April 17, 2014

Box Score

MILWAUKEE - Cole Webb threw a complete-game shutout, struck out eight and limited the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team to just a pair of hits in helping Valparaiso University to a 4-0 victory Thursday afternoon at Henry Aaron Field.

"The first couple of innings I thought Webb was trying to find himself and we had some opportunities and we let him off the hook," Milwaukee head coach Scott Doffek said. "From the third inning on, he was very good. But, we were too passive and didn't take away anything he was trying to do. We let him dictate everything and that is the disappointing thing."

The Panthers (11-16, 4-6 Horizon League) saw their 20-game winning streak at home come to an end against the Crusaders (14-16, 6-4 Horizon League) in uncharacteristic fashion, allowing runs to score on a balk, passed ball and wild pitch while getting shut out for the first time in 99 games.

"That tells the story - we beat ourselves," Doffek said. "Fundamentals win baseball games and we started off with a misplayed fly ball to give them a double that turned out to be a run."

The loss snaps the UWM win streak just one home victory away from the school record of 21 in a row. Prior to today, the Panthers last loss at Henry Aaron Field came on May 15, 2012 - a span of nearly two years. The streak was the longest current one of its kind in the NCAA.

"I didn't care about the streak," Doffek said. "That really didn't have much to do with it. We are just trying to play good baseball and we didn't play good at all. We gave them three runs and we did create any pressure in the batting box or on the bases."

Sophomore Brian Keller (0-4) took the loss, but had allowed just a pair of runs into the seventh inning before tiring.

"Keller wasn't great on the mound today, but you look up and it was the seventh inning and it was just 2-0 on the scoreboard. He did a fine job," Doffek said.

The usually-potent UWM offense came up with just a pair of hits. Junior Mike Porcaro had a first-inning single and junior Tyler Hermann singled in the second. That was the only inning Milwaukee had runners in scoring position, but could not score after having first and third with just one out. Webb was terrific down the stretch, retiring the final 11 batters and 21 of the final 22.

Game two of the series is set for tomorrow, with a first pitch set for 3 p.m.