March 13, 2011

Box Score

SAN JOSE, Calif. - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team nearly overcame an early five-run deficit, rallying to within a run before San Jose State University pulled away for the 11-4 victory Sunday at Municipal Stadium. The Panthers (2-10) trailed 5-0 after just six outs against the Spartans (10-4), but couldn't finish off the comeback when errors did them in. Five of the final six runs of the contest were unearned, helping SJSU to the team title at the Jack Gifford Memorial Tournament after it went 4-0 on the weekend.

"When you come out in a hole like that, it's just really tough to fight back from," UWM head coach Scott Doffek said. "We did a good job of battling back. It was 5-4 and we had runners on second and third, but, besides that surge we did not play good baseball. We didn't pitch very well and got mentally lazy as the game went on and just really showed signs of an inexperienced team."

Trailing 5-0 before batting in the second, Milwaukee started the rally with a three-run third inning. Senior Sam Sivilotti doubled in a pair and senior Cole Kraft drove him in to get back in the game. UWM then tacked on another in the fifth on freshman Sam Koenig's double, but stranded the tying run at third base in the inning.

Then the defense helped the Spartans out, as a pair of errors led to four unearned runs in the sixth and seventh innings. The Panthers seemed to run out of gas after that, recording just three hits in the final four innings on the day.

"We knew this schedule was going to be tough when we put it together," Doffek said. "We did it to challenge our guys and we absolutely knew there would be bumps in the road. I think we are learning some things and our job is to take what we learned, individually, and find a way to impact the game."

Junior Paul Hoenecke and Kraft each paced Milwaukee with 2-for-4 days, with freshman Tell Taylor going 2-for-3. Senior Doug Dekoning extended his hitting streak to 14 games. Craig Hertler led SJSU with a 3-for-3, three run/three RBI day.

Senior Jayme Sukowaty (0-2) suffered the loss, allowing five earned runs in just 1.1 innings of work. Freshman Mike Schneider worked 2.2 solid innings in relief, allowing just one hit in his scoreless appearance.

The team gets to stay a bit closer to home next, but remains on the road with a weekend trip to play Ohio University. The Panthers and Bobcats will play single games Friday and Sunday and a doubleheader Saturday.