May 22, 2009

Box Score

LORAIN, Ohio - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team overcame deficits of 4-2 and 5-3 Friday afternoon against Cleveland State University in advancing with a 6-5 victory in an elimination game at the Horizon League Tournament. The Panthers (28-26) end the season for the Vikings (21-31) and advance to play another day, taking on either UIC or Wright State tomorrow at 10 a.m. CST at Pipe Yard Stadium.

"Well, there are three teams left and when we started there were seven," UWM head coach Scott Doffek said. "As long as there is a tomorrow with a baseball game ahead of us, we have to feel pretty good."

Junior Lucas Annen (3-0) threw four scoreless innings, inducing two inning-ending double plays while striking out three and walking none. Junior Tim Patzman was the difference at the plate, driving in the eventual winning run in the sixth inning on a single that made it past the shortstop's glove and brought home senior Josh Groves to make it 6-5 at the time.

"Lucas Annen deserves a lot of the credit," Doffek said. "It was a long, four-inning outing out of the pen and he gave us exactly what we needed. He stemmed the tide and we battled ... we got two or three two-out hits, chipped away, found a way to get that lead and then Tim Hoy shut it down."

Senior Tim Hoy came on in the ninth to record his first save of the season with a 1-2-3 outing.

Down 5-3 in the fifth, Milwaukee closed within a run on singles by Groves, junior Tim Patzman and senior Shawn Wozniak, chasing CSU starter Nate Dick in the process. Sophomore Doug Dekoning then came through with a single through the left side to tie the game at 5-5 when Patzman beat the throw home.

Annen did a fantastic job in relief of freshman Kyle Schmidt. He came on with one out in the fifth and got a strike-out/throw-out double play. After the Vikings had two singles to put runners on the corners with just one out in the sixth, Annen induced a well-turned 4-6-3 double play to get out of that jam as well.

UWM had built a quick 2-0 lead, only to see Cleveland State respond with four in the third, helped along by an error that allowed two of the four to come across unearned.

The Panthers got one back in the fourth on an RBI-single from senior Andy Gerhartz, but CSU reestablished its lead at 5-3 when Alex Johnson led off the fifth with his fourth home run of the season.

Patzman (3-for-4, two RBI), Wozniak (3-for-5) and Dekoning (3-for-5) combined to go 9-for-14, with Dekoning extending his hitting streak to 15 games, tying sophomore Cole Kraft for the longest streak by any Panther this season. Additionally, Patzman was named the U.S. Army Player of the Game. Groves went 2-for-4 and scored three times, pushing his career hit total to 196. Alex Johnson led CSU with a 3-for-5, two RBI day.

Milwaukee will keep it's hopes for a league tournament crown alive and face its third elimination game Saturday. The Panthers will take on the loser of tonight's UIC/Wright State match-up, getting underway tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. at Pipe Yard Stadium.