May 20, 2010

Box Score

MILWAUKEE - Sophomore Paul Hoenecke had four hits and drove in the eventual winning runs as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team broke a 4-4 tie with four runs in the sixth inning in handing Youngstown State University a 9-4 loss Thursday at Henry Aaron Field. The Panthers (27-23, 15-8 Horizon) also got a solid start from junior Jayme Sukowaty on the mound, limiting the potent Penguin (21-30, 9-15 Horizon) offense to seven hits in his outing.

Tied at four in the sixth, freshman Jonathan Capasso and junior Cole Kraft singled before senior Dan Buchholz walked to load the bases. Hoenecke singled through the right side to score two runs and break the deadlock before UWM would add a run on a wild pitch and another on an RBI from junior Sam Sivilotti to take control.

"He (Hoenecke) has been swinging the bat pretty well the past three weeks and really, has run into a lot of tough luck this year," Milwaukee head coach Scott Doffek said. "He's a good hitter and we know that when he swings at good pitches, good things happen. And he did that today."

Sukowaty (4-0) kept any damage in check, limiting YSU to four, one-run frames. He worked into the seventh inning, scattering seven hits against a squad that was batting over .300 as a team and had four players in the lineup hitting .346 or higher on the year. Overall, he struck out four and kept Tom Clayton, who entered the game with a .447 average on the season - fifth overall in the NCAA - to no hits in three at bats.

"To me he gets the game ball," Doffek said. "You look at that line score ... that (YSU) is a good lineup and to just put up ones - obviously we would like to have zeroes - but ones are critical and then we put up some crooked numbers and that will usually win you ballgames."

The Panthers had plenty of baserunners in the first four innings against Aaron Swenson, who came into the game with a 7-1 record. But, great defense by his teammates kept Milwaukee at bay. Junior Doug Dekoning sent a drive to center in the second that would have scored two runs, but Derek Carr made a great catch running into the wall to save two runs. Then, in the fourth, leftfielder Joe Iacobucci robbed Kraft of extra bases and two more potential runs.

Held scoreless until the fourth, UWM got on the board on an RBI-double from Dekoning. Then, with two outs and the bases loaded, senior Shaun Wegner came through with a clutch single up the middle that plated two runners and gave the Panthers a 3-2 lead at the time.

"We got a big two-out hit from Wegner that gave us the momentum in the dugout," Doffek said. "I thought our hitters did a pretty good job. Swenson is a pretty good pitcher and they did a good job of keeping pressure and not swinging at pitcher's pitches and putting him in some negative counts and working a good amount of walks."

UWM banged out 13 hits on the day, led by Hoenecke's 4-for-5 effort that extended his hitting streak to eight games. Capasso, Dekoning and senior Ben Long all had two hits on the day as well. Jacke Healey led the Penguins with a 3-for-4 outing.

Junior Lucas Annen relived Sukowaty in the seventh and pitched a scoreless inning before sophomore Greg Blohowiak worked the final 1.2 frames, allowing just one base hit.

These two teams wrap up the regular season tomorrow with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. In between games, UWM will honor its 11-member class on Senior Day at Henry Aaron Field.