March 11, 2011

Box Score

SAN JOSE, Calif. - UC Davis limited the potent University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee offense to just four hits in a 3-1 victory Friday night at Municipal Stadium. The Panthers (1-9) rallied against the Aggies (3-10) and had the tying runs on base in the sixth and eighth innings, but could not come up with the big hit in defeat at the Jack Gifford Memorial Tournament.

Senior Doug Dekoning continued his impressive start, going 2-for-3 to extend his hitting streak to 12 games while recording career hit No. 200 in the eighth inning.

Sophomore Jordan Guth (two earned run in 5.2 innings) and junior Greg Blohowiak (2.1 scoreless IP) gave the Panthers a strong performance on the mound. But the offense was limited to less then 10 hits for just the second time this year. Besides Dekoning, sophomore Jonathan Capasso was the only other player to record a hit, going 2-for-4.

"When you are struggling, it seems to go that way," UWM head coach Scott Doffek said. "That's what we are doing. We are just scratching to find a way to get a positive result. Jordan (Guth) came out today and gave us a quality start and then Greg (Blohowiak) came in and did what he does. A lot of credit goes to their pitcher, he was really good."

UC Davis starter Anthony Kupbens (1-2) threw well, scattering four hits, striking out seven and walking just one in 7.2 innings of work. Tom Briner struck out three in the final 1.1 innings to record his third save of the campaign.

"That's probably the best pitching performance we have seen this year," Doffek said. "We had him on the ropes a couple of times but just couldn't get the big hit. He did a really nice job. He used three pitches in any count and spotted the ball in the bottom half of the strike zone and did not throw many pitches over the white part of the plate."

Down 3-0 after the Aggies scored single tallies in the second through fourth innings, Milwaukee finally got on the scoreboard in the sixth inning. Helped along by a pair of errors and a walk, senior Sam Sivilotti plated a run with a sacrifice fly. However, Kupbens induced a ground ball to second to end the rally.

The Panthers put two runners on base again in the eighth, but Briner came on in relief and recorded the strike out to leave the tying runs on base yet again.

Dekoning joined select company in program history with hit No. 200, becoming just the sixth player to accomplish the feat when he singled into shallow right field and beat the throw to first base in the eighth. He joins Jesse Hart (267), Darin Haugom (245), Ross McCoy (220), Charlie Reschke (213) and Nick Wichser (206) in the record book. He is now batting .488 (20-for-41) in the first 10 games of the season.

Milwaukee will look to get back on track tomorrow, heading to tournament co-host Santa Clara for an afternoon matchup against the Broncos. First pitch has been moved up five hours from the original start time and will now be at 3 p.m. CST.