The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team will get to officially open the home portion of the 2015 season this weekend when it hosts Valparaiso University for a three-game series. The games will be played Thursday through Saturday this week to not play on Easter. The Panthers were at home last weekend, but were the "visitors" at the Hank when the Oakland series was moved due to unplayable conditions in Rochester, Michigan. UWM will also play a midweek game, heading to DeKalb to battle Northern Illinois Tuesday.

First pitch against the Huskies is set for 3 p.m. Tuesday, with NIU offering GameTracker live stats as well as a live video feed (for a fee). Game times against the Crusaders are 3 p.m. Thursday and 1 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Games at Henry Aaron Field will also have live statistics links available on the UWM website.

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.

LOOKING AT THE OPPONENTS
The Huskies are 13-13 after taking a weekend series at Bowling Green. They are 2-1 at home this season and also recently lost a 10-0 decision at Horizon League foe UIC. After 11 seasons under former head coach Ed Mathey (2003-2014) and a 17-36-1 record a year ago, NIU has a new skipper in the dugout in Mike Kunigonis, who spent the last seven seasons at Virginia Tech. The Huskies return their middle infield in 2015 in juniors Justin Fletcher and Brian Sisler, both of whom were NIU's top-hitters last season. Sisler leads the way in 2015 with a .362 average and has driven in 21 runs.

The Crusaders, 25-28 in 2014, have won five of their past six games, including handing league-leader Wright State its first conference loss last weekend, to improve their overall record to 9-13 (5-3 in league play). The normally pitching-minded Crusaders have gotten offensive this season, batting .273 with 13 home runs and 148 runs scored (almost 7 runs per game on average). Nolan Lodden leads the team with a .392 average and has knocked in 18, with Nate Palace leading the heavy-hitting with a team-best five home runs and 29 driven in while batting .315.

SERIES HISTORY
The series with NIU is nearly dead-even, with the Panthers trailing by a slim 26-25 margin. The teams split two games a season ago and UWM has won three of the past four overall. Milwaukee leads the Crusaders, 29-21, all-time, but Valpo has claimed five of the past seven. The Panthers did take two of the only three played in 2014, with all three games resulting in shutouts one way or the other.

THE WEEK THAT WAS
The Panthers split a weather-shortened series against Oakland University, falling 10-9 in 11 innings before blasting the Grizzlies with a 13-4 victory. Five different players hit .400 or better, led by seniors Tell Taylor (.625, 5-for-8, 6 RBI) and Sam Koenig (.600, 6-10, 6 runs, 5 RBI) as well as junior Mitch Ghelfi (.500, 5-for-10).

SWINGING SAMMY
Senior Sam Koenig is enjoying a stellar senior season through 19 games. Not only is he leading the Horizon League in batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage, but he ranks high among all NCAA national leaders as well, placing third in each. His .444 average is just behind Eric Hsieh of Yale (.460), .806 slugging trails Trey York of Eastern Tennessee (.842) and .551 OBP is just behind Hsieh again (.582).

TOUGH LOSSES
It has been a frustrating 2015 so far for the Panthers, who have six one-run decisions of the eight losses on the season to date. Two of the losses were in extra innings after UWM held a lead and three others were walk-off wins for the opponents in the ninth inning or later. Also included in the eight contests was a 1-0 pitcher's duel against Wright State.

THAT WAS FAST
The series opener against Wright State March 20 was the definition of an efficient game. Both starting pitchers went the distance, combining to allow one run on 11 hits while walking just one batter. The teams made one lineup substitution, resulting in a game time of just one hour, 44 minutes. That marked the second-fastest 9-inning game ever played since Scott Doffek became the UWM head coach in 2006. Just eight other 9-inning affairs in that span have been played in under two hours, with the best mark of 1:39 set in a 4-1 setback at UIC on May 2 of 2015.

