April 5, 2011

Box Score

EVANSTON, Ill. - Seniors Cole Kraft and Sam Sivilotti and sophomore Jonathan Capasso each had three hits to lead the way as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team opened up a close game in taking a 10-4 victory over Northwestern University Tuesday at Rocky Miller Park. The Panthers (8-16) led, 5-4, after the Wildcats (8-17) got within a run in the sixth inning, but ran away with it from there, scoring five unanswered runs to get the win.

"If you wipe out the first inning where we kind of stepped on our foot and put ourselves in a hole, we played a really good game," UWM head coach Scott Doffek said. "The hitters did a great job of battling and coming up with hits with runners in scoring position. It's one thing to have quality at bats, but when you stack them together, you put up those crooked numbers. It was a hitter-friendly day and our guys did a good job of putting good swings on all game."

Capasso drove in a career-best four runs in helping Milwaukee tie a season-high with 16 hits and score 10 or more runs for the first time in 2011. Freshman Mike Schneider (1-1) contributed as well with a solid start, allowing just two hits, walking one and striking out six in his 5.0 innings of work.

"In these conditions, three hits (on the day) is really a good job," Doffek said. "Our matchup guys did well and Mike gave us the quality start we needed."

Down, 2-0, after a pair of errors in the first, the Panthers finally got on track in the fourth inning, batting around to score five runs on five-straight hits to take the 5-2 lead. Junior Paul Hoenecke doubled in senior Doug Dekoning to get on the board before Capasso stroked a two-run single to center to make it 3-2 and give UWM the lead. Sivilotti added a run-scoring double down the line and eventually scored on a ground out.

The Wildcats did get back into the game, scoring once in the fifth and then pulling within a run at 5-4 on Paul Snieder's sixth-inning home run.

But, the Milwaukee offense just didn't stop, scoring in each of the final three innings to pull away. Capasso had an RBI-single in the seventh and freshman Tell Taylor added a bases-loaded walk after fouling off seven pitches with a two-strike count. Capasso tacked on another RBI-single in the eighth and junior Mark Strey's home run to left field in the ninth capped the scoring.

The 16-hit attack also featured multi-hit games from Dekoning (2-for-5, 2 runs) and freshman Sam Koenig (2-for-4, 3 runs).

On the mound, six pitchers combined to limit NU to just three hits on the day. In addition to Schneider's start, junior Cameron Amsrud (1.0 IP, 1 K), senior Jayme Sukowaty (1.2 hitless IP), junior Kaleb Engelke (0.1 IP), senior Cuyler Franzke (0.2 IP, 2 K) and junior Kyle Spurley (0.1 IP) all worked in the game.

Up next is a big Horizon League series in Chicago on the weekend, taking on the UIC Flames starting Friday at 6 p.m.