MILWAUKEE - Senior Sam Hammer hit a three-run home run in the first inning and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team held off a ninth-inning rally to escape with a 7-6 victory over Wisconsin Lutheran College Wednesday at Henry Aaron Field.
 
The Panthers (23-13) raced out to a 6-0 lead after two innings, only to see the Warriors (17-13) slowly creep back into it. WLC scored three runs in the top of the ninth and had the tying run at second base before senior Justin Jaquish closed it out for his first career save.
 
Hammer highlighted a first-inning rally when he blasted a deep home run to left field that came on an 0-2 count with two outs and made the score 4-0.
 
Milwaukee collected just nine hits on the day, led by a 2-for-3, two-run scored effort from senior Ryan McShane. Junior Luke Meeteer had a hit, walked and stole his 26^th and 27^th bases of the season and Hammer finished with the three RBI that set a career high. Senior Tyler Hermann drove in a pair.
 
The Warriors got a strong outing out of Aaron Roeseler, scoring four runs, swiping a pair of bases and recording two hits.
 
The highlight of the day was the UWM pitching staff, which set a school record with an impressive total of 16 strikeouts. That broke the former mark of 15 – which has been set five times – most recently against UIC in 2012.
 
Senior Joe Pavlovich (3-1) picked up the victory with a planned one-inning start, getting the K's rolling with three in the first inning alone.
 
Senior Gunnar Eastman fanned two in the second before giving way to freshman Austin Schulfer. Schulfer did the heavy lifting on the day, allowing two earned runs in his 5.0 innings of work, fanning a career-best eight.
 
Senior Jonathan Nick pitched an impressive eighth, adding two K's to the total and sophomore Zach Brenner added the record-breaker with a whiff for the first out in the ninth before control problems opened the door for the final WLC rally.
 
Jaquish got a pair of groundouts to end it, including an impressive scoop-and-toss with the glove only on a slow chopper to second base by senior pitcher Eric King – who was playing out of position at second base after head coach Scott Doffek had used a heavy dose of reserves in the late innings.
 
Up next, it's off to Chicago for an important three-game set against UIC. Game one Friday is set for a 6 p.m. first pitch.