WHITING, Ind. - Freshmen
Austin Schulfer and
Daulton Varsho each played key roles in helping the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team earn a gutsy 5-4 victory over UIC in 12 innings at the Horizon League Tournament Friday at Oil City Stadium.
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"We found a way to win again and it starts with our starting pitcher," Milwaukee head coach
Scott Doffek said. "Austin did not get a weekend start all year, but pitched some good quality innings midweek. You get a little taxed at this time in the tournament and he stepped up and threw the ball great. We left a small army of people on base all day and their (UIC's) defense is really, really good. They make you beat them and we hit into a couple of critical double plays. But, Schulf did a great job."
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The Panthers (38-19) knocked off the top-seeded Flames (29-22-1) to advance to Saturday's tournament championship against Wright State, going ahead on a suicide squeeze by Varsho and adding another on a safety squeeze by senior
Ryan McShane in the top of the 12
th.
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"We executed some small-ball stuff," Doffek said. "We work on it all the time and it paid dividends today."
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Playing their fourth game in three days, Milwaukee turned to a freshman on the mound and Schulfer (4-0) did not disappoint. The Horizon League All-Freshman nominee pitched into the ninth inning and was in command from start to finish. He ended up not factoring into the decision, but allowed just two earned runs in 8.0-plus innings, scattering six hits, walking one and striking out six. He faced the minimum though the most crucial part of the game, retiring the side in the fifth through eighth innings.
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Senior
Cody Peterson (3-2) ended up picking up the victory, doing so after getting out of a tricky situation of his own. He came on in the ninth with runners on first and second and nobody out, making an impressive bare-handed play on a sac bunt attempt to turn and fire to get lead runner at third by a step. He added a strikeout and a groundout to send it to extra innings.
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A quiet 10
th and 11
th followed and the 12
th was opened when junior
Mitch Ghelfi reached on an error. A hit batter and a walk loaded the bases with no outs and set the stage for Varsho, who executed the suicide squeeze perfectly, with Ghelfi emphatically pumping his fist after beating the throw home. McShane than followed suit, adding an important insurance run to make it 5-3 at the time.
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The latter part of the contest was looking like a case of missed opportunities, with UWM stranding 14 runners on base for the day. The team outhit the Flames, 14-to-9, led by McShane, who tied his career high with four hits. Junior
Luke Meeteer and senior
Sam Koenig each went 2-for-5. Senior
Tell Taylor and junior
Nick Unes were 2-for-4 and Varsho led the way with three RBI's.
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Down, 3-2, in the seventh, Milwaukee tied the game and looked to go ahead. A single by McShane and a hit batter started the rally. Koenig then legged out an infield single to load the bases, setting the stage for Ghelfi, who worked a walk to tie the game, 3-3. That forced a pitching change that proved crucial for UIC, getting a 6-4-3 double play to keep it knotted as the teams went to the seventh-inning stretch. The Panthers left the bases loaded in the ninth as well.
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Great defense stopped another possibility for the Panthers in the sixth. Taylor doubled with two outs and looked to score on Varsho's smash down the first base line. But, first baseman Alex Lee had other ideas, making a great play deep in the infield dirt and feeding the covering pitcher perfectly.
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Down early, the Panthers finally broke through in the top of the fourth, turning a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead when Varsho doubled off the wall with two outs to send a pair of Panthers scurrying home to go ahead on the scoreboard.
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That momentum was short-lived, however, as UIC responded by going back ahead by a run in the bottom of the fourth, helped along by an error and a big two-RBI hit off the bat of Conor Philbin.
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The Panthers looked to make some noise in the third following singles by McShane and Meeteer with just one out. But, Ian Lewandowski induced back-to-back fly balls to center field to extinguish the scoring threat.
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Koenig tripled with two outs in the first inning but was stranded on a great play by the UIC second baseman to end the frame. A tough catch by Unes in foul territory ended a Flames rally and limited the damage to just one run in the bottom of the second inning.
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With the win, the Panthers advance to play in the Horizon League Tournament Championship tomorrow. UWM will need to win twice against Wright State to claim the trophy and head to the NCAA Tournament and game one of the day is set for a 12 p.m. first pitch. With a win, the next game would start at approximately 4 p.m. at Oil City Stadium.
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