The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team begins the 2015 season this weekend, traveling to Florida for a four-game series against the University of Maine. The Panthers and Black Bears will play in a neutral-field site (Chain of Lakes Park Stadium) Friday through Sunday, with the season opener Friday set for a first pitch of 1:30 p.m. CST.

The teams will play single games Friday and Sunday and are also scheduled for a doubleheader Saturday. First pitch will be at 11 a.m. CST both Saturday and Sunday. Live audio will also be available for the entire series courtesy of WWNZ 1400 AM in Maine through its free internet broadcast. Links are available on the baseball schedule page.

The 2015 campaign marks the 51st season of baseball at UWM. It is also the 45th season of varsity play (the program was played at the club level from 1982-1986) and the 25th in the Panthers NCAA Division I era. As a northern team that cannot practice outdoors before the start of the season, it is no surprise that Milwaukee does not have a great record in season openers. It is 4-20 in such contests at the Division I level, but did post a 2-0 victory over Saint Mary's (Calif.) in 2006 to snap what was an eight-game losing streak in openers.

In the 2014 opener, Bakersfield scored five runs in the first two innings to help propel it to an 8-4 victory. Friday will mark Scott Doffek's ninth opener as head coach.

LOOKING AT MAINE
The Black Bears return 17 letter winners from the 2014 squad that went 24-29, including America East First-Team designated hitter Scott Heath. He led Maine with a .361 batting average with 23 runs scored and 29 RBI. Heath, who will serve as a captain this year, had 14 doubles, four home runs and a pair of triples. He finished 3-3 on the mound with a 4.86 ERA, after opening the season with a 3-1 win over #13 Miami. Also returning are senior outfielders Brian Doran and Sam Balzano. Doran hit .314 with 27 runs scored and 20 RBI. He had 15 doubles and three triples. Balzano hit .289 with 28 runs scored and 14 RBI. He finished second on the team with 12 stolen bases. Sophomore Jeff Gelinas earned a spot on the America East All-Rookie team last year. He finished 3-4 with a 3.86 ERA. Gelinas struck out 35 batters on the season. Maine has 16 newcomers on its roster, several of who are expected to have an immediate impact for the Black Bears.

SERIES HISTORY
The two teams will be meeting for the first time, having never played each other on the baseball diamond.

BASEBALL SEASON ALREADY?
The February 13th opener to the 2015 campaign is one of the earliest in program history. In fact, five of the top six all-time earliest starts to the season have taken place in the past nine years.

1. 2006: February 10
2. 2015: February 13
2. 1999: February 13
4. 2014: February 14
5. 2013: February 15
6. 2007: February 16

PRESEASON NATIONAL RECOGNITION
Various publications and websites came out with their annual college baseball previews and players from the Milwaukee roster have earned a handful of mentions. Baseball America lists senior Sam Koenig (No. 2) and junior Mitch Ghelfi (No. 7) as part of the "Top 10 Prospects, 2015 MLB Drafts" chart. The "College Sports Madness" website lists seniors Sam Koenig, Tyler Hermann and Ryan McShane as well as juniors Brian Keller and Luke Meeteer as members of its preseason second-team all-league squad.

LET'S HIT THE ROAD...
As usual, the Panthers will be busy waiting for the snow to melt away and Henry Aaron Field to be ready for them to play in Milwaukee. While that happens, they will be playing 26 straight road games to open the 2015 slate. That will seem a touch easier compared to other seasons, as the record for longest season-opening road trip was set at 30 games in 2008. However, the past few Wisconsin springs have not been kind. Postponements and cancellations have been the norm the past two years, with the Panthers having to play their "home" opener in Chicago last season and, in 2013, the team ended up playing 29 in a row on the road (losing 12 contests to the weather overall) before finally playing a home game April 24.

The Panthers will travel over 11,000 miles over the course of the first seven weeks of this season via plane or bus, visiting seven different states (Florida, Kentucky, Arizona, Missouri, Ohio [twice], Michigan and Illinois) before playing their home opener April 2 against Valparaiso. To put that in perspective, that would be equivalent to circling the bases 161,362 times.

FIRING ON ALL CYLINDERS
Injuries hit the Panthers harder in 2014 than in any season in recent memory. Milwaukee lost Mike Schneider (8-3, 3.64 ERA in 2013) before the year even started to Tommy John surgery and proceeded to lose Sam Koenig (.424 with 14 hits in first 9 games) and Luke Meeteer (Second-Team All-League in 2013) before even playing its home opener. Then, throw in injuries that slowed down an All-American second baseman and an all-league catcher and you get what UWM had a season ago – a tough year full of adversity that ended at 21-29 and short of expectations. But, there's always next year, as they say in sports. And the Panthers are as healthy as can be expected headed into 2015.

SENIOR-ITIS
The roster in 2015 is unique, featuring a top-heavy senior class of 14 members. There are numerous ways the Panthers got to this point, with the backgrounds among the group extremely varied - in fact, there are just two fourth-year seniors in the group.
Here is the breakdown:
Fifth-year seniors (7): Gunnar Eastman, Eric King, Sam Koenig, Derek Peake,
Mike Porcaro, Mike Schneider, Tell Taylor
Transfers (4): Tyler Hermann, Sam Kohnke, Ryan McShane, Cody Peterson
Fourth-year seniors (2): Sam Hammer, Justin Jaquish
Graduate students (1): Joe Pavlovich

YES, THE MILWAUKEE BREWERS
One look at the 2015 schedule and the opponent on March 4 jumps out immediately. The Panthers will be taking on the Milwaukee Brewers in a contest that will open Spring Training competition for the 2015 Brewers at Maryvale Baseball Park. This exhibition will be the first time the Brewers have faced a collegiate team in an exhibition game since 1983 when they played the Arizona State University. It's also the first time the Brewers have ever played the Panthers in an exhibition.

