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Panther Rally Falls Short With Bases Loaded In The Ninth

Box Score

Box Score

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (April 13, 2013) - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team scored once and then loaded the bases in the ninth, but could not push across the tying run in falling to Saint Louis 4-2 Saturday afternoon at the Billiken Sports Center.

The Panthers (13-15) scored a single run in the first, but conceded a pair of runs to the Billikens (24-11) in the bottom half of the inning and two more in the seventh to fall behind. Milwaukee had won the series opener on Friday 4-0 and will go for the series win in the rubber match Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for noon.

"We beat ourselves on the mound a little bit in the first inning, we had a hit batsman and then a walk. Then, we were a little unfortunate at the same time with a couple infield hits put us behind the eight ball 2-1," Milwaukee head coach Scott Doffek said. "From there Cale (Tassi) did a good job of battling and certainly gave us an opportunity to win the game. We just were passive (at the plate) and couldn't string anything together and that was the difference."

Trailing 4-1 in the ninth, Michael Porcaro led off with a double and scored on a Will Fadness single. Two batters later, Jonathan Capasso singled. With two outs, Pat Wilson drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases. Unfortunately, Marco Mejia earned his fourth save by getting a strikeout to end the game and UWM's rally.

The scoring opened in the first when Derek Peake reached on a wild pitch to start the game. He advanced to third on the first of Porcaro's two doubles and came home to score on a Fadness sacrifice fly.

SLU bounced back in the bottom half of the inning, as three-straight batters reached with one out. After a strikeout, Jordan Hammerman tied the game with a single off the body of Panther starter Cale Tassi. The bases remained loaded and Mike Levine put the Billikens ahead with a single up the middle. Alex Erdmann made a diving play to keep the ball on the infield and limit the damage.

Both Tassi and Saint Louis starter Nick Bates settled down after that, including a stretch of nine-straight batters retired by Tassi. Bates worked six innings to improve to 5-2 on the season. Meanwhile, Tassi fell to 3-5 after working 6.1 innings. He gave way to the bullpen after a two-run double by Alex Kelly made it 4-1 SLU in the seventh.

For Milwaukee, Tyler Thicke retired both batters he faced and Jake Tuttle worked a scoreless eighth out of the bullpen.

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