April 13, 2010

Box Score

IOWA CITY, Iowa - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team battled back from an early deficit to tie the game, but could not get ahead in falling to the University of Iowa, 9-3, Tuesday night at Duane Banks Field. The Panthers (12-14) trailed, 3-0, after one inning against the Hawkeyes (13-16) before tying the game at 3-3 in the sixth inning. It was all Iowa from there, scoring five unanswered runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to snap Milwaukee's winning streak at seven games.

Down 3-0 in the sixth, the UWM offense responded with three-straight doubles to make it 3-2. Iowa's Ricky Sanquist was greeted rather rudely by the offense, as his four-pitch outing resulted in a called ball and three hard-hit doubles. Junior Sam Sivilotti, senior Ben Long and sophomore Paul Hoenecke kept trading spots with two-baggers to make it 3-2, and then senior Tim Patzman made it 3-3 with an RBI-ground out.

"We put ourselves in bad situations all game with hit-by-pitches and walks," UWM head coach Scott Doffek said. "But, we have to do a better job of putting runs up ourselves. We did some good things, but we didn't make them work hard enough for the outs we gave them. I think only scoring three runs, in these conditions, was not what we were looking for."

That was as close as the Panthers would get. Iowa would take control with a five-run seventh, helped along by two walks, a hit batter, an error and a balk. Two big innings did in Milwaukee, as Iowa combined for eight of its nine runs and seven of its 11 hits in the first and seventh innings combined.

After giving up three runs in the first, the UWM pitching staff went into shutdown mode for the next five innings. Sophomore Greg Blohowiak followed with two scoreless innings, striking out two. Senior Lucas Allen one-upped that performance, facing six batters in two hitless frames of his own, striking out three Hawkeyes. Senior Bob Stone also threw a scoreless inning in the sixth.

"There were some real positives," Doffek said. "We had a bunch of bullpen guys come in and do a really good job. So that was positive. I think we just have to put it behind us. We have been talking about it all year ... `Don't beat ourselves, don't beat ourselves' ... and if you look back at the games we have lost, it's a common theme."

The offense failed to record 10 hits for just the first time in seven games. Sivilotti, Hoenecke and senior Nino Guerrero all had two hits and senior Dan Buchholz extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a base hit. Zach McCool had two hits and drove in three to lead Iowa.

Milwaukee gets back to Horizon League action on the weekend, starting a three-game series with Butler University. The Panthers and Bulldogs are set for a first pitch of 2 p.m. CST Friday.