April 11, 2014

Box Score

DAYTON, Ohio - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team suffered a heartbreaking 5-4 loss to Wright State, falling 5-4 on a two-run home run with two outs in the ninth inning Friday night at Nischwitz Stadium.

The Panthers (10-13, 4-3 Horizon League) broke a 3-3 tie in the top of the ninth on a home run by sophomore Mitch Ghelfi, only to see the Raiders (16-16, 10-2) respond with two of their own in the bottom of the frame for the walkoff victory in the series opener.

"Just a great college baseball game right there," UWM head coach Scott Doffek said. "Tyler Thicke did a great job of stabilizing that game and gave us a great chance to win. We swung the bats really well all day but we were not rewarded. I was very happy with the approach, unfortunately we gave them an extra out in the ninth and you just can't do that at this level."

Ghelfi came to the plate with two outs in the ninth and promptly fell behind 0-2 in the count. After working it full, he fouled off another pitch before just clearing the wall down the right field line to give UWM the lead.

Milwaukee held advantages of 1-0, 3-2 and 4-3, but could not put it away. Tied, 3-3, after five innings, senior Tyler Thicke did a tremendous job to give his team an opportunity to win, throwing 4.2 innings in relief. He allowed no earned runs, walked one and struck out one.

Ghelfi finished the game 3-for-5, one of three Milwaukee players with three hits. Junior Derek Peake was also 3-for-5, scoring one and driving on another, while junior Tyler Hermann was 3-for-4 and scored a run.

A lead-off error opened the door for WSU in the ninth. Following a sac bunt, a ground ball to short got the tying run to third base with two outs. Andrew McCafferty then played the hero role for the Raiders, sending a 1-1 pitch out to right field to claim victory.

Senior Ryan Solberg drove in the first run of the game with a single and did the same in the third to tie the game at 2-2. Peake doubled in Hermann in the fourth to make it 3-2 UWM and it stayed that way until Wright State plated an unearned run in the fifth.

Milwaukee will have to get back on track in game two, set for a 1 p.m. CST start time Saturday.