WOW THAT WAS CLOSE
Senior Cody Peterson came within five outs of program history against Valparaiso last April 18, carrying a no-hitter into the top of the eighth before a one-out infield single spoiled the bid. He finished with a one-hit shutout, walking one and striking out eight batters to help him earn the Horizon League Pitcher of the Week award. It was just the fifth one-hitter thrown by a UWM pitcher since the start of the 2000 season and the first that did not occur in a scheduled seven-inning contest.

April 29, 2011, 8-0 over Youngstown State: Chad Pierce (7 innings)
April 12, 2011, 11-0 over St. Norbert: four pitchers combined (7 innings)
May 1, 2007, 9-1 over Carroll College: four pitchers combined (7 innings)
April 5, 2003, 6-0 over Valparaiso: Mikel Schaefer (7 innings)

SIT THEM DOWN
Redshirt freshman Justin Langley made a strong statement against Valparaiso last April 19, pitching 7.0 strong innings to help UWM to the shutout win. In his outing, he struck out 12 batters, coming up just short of the Milwaukee school record of 13 in a game. In the process, he became the first freshman to record 10-or-more K's in a game since Robert Michalkiewicz had 10 in 2004.

HOW'S THAT FOR A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION
A pair of newcomers stepped up immediately in 2014, each earning Horizon League Second-Team postseason honors. Ryan McShane and Tyler Hermann made an impact in their first season at UWM, McShane mainly at shortstop and Hermann all over the field (3B, OF, 1B, DH). McShane made 37 starts in 41 appearances, batting .290 - the third-highest on the squad. He recorded 42 hits, scored 18 times, drove in 16 and went a perfect 11-for-11 in stolen bases. Hermann batted .280 overall, making 43 starts in 47 games. He scored 21 runs, recorded 45 hits, hit three home runs and drove in 17 runs.

PRESEASON POLL
Milwaukee was picked to finish third in the 2015 Horizon League preseason baseball poll. Wright State was the favorite to win the title in balloting by the conference's six head coaches. The Raiders received five first-place votes and topped the poll with 35 points after claiming the regular-season title in 2014. UIC was second with 28 points. The Panthers grabbed the final first-place vote and collected 23 points to take third. Valparaiso was fourth with 19 points. Youngstown State was fifth with 12 points Oakland and rounded out the poll in sixth place with nine points.

Oakland's Rob Enslen was voted as the Preseason Player of the Year and Valparaiso's Daulten Lundeen was named the Preseason Pitcher of the Year in voting of the coaches. For the third-straight year the league has also announced a preseason all-conference team and the Panthers had a trio of seniors on the squad. Sam Koenig (OF), Tyler Hermann (3B) and Tell Taylor (Utility) were all honored.

2015 Horizon League Preseason Baseball Poll
1. Wright State (5 first-place votes) - 35
2. UIC - 28
3. Milwaukee (1) - 23
4. Valparaiso - 19
5. Youngstown State - 12
6. Oakland - 9

THE 200 CLUB
In the history of the Milwaukee baseball program, nine players have recorded over 200 career hits at the NCAA Division I level. Seniors Mike Porcaro and Sam Koenig have the opportunity to become the 10th and 11th players this season.

Below is the current list of the "200 Club".
1. Jesse Hart (2005-08): 267 career hits
2. Doug Dekoning (2008-11): 260
3. Cole Kraft (2008-11): 250
4. Darin Haugom (1997-2001): 245
5. Paul Hoenecke (2009-12): 242
6. Ross McCoy (2004-07): 220
7. Charlie Reschke (2002-05): 213
8. Jonathan Capasso (2010-13): 211
9. Nick Wichser (2004-08): 206
~Porcaro: 159 entering 2015
~Koenig: 150 entering 2015

PLAYER BLOG
Senior Mike Porcaro is back for his fourth season of putting together the baseball blog, chronicling the exploits of the team in detail once again. This year, he is once again joined by classmate Eric King. Find the link to "Diamond Chronicles" off the baseball page or go to: uwmathletics5.blogspot.com.

SOCIAL MEDIA
You can also follow the baseball team on Twitter @MKE_Baseball. In addition, assistant SID Chris Zills will be updating game scores and highlights when in attendance all season long on his Twitter account at @sidzills.

ALUMNI UPDATE
Paul Hoenecke and Josh Uhen continue to play professionally and will head to Spring Training this month. In 2014, Hoenecke played with the Great Lakes Loons, the Class A team of the Los Angeles Dodgers. A regular starter, Hoenecke appeared in 128 games, batting .256 with 15 home runs and 61 runs batted in. He earned player of the year honors by the Dodgers Farm System review. Uhen played for the Helena Brewers, the Rookie affiliate of the parent club. He appeared in 15 games, making eight starts, striking out 37 batters in 54.2 innings.

ON TAP
Milwaukee continues its early season road trip with a visit to Kentucky to take on the University of Louisville in a three-game weekend series.