MILWAUKEE - Following three tough losses in a span of less than 24 hours, the Milwaukee baseball team responded well in posting a 5-1 victory over UIC Sunday evening at Henry Aaron Field.
 
The Panthers (17-19, 7-7 Horizon League) dropped a heartbreaker in the opener to the Flames (17-21, 9-6 Horizon League), falling by a score of 3-2 in 12 innings before coming back to nearly blank UIC in the second game of the day.
 
"Game one was just a killer," Milwaukee head coach Scott Doffek said. "We really had a hard time scratching a run across. UIC's guy was good, our guy was really good. And we gave them an extra out in the 12^th inning and before you know it, we lose."
 
Elijah Goodman (1-0) came up big in game two, pitching a shutout into the eighth inning before finally allowing a run when an inherited baserunner by the bullpen found its way home on a balk.
 
"Just an outstanding start by Goodman," Doffek said. "That was his first start in a conference game and he was terrific. It was good to see. The runs that we ended up scoring [in the sixth] all came after two outs so that was encouraging to see. We have been having a hard time getting big two-out hits."
 
After a shaky first inning in which he got out of a bases-loaded, no-out situation with the help of a pair of strikeouts, the redshirt freshman really settled in and did his part to help UWM earn the victory.
 
He finished the day with eight strikeouts in 7.1 innings, scattering eight hits in allowing just the one run.
 
Billy Quirke paced an 11-hit attack by the offense, tying his season-high by piling up four hits. Eric Solberg was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs and Daulton Varsho finished 2-for-4 with a run scored, another driven in and a pair of steals. Luke Meeteer was on base three times with a hit and two walks and stole his team-high 15^th base.
 
Scoreless until the fourth, it was Varsho who came through with the first run of the game. He singled, went to second on Meeteer's hit and then stole third and raced home after the throw went into left field to make it 1-0.
 
It stayed that way until the sixth, when the Panthers came through with a huge rally that started with two outs and the bases empty. John Boidanis and Dan Barwick singled. Quirke drove in a run with a single through the right side and Solberg emptied the bases with a two-run triple to right center. Varsho then sent a laser up the middle to plate Solberg and make the score 5-0.
 
The Flames finally chased Goodman in the eighth, but Jake Sommers came on in relief to work the final five outs, allowing no runs and just one hit.
 
Milwaukee's Adam Reuss and UIC's Ian Lewandowski locked up in a pitcher's duel in the opener, with the game tied 2-2 from the fourth inning on.
 
Reuss tied his career-high with eight K's, giving up just one earned run in his 8.0 complete innings of work. UIC recorded just four hits off Reuss in his 126-pitch outing.
 
Lewandowski went the first seven innings, allowing five hits and two runs, striking out four.
 
UWM struck first, plating runs on Meeteer's groundout and Varsho's sac fly to grab a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third.
 
The lead was short-lived, however, with Cody Bohanek knocking in a pair and making it a new game in the top of the fourth.
 
It stayed that way until late. Milwaukee had a runner on second with one out in the 10^th but could not score. UIC took advantage of an error and a hit batter with the bases loaded to take the lead in the top of the 12^th and Milwaukee could not answer. Meeteer walked with two outs and stole second, but after Varsho was intentionally walked for the third time in the game, Trevor Lane got a strikeout to end it.
 
Meeteer finished with two hits, as did Boidanis. Varsho added a sac fly and was officially 0-for-1 on the day but broke the school record with the three intentional walks in a game and tied the school mark with four walks overall (set three other times, most recently by Andy Hetebrueg in April of 2007).
 
Cal Haley (1-1) suffered the hard-luck loss despite setting a career high by fanning seven batters in his 3.2 innings of work. Jake Tuttle also had a K, giving Milwaukee 16 on the day to equal the school record for most strikeouts in a game (also had 16 against Wisconsin Lutheran in April of 2015).
 
Up next, the Panthers welcome MSOE for a Tuesday matinee, set to start at 3 p.m.