May 21, 2008

Box Score

NILES, Ohio - Freshman Cole Kraft drove in the go-ahead run with a two-out single in the fourteenth inning and sophomore Tim Patzman plated two insurance runs with a double to give the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team a 10-7 victory over Cleveland State University in the opening game of the Horizon League Tournament at Eastwood Field Wednesday afternoon. The Panthers (22-34) opened up a 5-0 lead but needed comeback in the ninth to send it to extra innings against the Vikings (21-30) in what ended as the longest game (14 innings) in the history of the program.

It was also the second-longest tournament game in league history (Dayton and St. Louis played 15 innings in 1990) and saw both teams combine to play 33 different players, collect 32 hits and leave 26 runners on base.

"We are glad to move on and it shows our team that if you are the first guy at bat, or the sixth guy off the bench and haven't played in two weeks, you may be the one winning the game for us," UWM head coach Scott Doffek said. "Cole Kraft came in and got a huge two-out hit for us and then Tim Patzman got a big two-run double."

Two walks and two outs in the 14th set the stage for Kraft, who sent the first pitch he saw for a single to center field. Patzman then followed with a double off the left center field wall, scoring sophomore Shaun Wegner and Kraft in a close play at the plate to make it 10-7.

Senior Adam Ferrell (3-4) threw 6.0 innings to earn the victory, recording four 1-2-3 innings while striking out two. He did allow a run in the ninth, but retired 15 of 17 batters in his final five innings on the mound.

"To play 14 innings on day one is not the way we wanted to draw it up in a double-elimination tournament because pitching is so hard to come by," Doffek said. "You really want to win game one and stay out of that loser's bracket and Adam just really stepped up and gave us the opportunity to win."

Both teams had chances to win late, with Milwaukee threatening virtually every inning before finally getting a run home. The Panthers had a runner on third with one out in the 11th, runners on first and second with no outs in the 12th and runners on second and third with one out in the 13th and stranded all of them.

Tied 5-5 in the bottom of the eighth, Cleveland State pushed a run across to take the lead on Alex Kerins' double. That lead was short-lived, however, as UWM rallied for two in its half of the ninth, plating one on an error on a potential game-ending double play ball and then another when senior John Sarcia came through with a single down the right field line that made it 7-6 at the time. The Vikings then sent it to extra innings on John Brown's RBI-double in the bottom of the frame.

Milwaukee struck fast and furious to start the game, with the first four batters of the contest recording hits, with one coming home on senior Nick Wichser's single and two more on junior Shawn Wozniak double. Wozniak then led off the third with a home run, but that would be all for the offense until late in the game.

CSU starter Josh Hungerman worked through that rough start to settle in and retire 19 consecutive Panther batters after the Wozniak home run until a one-out walk in the ninth. Junior Brad Lusti battled for Milwaukee, giving up three earned runs and no walks in 6.2 innings of work.

UWM collected 14 hits in the contest, the ninth-straight game it has recorded 10 or more hits. Wozniak had three hits, drove in three and scored twice. Hart had three more hits, while Wegner had two. Wichser's single in the first was the 200th hit of his career, making him just the fifth player in school history to reach the mark. Junior Andy Gerhartz had a single and was hit by a pitch twice, upping his league-leading total to 20.

Milwaukee will play tomorrow at either 2 p.m. CST against Wright State or at 6 p.m. CST against UIC. The time and opponent will be determined based on the result of the Valparaiso/Youngstown State game being played right now. Check back later on the UWM website for an update.

UPDATE: With Valparaiso defeating Youngstown State, 3-2, in the second game of the day, UWM will now play Wright State at 2 p.m. CST Thursday.