April 2, 2010

Box Score

MILWAUKEE - Junior Chad Pierce allowed just one run in a complete-game effort and the offense hit three home runs to propel the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team to a 4-1 victory over Cleveland State University Friday at Henry Aaron Field. The Panthers (8-13, 2-2 Horizon) used a pair of home runs from senior Ben Long and another from junior Cole Kraft to beat the Vikings (5-15, 0-1 Horizon) and extend their home winning streak to 16 games.

"Chad (Pierce) did a good job of pitching ahead all day and really found his breaking ball in the middle of the game," UWM head coach Scott Doffek said. "We played good defense behind him and it was just a solid team win. In those conditions today [winds gusting in from left to 25-30 mph], I would have never guessed we would have three home runs. It was fun to see Ben (Long) get his bat going today and Kraft's was big to get the momentum back in our dugout after they scored in the top of the inning."

Pierce (2-2) was in control from start to finish, with the solo CSU run in the eighth spoiling the shutout bid. In fact, when the Vikings did plate a run in the eighth, it was just the second time all day that any runner had even reached second base and the first time one reached third. Pierce scattered six hits, walked a pair and struck out six in his first complete game as a Panther.

"I was feeling good and felt it was my game to lose," Pierce said. "I knew I was going to get tired at the end, but my pitch count was still low going into the ninth and I wanted to finish it myself."

After Kraft led off with a double and scored in the first inning, UWM would add solo tallies on home runs in the fourth, sixth and eighth innings. Long hit an opposite field shot the first time and then followed with another into a stiff wind to left for his second multi-home run game of the season. Kraft's long ball in the eighth hit the top of the fence and bounced over and pushed the lead back to three.

On the day, the team finished with 11 hits, with Kraft going 3-for-4 and Long 2-for-4, both with two runs scored. Senior Dan Buchholz was also 2-for-4, extending his hitting streak to seven games.

These teams are right back at it tomorrow to finish up the weekend series, starting game one of a doubleheader at noon.