MILWAUKEE - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team outhit Wright State University by a 14-to-9 count, but stranded 14 runners on base in a 7-1 loss Friday afternoon at Henry Aaron Field.
 
The Panthers (30-17, 12-12 Horizon League) also helped out the Raiders (33-13, 17-7 Horizon League) early, making a pair of errors that opened the doors for three unearned runs and a 4-0 deficit after just three innings.
 
"We beat ourselves early in the game for sure," UWM head coach Scott Doffek said. "Didn't throw strikes, didn't defend well behind him – and that's a good team that you cannot fall behind. It's tough to come back against a team like that, because they are not going to beat themselves."
 
Milwaukee recorded 14 hits, led by 3-for-4 days at the plate by senior Ryan McShane and sophomore Eric Solberg. McShane scored the only run and Solberg had the RBI.
 
Senior Derek Peake was 3-for-5, while senior Mike Porcaro and junior Mitch Ghelfi each added two hits. The pair of hits for Porcaro put him on the doorstep of career hit No. 200, now sitting at 199.
 
"I actually thought we swung the bats really well, we just did not do a good job of putting together mature at bats with runners in scoring position," Doffek said. "We expanded the zone and got them out of some big situations. We were too aggressive when the pressure was on them and when you do that it is hard to find holes. You have to give them credit too, they put together good sequences of pitches when they had to and really beat us in all phases."
 
Mitch Roman paced WSU with three hits, including a home run, driving in a pair and scoring twice.
 
Junior Brian Keller (3-6) suffered the loss despite allowing just two earned runs over his 7.0 innings of work. Luke Mamer (3-2) picked up the victory, throwing 5.0 shutout frames. He struck out five and worked around nine hits.
 
Game two of the series gets underway at 1 p.m. Saturday from Henry Aaron Field.