April 13, 2012

Box Score

DAYTON, Ohio - Ryan Ashe scored on a sacrifice fly from second base in the 11th inning to send Wright State University to a 10-9 victory over the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team Friday night at Nischwitz Stadium.

Freshman Luke Meeteer made an amazing diving catch in center field on a long fly ball for the second out of the inning, but Ashe never stopped running and scored the walkoff run to end the game. The play was appealed, but the call stood to let Wright State extend its winning streak to 13 games.

The Panthers (12-18, 6-7 Horizon League) let a 9-5 lead in the ninth get away, with the Raiders (22-10, 11-2 Horizon League) tying the contest in their last at bat to send it to extras after going in order in both the seventh and eighth innings.

"I am really proud of the way we came out and played tonight," UWM head coach Scott Doffek said. "The mental energy and focus was outstanding in the batter's box. This is a very young team and the hardest thing to teach is how to win. We put ourselves in a great position to get a victory and just couldn't get that last out. Tomorrow is a huge challenge from an emotional standpoint - we are going to come back out here and see what we are made of."

Milwaukee raced out to an early lead, scoring three in the first inning and one more in the second to plate a 4-0 advantage. Junior Alex Erdmann came up with the big hit in the first, sending a double to the wall with the bases loaded that scored three runs. In the second, a double off the bat of sophomore Sam Koenig made it 4-0 at the time.

UWM added to its lead from there, tacking on three more runs in the fifth inning on the strength of four hits.

Following base hits by juniors Jonathan Capasso and Will Fadness, it was Erdmann again who came up with a clutch hit, plating the first run with a single to right field. Freshman Michael Porcaro singled to score a pair of runs to close out the scoring in the inning and gave Milwaukee a big 7-0 lead at the time.

The Raiders chipped away from there, breaking up the shutout with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth inning before adding three more in the sixth.

The Panthers outhits the Raiders, 14-11, with Porcaro finishing with a 4-for-5 night. Koenig was 3-for-6 with a pair of runs scored, with Capasso (2-for-4, 2 runs), Fadness (2-for-5) and Erdmann (2-for-6, 4 RBI) all finishing with multi-hit efforts. The four runs batted in was a career-high for Erdmann

Junior Eric Semmelhack started the night, working 5.2 innings in allowing five runs, all earned. He walked five and struck out three.

These two teams continue the weekend series tomorrow, set for a first pitch of 1 p.m. CST.