May 24, 2014

Box Score

MEQUON, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team saw its season come to a close in heartbreaking fashion, falling to Wright State University by a score of 4-3 in 12 innings in the Horizon League Tournament Saturday afternoon at Kapco Park.

"That was just a great college baseball game, just phenomenal," UWM head coach Scott Doffek said. "Extra-effort plays all over the field - we made some, they made some. Their guy out of the bullpen was dynamic, I thought Tell did a nice job and our starter was very good. We again let one inning slip on us a little bit and let them tie it. But, you have to give those guys credit, they just did a great job."

The Panthers (21-29), who battled adversity and injury all season long, led the top-seeded Raiders (35-21) into the sixth inning before the contest was tied up.

It stayed scoreless for the next six innings until WSU pushed across the winner on a bases-loaded walk to claim the 4-3 win and advance to the title game to take on Youngstown State University.

"With all of the injuries and the issues on the mound, we really just ran out of gas," Doffek said. "Very proud of the way the guys played here, I thought we played really well."

That made a winner out of Andrew Elliott (2-0), who recorded an impressive outing. The Horizon League Relief Pitcher of the Year came on in relief in the sixth inning and went on to strike out 13 batters, including six in a row at one point.

The Panthers jumped ahead with a pair of runs in the second inning and kept momentum on their side with another in the sixth to lead 3-0.

Sophomore starting pitcher Jake Tuttle was cruising. He took a perfect game into the fifth inning, retiring the first 12 batters of the game in order.

The offense was getting the job done, starting by scoring a pair of unconventional runs in the second. Senior Ryan Solberg came home on a throwing error and sophomore Dan Barwick plated another on a chopper that bounced high off of home plate and turned into an infield single.

Senior Pat Wilson laced an RBI-single to send Solberg home after a one-out double to make it 3-0 in the sixth, but UWM left two runners on base and was not able to tack on any insurance runs.

Wright State found a way to make it a new game in its half of the frame, using four hits, a wild pitch, an error and a passed ball to tie the contest at 3-3.

From there it was all the relievers, as both teams struggled with even getting anyone on base. Junior Tell Taylor (1-2) also pitched superbly, allowing just one base hit in his first 4.1 scoreless innings of work.

WSU found a way to advance in the 12th. A leadoff single was sacrificed to second, forcing an intentional walk to set up the force out. Back-to-back walks followed, ending the game and UWM's run in the postseason.

Solberg, the 2014 Horizon League Player of the Year, finished the day 3-for-5, scoring two runs. Wilson was 2-for-5 with an RBI to round out the Milwaukee players with more than one hit.

"We really dealt with a tremendous amount of adversity and I really liked the way we finished," Doffek said. "We played hard to the last pitch and just didn't have enough ...we just ran out."

All-Tournament Team
P - Andrew Elliott, Wright State
P - Jeremy Quinlan, Youngstown State
C - Josh White, Youngstown State
1B - Andrew Bynum, Valparaiso
2B - Phil Lipari, Youngstown State (Tournament MVP)
SS - Shane Willoughby, Youngstown State
3B - Matt Sullivan, Youngstown State
OF - Robby Enslen, Oakland
OF - Ryan Solberg, Milwaukee
OF - Jeff Limbaugh, Wright State
DH - Pat Wilson, Milwaukee