April 29, 2008

Box Score

MILWAUKEE - Junior Tim Hoy struck out a career-high seven batters and allowed just one earned run but the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team dropped a 5-3 decision to Northern Illinois University Tuesday at Henry Aaron Field. The Panthers (14-27) rallied late to bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning against the Huskies (20-21), but it was not enough for Milwaukee, which lost for the first time at home this season.

NIU scored four runs in the decisive third inning, helped along by three Panther errors that led to three of the four runs scoring an unearned. That put a damper on an otherwise nice day for the staff, as four pitchers combined to strike out 10 Huskies on the day.

"One big inning did us in," UWM head coach Scott Doffek said. "A couple of physical mistakes turned into a crooked number and conditions were pretty tough to score runs with the wind blowing in. We really hit the ball well today and had nothing to show for it."

The Panthers trailed 5-1 in the ninth before staging a final rally. Senior Nick Wichser was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame and scored two outs later on senior Troy Vesling's home run to left field. Junior Josh Groves gave the team another base-runner with a single, but NIU closer Andy Deain came on to get the final out for his fifth save of the season.

Hoy (1-4) suffered the tough-luck loss, allowing the one earned run and recording those seven K's in 6.0 innings of work. More impressively, he did not walk a batter in his start.

"Other than the one inning, he (Hoy) did a good job," Doffek said. "It was just the one bad inning, which has been our mantra all year. We have one bad inning or a mental lapse here or there that has been costing us the ball game. That is really exactly what happened again today."

Matt Jernstad (2-4) picked up the win with a career-best 8.2 inning-outing, allowing three runs, walking three and striking out five.

Milwaukee broke up the shutout bid in the seventh, as junior Shawn Wozniak scored on a wild pitch after getting on base with a double.

Offensively, Milwaukee managed just five hits, led by Groves, who was 2-for-4. Senior Jesse Hart (17 games) and Wozniak (11 games) both extended their hitting streaks.

The Panthers get no time off, heading to Illinois tomorrow to take on Northwestern in a single game starting at 3 p.m.