April 29, 2008

EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern hosts the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Wednesday in a mid-week matchup at Rocky Miller Park. First pitch is set for 3 p.m.

Gametracker can be accessed at NUsports.com, while a live audio webcast can be found at http://sports.wnur.org.

Series History: Northwestern leads 17-4.
Last Meeting: The Wildcats defeated the Panthers 10-7 April 24, 2007 in Evanston. Mike Kalina had two doubles and two RBI for NU.

The Wildcats are coming off a series split with Ohio State over the weekend. The Buckeyes won the opening game 11-2 Friday night before NU rallied back to earn a 6-4 victory in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader. OSU took the nightcap of the twinbill 13-1 before Northwestern earned the split with a 14-8 triumph Saturday.

Chasing History
Northwestern senior second baseman Jake Owens collected a team-high eight hits last week to surge past Mark Loretta (2000-03) into sole possession of second place on the school's career hits list. Owens enters Wednesday's contest with 240 career hits, 20 shy of Tom Hildebrand's NU record. After posting a single-season record 85 hits last season, Owens ranks second on the team with 49 hits through 35 games this year. He ranks third on the squad with a .338 batting average and 27 runs batted in. He currently sports a 12-game hit streak. The Stevens Point, Wis., native hit safely in each of the team's 13 games this year. Coupled with collecting hits in each of last nine games of the 2007 season, Owens hit safely in 22 straight games. A year ago, Owens set a school single-season record with 85 hits while starting all 54 games. The total surpassed Pat McMahon's previous mark of 82 set in 2005. Owens recorded 75 hits as a sophomore - the ninth-best mark in school history. Prior to the season, Owens was one of nine Big Ten players named to the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List for national player of the year consideration.

Scouting UW-Milwaukee
• The Panthers enter Tuesday home contest against Northern Illinois with a 14-26 season record, including a 6-10 mark in Horizon League play. Milwaukee dropped two of three contests at Wright State last weekend.

• Jesse Hart is one of three Panther players with at least 16 doubles this season, leading the way with a team-high 20. Nick Wichser leads UWM with a .390 batting average, six home runs and 40 RBI. Jordan Herbert, Wednesday's probable starting pitcher, is 0-6 with a 8.13 ERA in 2008.

• Milwaukee's only other Big Ten foe it has faced this season is Iowa which it defeated 13-5 in Iowa City April 22.

Up Next...
Northwestern makes the trip south to Champaign this weekend as it faces Illinois in a pivotal Big Ten series. The Fighting Illini enter play this weekend in third place in the Big Ten, one game in front of the fifth-place Wildcats.