May 27, 2011

Box Score | Tournament Central

DAYTON, Ohio - Sophomore Eric Semmelhack pitched a complete-game shutout to send the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team to a 5-0 victory over Butler University in an elimination game at the Horizon League Tournament Friday afternoon at Nischwitz Stadium.

Semmelhack (3-4) threw 111 pitches in the impressive outing, striking out a career-high nine batters. He walked no one and scattered seven hits, recording the sixth shutout of the season for the Milwaukee pitching staff.

"Eric was fantastic from the first pitch on," UWM head coach Scott Doffek said. "He worked ahead with all three pitches and kept the batters off-balance. Nine strikeouts, no walks, no runs - it was just a well-pitched game."

Semmelhack worked perfectly through the first three frames before giving up a two-out single in the fourth inning. Another infield hit followed, but a ground out ended the threat.

He was in command the entire game, allowing only one more runner to reach as far as second base the rest of the way. He struck out a pair in the ninth to set his career-high while never even getting to a three-ball count on any batter in the contest. The six shutouts in 2011 break the program record of five set in 2002.

"I just wanted to throw strikes early in the count and get ahead," Semmelhack said. "Pretty much, I just wanted to get outs and let our team hit. Right around the sixth, I realized that I could really save the bullpen by getting the complete game. So, I just kept pounding the zone and throwing strikes and as long as we had the lead it would all work out for me."

The offense wasted little time in getting on the board. Senior Doug Dekoning launched the first pitch he saw in the first inning deep down the right field line for his eighth home run of the season and timely hitting kept UWM tacking on all game.

The Panthers added two more in the third, scoring on freshman Tell Taylor's single and senior Sam Sivilotti's two-out double.

In the fourth, Butler intentionally walked the bases loaded to face Taylor and he made them pay with a single to left that nearly plated two more, but the Bulldogs threw out the second runner trying to score on a perfect toss from left field.

The final run came in the sixth and again came with two outs. Freshman Ryan Solberg singled with one out and came home on senior Cole Kraft's second double of the game.

"We didn't swing the bats as well as I hoped to, but the hits we did get were clutch," Doffek said. "Cole (Kraft) had two doubles and Tell had a huge line drive to right with the infield drawn in that really got the momentum on our side. It was just good timely hitting."

The UWM offense owned the hit column, 9-to-7, with Kraft (2-for-3), Taylor (2-for-4, 2 RBI) and Solberg (2-for-4) all recording multi-hit games. Grant Fillipitch (2-for-4) paced the BU offense, with Mike Hernandez (5-6) suffering the loss, allowing four earned runs in 4.0 innings of work. The Panthers added four more stolen bases in the game to run their total to seven in the tournament.

"That was exactly what we needed," Doffek said. "It keeps the bullpen as fresh as possible. From here on out, we just take it one game at a time."

The Panthers will play again today, scheduled to start at 8 p.m. CST. The opponent will be determined once the other two games being played today are completed.

UPDATE: The Panthers will take on UIC in the final game of the day. The Flames were beaten, 11-9, by Valparaiso.