April 28, 2009

Box Score: Game 1
Box Score: Game 2

MILWAUKEE - Junior Tim Patzman and freshman Paul Hoenecke each hit three-run home runs to help the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team complete comeback victories in both games of a doubleheader against Northern Illinois Tuesday at Henry Aaron Field. The Panthers (18-19) overcame late deficits in both games against the Huskies (15-27) to win for the twelfth time in their last 15 games and move to 11-1 at home this year. UWM won game one, 5-2, before recording a 6-4 victory in game two to complete the sweep.

Hoenecke's home run turned a 4-3, sixth-inning NIU lead into a 6-3 win for Milwaukee, while Patzman's three-run home run to straightaway center field in the opener broke a 2-2 deadlock and gave the Panthers the 5-2 decision. Senior Craig Meier came on to save both ends of the twinbill to push his season save total to six.

"The home runs were definitely the difference in the games today," UWM head coach Scott Doffek said. "I thought our pitching was not great, we kind of put ourselves in some trouble with leadoff walks and some hit batsmen, but the one thing that we did do was minimize the big innings and put up ones on the scoreboard. I really thought we looked rusty - our infield was not very good, our at bats were not very good overall - but we did have a couple of big hits that made the difference."

The Panthers came back from two holes in game two. After battling back to tie the game at 3-3, Milwaukee saw the Huskies plate a run in the top of the sixth on a bases-loaded ground ball to forge ahead, 4-3. But, senior Tim Hoy (1-1) did a great job to end the threat, striking out Dave Reynolds with two runners on base.

Then, UWM got its rally going in the bottom of the frame when senior Josh Groves led off with a sharp single to right. After a ground out, senior Shawn Wozniak walked on four pitches. Hoenecke then sent a 2-1 pitch over the right center wall to give the Panthers the 6-4 lead. The first batter of the final Northern Illinois inning reached on an error, but Meier snagged a line drive comebacker headed up the middle and turned a double play before getting the final out on a ground ball.

NIU plated three runs in the first two innings, with two of the three coming across unearned. Milwaukee tied it with three in the bottom of the second when sophomore Cole Kraft emptied the bases with a three-run triple to the right-center wall

Kraft finished with a game-high three hits, while Groves (2-for-3) was the only other player with more than one. Kraft and Hoenecke each drove in three, with Hoenecke adding a pair of runs scored. Nick Badgley was 2-for-4 with two runs batted in for NIU.

Junior Jeff Gordon got the start, working into the second. He was relieved by freshman Cameron Amsrud, who was called on with two outs and the bases loaded and recorded the third out. He ended up working 2.1 innings, allowing no hits.

"Cameron came in during a critical situation and I told him if we could find a way to get the batter out, we could find a way to win the game," Doffek said.

Down 2-0 in the opener and held to just one hit in the game until the sixth inning, UWM started that rally with two outs and just Kraft, who had doubled, on base. Sophomore Doug Dekoning then drove in Kraft with a single up the middle and went to second when junior Dan Buchholz was hit by a pitch. Groves then plated Dekoning with a single to make it 2-2 at the time. Patzman followed with his ninth home run of the season, a shot to center that cleared the 390 foot sign with ease.

Junior Lucas Annen (2-0) earned the win with 2.0 scoreless innings of work, while senior Brad Lusti also got in an inning of work, retiring NIU 1-2-3 in the fourth. Sophomore Cuyler Franzke started, allowing one earned run in 3.0 innings. The staff combined to allow no hits by the Huskies between the first and last innings. Meier worked around a base hit and a walk to earn his fifth save in the opener.

The offense finished with just five hits, with four of them coming during the big sixth-inning rally. Kraft was 2-for-3 and scored a run, finishing with five hits on the day.

The team returns to action with a road game tomorrow, heading south to play Northwestern in a game scheduled for a 3 p.m. first pitch.