WHITING, Ind. - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team got a strong start from junior Brian Keller and used a home run by junior Luke Meeteer to break open a tie game in cruising to a lopsided 14-2 victory over Valparaiso University in a Horizon League Tournament elimination game Thursday evening at Oil City Stadium.
 
The Panthers (37-19) shook off a slow start against the Crusaders (22-31) and never looked back, opening the floodgates to score 10-or-more runs for the second time in three games in the postseason.
 
"Good team win," UWM head coach Scott Doffek said. "I think once we got the lead, you could see everybody relax. Not that you relax like the game is over, but just relax in the box a bit and slow everything down. It was just one good at bat after another and that's how you put together big runs like we did. At this point, it doesn't matter who you are playing. You have to win one pitch at a time and figure out how to get through the first one."
 
Keller (4-6) settled in after a bit of a rough welcome, retiring 10 in a row starting with the final out of the second and throwing five scoreless frames to close out his performance on the night. He walked two and struck out three, allowing two runs on seven hits.
 
"Brian came out a little jittery, but he does what he does," Doffek said. "He doesn't beat himself and doesn't implode when things aren't going well. He put up ones in the first couple of innings instead of putting up crooked numbers and gave us a chance to stay in the ballgame and let our hitters take over."
 
Meetteer's home run highlighted an impressive display, finishing with two hits, four runs scored and a pair of stolen bases – one of home plate – upping his season total and improving his school-record tally to a Horizon-League leading 34 on the season.
 
Senior Derek Peake went 3-for-5, scored twice and drove in a pair. Classmate Sam Koenig added two hits, two RBI and scored three times. Junior Mitch Ghelfi was right behind with a 2-for-4 effort, also scoring twice and knocking in a pair. Junior Nick Unes was the final player with a multi-hit effort, going 2-for-4 while also driving in a pair.
 
A pitcher's duel and just 2-2 on the scoreboard in the fifth, Meeteer gave UWM its first lead of the night, blasting a 2-0 pitch deep to left center for his third home run of the season to stake his team to a 4-2 advantage in a huge rally that saw the team send 10 batters to the plate.
 
An RBI-single by Unes and RBI-double off the bat of senior Tell Taylor kept the merry-go-round going. A pair of sac flies added valuable runs and extended the advantage to 8-2. From there it was all Panthers the rest of the evening.
 
Milwaukee made up its second early one-run deficit in the third when Meeteer led off with a walk, stole his 33rd base of the season and came home easily on a double to right center by Peake.
 
Valpo jumped ahead but Milwaukee responded immediately, knotting the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the first when Ghelfi missed a home run by a foot and had to settle for a double.
 
An inning after leaving the bases loaded, Keller had to work out of trouble in the second as well. A heads-up double-play ended the frame, with the tag at second being applied just in front of a run scoring at home plate.
 
Of note overall, with five stolen bases on the day, the Panther season total gets upped to 97, breaking the school record of 93 set back in 2001.
 
With the victory, the Panthers live to play another day. They do know that they will play at 4 p.m. but do not yet know the opponent. That will be decided in Friday's noon contest, which pits No. 1 UIC vs. No. 2 Wright State. Milwaukee will take on the loser of that game.