COMEBACK KIDS
The Panthers overcame a five-run deficit March 14 in claiming a 6-5 victory over Youngstown State, one of the biggest comeback victories of head coach Scott Doffek's tenure. For good measure, they came back again the next day, turning a 6-2 YSU lead in the eighth inning into another Panther victory.
TOP COMEBACKS SINCE 2007
1. Trailed Cleveland State, 6-0, third inning. Won 7-6 (4/11/08)
2. Trailed Youngstown State, 5-0, second inning. Won 6-5 (3/14/15)
3. Trailed Butler, 5-0, second inning. Won 13-5 (5/13/12)

GOOD OUT OF THE GATES
The Panthers 10-4 start was its best through 14 games in program history. That topped the previous best run of 9-5 by both the 2001 and 1995 squads.

MAKING SOME NOISE
The Panthers hot start did get them noticed nationally, with the team receiving votes in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll in back-to-back weeks (March 9 and 16). The week of March 16, they were also receiving votes in the USA Today Baseball Coaches Poll.

ALL ABOUT THE ARMS
The pitching has been impressive for Milwaukee so far in 2015, leading the Horizon League with its 3.29 ERA through March 30 (second place Wright State is at 3.35). The team is second in the Horizon League in opponent batting average (.253) and in strikeouts (141). The bullpen is firing on all cylinders, posting a 2.55 ERA, led by three different pitchers who have still yet to allow an earned run this season.

NOT YOUR "AVERAGE JOE"
Newcomer Joe Pavlovich was named Horizon League Pitcher of the Week March 9 after an impressive stretch. First off, he took the mound in the exhibition contest against the Milwaukee Brewers March 4. He struck out Adam Lind, Khris Davis and Gerardo Parra on nine pitches in the second inning.

Then Pavlovich helped the Panthers complete a three-game sweep of Missouri March 8, throwing six strong innings to record the victory. He struck out seven Tigers and faced just one batter over the minimum over the first four innings and did not allow a base hit until the fifth. He worked out of trouble the only time Missouri had a runner in scoring position, inducing a fly out and recording a strikeout in the sixth when the Tigers had runners on second and third with just one out. He allowed just two hits on the day as Milwaukee posted a 3-1 victory.

The award is the first of Pavlovich's career and the third for a UWM pitcher this season (Justin Langley, March 2/Brian Keller, Feb. 16).

YES, "THE" MILWAUKEE BREWERS
One look at the 2015 schedule and the opponent on March 4 jumped out immediately. The Panthers took on the Milwaukee Brewers in a contest that opened Spring Training competition for the 2015 Brewers at Maryvale Baseball Park. This exhibition was the first time the Brewers have faced a collegiate team in an exhibition game since 1983 when they played Arizona State University. It was also the first time the Brewers have ever played the Panthers in an exhibition. The game was scoreless after three innings when both teams had their starting lineups on the field. UWM's Derek Peake recorded the first hit of the contest in the fourth, with the Brewers eventually earning the 8-0 decision.

HOW'S THAT FOR OPENERS?
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 now 5-20 in such contests at the Division I level, but the opening of the 2015 season was record-breaking from a couple of viewpoints.

First off, it marked the first 3-0 start in program history since becoming an NCAA Division I program in the 1990 season. The only other time UWM even began 2-0 was in 1995 when the Panthers topped Youngstown State (16-6) and Bowling Green (6-5). Secondly, the team opened with at least 10 runs in a season opener for just the second time (also 1995, see above). They topped that by making it three in a row when they plated 12 and 11 runs the next day in a twinbill against the Black Bears. That had never even accomplished twice before.

EARLY WHITEWASH
The 10-0 shutout over Maine came as soon as the schedule allowed. The only other time a UWM team ever matched that was in 2006, when the Panthers blanked Saint Mary's (CA), 2-0, in the season opener. The other time the Milwaukee pitching staff was able to record an early-season shutout was 2013, when the Panthers beat New Mexico State, 11-0, in the second game on the schedule that season.

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

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 Dalten 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
~Koenig: 150 entering 2015, 182 as of 3/31/15
~Porcaro: 159 entering 2015, 169 as of 3/31/15

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. This year, he will once again joined by Eric King from time to time. 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 headed to Spring Training in March, with both players stopping by to catch UWM's Arizona appearance against the Milwaukee Brewers. 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
The home schedule gets going in earnest, with a game against Superior on Tuesday and a three-game set on the weekend against UIC, all at Henry Aaron Field. The team also goes to Iowa Wednesday.