April 23, 2009

Box Score

MILWAUKEE - Junior Tim Patzman finished a triple short of the cycle and scored a pair of runs to lead the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to a 7-3 victory over Cardinal Stritch University Thursday at Henry Aaron Field. The Panthers (16-19) used a five-run second inning to take control against the Wolves (6-39), as six UWM pitchers combined to limit the opposition to just five hits while striking out 13 batters on the day.

Patzman hit his league-leading eighth home run to deep right field to start the second, as Milwaukee plated five runs in the frame on five hits. Sophomore Cole Kraft drove in one with a bases-loaded single, followed by a double down the left field line from senior Andy Gerhartz that scored two more. Junior Dan Buchholz also had an RBI on a sacrifice fly in the rally.

"Today there were some tough conditions to play in, it was a real tough day to hit," Milwaukee head coach Scott Doffek said. "I give their guys a lot of credit ... they threw strikes and made all of the plays. I thought we swung the bats pretty well. There were several times during the game where we had a chance to come up with a two-out hit and kind of bust it open and we could not. To their credit, they made the plays behind him. I was happy with the way we played. Our pitchers came in and threw strikes and we did what we needed to get the `W'."

Junior Gabe Marshall (2-0) picked up the victory, as his planned three-inning outing resulted in one hit, one run and three strikeouts. Junior Nate Caldwell added two strikeouts in his two innings of work. Freshman Greg Blohowiak struck out the side in the sixth and senior Tim Hoy recorded three K's in the four batters he faced.

The Wolves plated single tallies in the third and fourth to make it 5-2 and then struck again in the seventh inning to make it a game at 5-3. The Panthers turned the momentum with two runs in the bottom of the seventh, scoring on another sac fly from Buchholz and a single through the right side off the bat of senior Shawn Wozniak.

Patzman finished 3-for-5 (1B/2B/HR), scoring twice and knocking in a run. Gerhartz (2-for-4, 2 RBI), sophomore Doug Dekoning (2-for-3) and Wozniak (2-for-4) all recorded multi-hit games. Wozniak and senior Johann Andes extended their hitting streak to 11 games. Andy Abromaitis led CSU with two hits.

Milwaukee heads into a big weekend of league play at home, welcoming Youngstown State Saturday and Cleveland State Sunday to the "Hank" for a doubleheader against each team.

"This is a very pivotal week not only for us, but across the league in general," Doffek said. "So we need to go out and play the way we are capable of playing this weekend."