring hits from Wozniak in the fifth, McCoy in the in the seventh and a two-out double from Groves in the eighth that plated two more and closed out the scoring.

Hart finished with a game-high three hits, while Groves (two hits) and Wichser (one hit) both extended their hitting streaks to 15 games. Berkovitz recorded two hits and scored twice and Wozniak had two runs batted in. John Koehnlein and Erich Diedrich each had two hits to lead YSU.

The Panthers continue tournament action Saturday morning, as they will take on the loser of tonight's UIC versus Wright State match-up that pits the No. 2 seeded Raiders against host and No. 1 seeded Flames.

That game will be played at 11 a.m. Saturday at Les Miller Field and will once again be an elimination contest, with the winner gaining a berth in the tournament championship.