March 28, 2008

Box Score

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Senior Jesse Hart and junior Ben Long combined for six hits and nine runs batted in to lead the way for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team Friday, as it defeated Butler University, 20-10, in Horizon League action at Bulldog Park. The Panthers (4-15, 1-3 Horizon) recorded a season-high 24 hits and got a strong start from junior Brad Lusti to beat the Bulldogs (4-13, 2-2 Horizon) for the third-straight time in the series.

Hart collected three hits and tied his career-high with four runs batted in. Long drove in the first four runs of the day for Milwaukee, finishing with three hits and five runs driven in. Every starter had at least one hit and scored a run in the game. The 20 runs scored were the most for Milwaukee since plating 26 against Chicago State during April of the 2006 season.

"I thought we did a great job of executing the offensive game plan and we did not throw any at-bats away," UWM head coach Scott Doffek said. "At this time of the year, the guys have dealt with so much adversity on and off the field that it was great to see them swing the bats like this. Hopefully we can continue to build on this, gain some confidence and feed off this momentum into the doubleheader tomorrow."

Lusti (2-2) earned the victory with 7.0 innings of work, scattering 11 hits in allowing three earned runs. He struck out six and walked two in his start.

"He (Lusti) wasn't as sharp as he has been this year, but did do a good job of putting up ones [on the scoreboard] instead of crooked numbers," Doffek said. "He kept the momentum in our dugout. This was a great team win - for us to get 24 hits we did something right."

The Panthers scored first, plating a run in the second on Long's RBI-single to center field. Butler returned the favor in the third to make it 1-1 before the Panther bats would erupt, starting in the fourth.

It was Long again in the fourth, closing out a two-out rally with his second home run of the season to left field after senior Troy Vesling and junior Andy Hetebrueg singled with two outs and nobody on base.

UWM put up crooked numbers in each of the next five innings, plating four in the fifth, two in the sixth, five in the seventh, two in the eighth and three more in the ninth.

Hart had a two-run double in the sixth and added a run-scoring single in the seventh after junior Andy Gerhartz plated two more with a double to the left field wall.

In addition to Hart and Long, senior Nick Wichser and Gerhartz also had a team-high three hits. Wichser went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI to extend his hitting streak to 11 games, while Gerhartz was 3-for-6 with three runs scored and two runs batted in.

Vesling and Hetebrueg each chipped in with two hits, as did freshman Doug Dekoning, who was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two driven in after subbing in during the seventh inning. Freshman Cuyler Franzke also had a nice outing on the mound, facing the minimum in his 1.2 innings of work to end the game.

These two teams return to action Saturday to close out the weekend series with a doubleheader. Game one is scheduled for an 11 a.m. CST start.