March 25, 2011

Box Score

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - Sophomore Cale Tassi threw five scoreless innings and senior Doug Dekoning drove in a pair of runs to help lead the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team to a come-from-behind, 5-4, victory over IPFW Friday afternoon at Mastodon Field. The Panthers (4-13) led early before falling behind the Mastodons (2-11) in the fourth inning. Milwaukee then rallied with a three-run sixth that proved to be the final scoring of a contest played on a day when temperatures only reached highs in the mid-thirties.

"It was really tough conditions to play in today," UWM head coach Scott Doffek said. "Their kid [Nick Optiz] did a really nice job of changing speeds and keeping us off-balance. We executed some small ball in the middle of the game and that is what got us the lead. I think Guth was fighting the conditions a little today and his stuff was just not what he is capable of throwing. Tassi came in and just did a fantastic job of pitching ahead and getting ground balls. He definitely gets the game ball today."

Down 4-2 in the sixth, the Panthers started the winning rally with three-consecutive hits, with Dekoning driving in the first run of the frame. Following a sacrifice bunt, Milwaukee scored the final two runs without the ball leaving the infield - sending runs home on a ground out and an infield hit by sophomore Jonathan Capasso.

Three runs by IPFW in the fourth chased sophomore starter Jordan Guth, who ended up walking one and striking out three in his 3.2 innings of work. Tassi (1-1) came on to get the final out and leave the bases loaded and was near unhittable. He went 5.0 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits, walking none and striking out four. Junior Kaleb Engelke retired the final batter in the ninth for the save.

The Panthers wasted little time in getting the offense going. Dekoning had an RBI-single and junior Paul Hoenecke's sac fly made it 2-0 before UWM took the field in the first.

Senior Chad Pierce was 3-for-4 and scored twice, as the top three batters in the Milwaukee order combined to go 6-for-12 and scored all five runs. Optiz (1-3) did throw the complete game for the Mastodons, striking out eight.

These two teams return to play a doubleheader tomorrow, with first pitch of game one scheduled for 12:30 p.m. CST.