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Milwaukee Set For Weekend Showdown With First-Place Wright State

Play Iowa Tuesday before traveling to Ohio to take on Raiders

April 21, 2008

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team will travel to play Iowa University Tuesday before continuing its current road trip with an important series against Wright State University over the weekend. The Panthers and Hawkeyes will play a single game under the lights at 6 p.m. Tuesday before the team opens the three-game set against the Raiders Friday at 5:30 p.m. CST. The two teams will then play a doubleheader Saturday starting at noon CST at Nischwitz Stadium. WSU moved into first place in the Horizon League standings Sunday when it swept a doubleheader from UIC in Chicago.

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Milwaukee leads the series with Iowa by a 6-4 count, with the Hawkeyes sweeping a doubleheader the last time these two teams squared off during the 2005 season, winning 5-1 and 8-2. Those decisions snapped what was a six-game win streak that UWM had in the series. The non-conference match-up will be available on the Milwaukee website via Gametracker for fans that cannot make the trip.

The Panthers and Raiders have had their rivalry grow immensely over the past few years, with UWM holding a slim 32-29 lead in the all-time series after the teams played eight times last season with Milwaukee winning three times. Wright State beat the Panthers twice in the Horizon League Tournament last season in two slugfests: a 17-13 decision and a 12-11, extra-inning heartbreaker that ended UWM's season. All three games will be available on Gametracker and on WSU's Stretch internet broadcasts. The series will also be aired on the Horizon League Network. Sign-up for free at www.horizonleaguenetwork.org.

The 2008 campaign marks the 44th season of baseball at UWM. It is also the 39th season of varsity play (the program was played at the club level from 1982-1986) and the 18th in the Panthers NCAA Division I era.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Iowa will be the first Big Ten opposition UWM will play this season. The Hawkeyes are currently 14-21 after dropping three of four to Northwestern on the weekend. Prior to that series, the team had won five of its past six games. The two teams were actually scheduled to play during the 2007 season, but temperatures in the low-30's and high winds led to cancellation of the doubleheader.

Caleb Curry leads the offense with a .406 average and joins Justin Toole as the two players who have started every game this season. Curry has also scored 29 runs and has driven in a team-high 39. Toole is batting .382, has scored 36 times and has driven in 33 runs. The team is batting .307 overall and has six regulars batting .318 or better. On the mound, Andrew Porter has a team-best 2.40 ERA despite a 1-2 record in a team-high 22 appearances. Brock Alberts has a team-best seven starts and three wins, as well as 37.1 innings pitched and 31 K's.

The Raiders are red hot and moved into first place in the Horizon League standings this past Sunday when they swept a doubleheader from UIC in Chicago, winning huge by scores of 20-0 and 6-1. They are 9-2 in their last 11 games to improved to 18-16 overall and are also now at 9-4 in Horizon League play after the sweep of the Flames.

All-Horizon League first baseman Jeremy Hamilton leads the way, batting .422 with four home runs and 29 RBI's and leads the league with his .706 slugging percentage and .526 on-base percentage. Justin Parker is close behind at .406, has five home runs and has driven in 32 runs. The team leads the league with its .314 batting average. On the mound, Scott Ruthven is 3-1 with a 2.73 ERA in 12 games, striking out 23 in 29.2 innings. Rylan Ostrosky leads the starters with two wins and a 3.86 ERA.

TOUGH STRETCH YIELDS .500 RECORD
Having to play six games in six days is never easy on any pitching staff and the results came in with a 3-3 record, as the team swept Bradley in its home opener Tuesday before dropping three of four on the weekend in league action at Cleveland State Saturday and Youngstown State Sunday.

Junior Ben Long was the leading hitter, batting at a .500 clip with five hits in 10 at bats, scoring twice and driving in three. Junior Shawn Wozniak also chipped in with a .444 average, recording eight hits in 18 at bats and scoring four times. Senior Nick Wichser stayed red-hot, batting .409 for the week (9-for-22) with seven runs scored, three doubles, a home run and eight runs driven in.

On the mound, freshman Cuyler Franzke had the lowest ERA at 1.80 in his winning effort against Bradley Tuesday. Junior Andy Hetebrueg also won Saturday, tying his career-high with seven strikeouts. Seniors Ben McClarey and Adam Ferrell both threw well, with McClarey recording two scoreless outings and Ferrell notching a save and 2.45 ERA in two appearances.

AND THE BEAT GOES ON NO MORE...
Senior Nick Wichser saw his hitting streak end at 24 games in the first contest of a doubleheader at Cleveland State April 19. The streak will go down as the third-longest in program history, trailing only 32 and 27 game hitting streaks by Mike Goetz in 2006. Wichser did end up hitting safely in each of the other three games on the weekend, giving him hits in 46 of 51 games dating back to last season.

He ended the stretch with 16 multi-hit efforts in those 24 games, going 44 for 92 (.478) while scoring 28 runs and driving in 25 more.

FOR OPENERS
The Panthers now carry a 15-3 all-time record in home openers at the NCAA Division-I level after beating Bradley, 4-3, April 15. They had won 12-straight before falling to Butler, 5-2, in the home opener a year ago. The last defeat in a home opener prior to that was a 3-0 loss to Eastern Illinois in 1994. Furthermore, the Panthers are averaging nearly 10 runs a game in the past 13 openers, while allowing just four runs on average.

DOUBLE ME UP
Hitting doubles has been a hallmark of the UWM offense, as it has set a new team record in two-baggers five times in the past eight seasons. This year is no different, as they currently lead the Horizon League with 87 doubles and are on pace to set a new team record once again. As of last week's NCAA statistical release, Milwaukee ranked 12th as a team in doubles per game and 35th in overall doubles. Senior Jesse Hart ranked 13th in the NCAA in total doubles and sixth in the NCAA in doubles per game. In addition to that, UWM has three of the top five accumulators of doubles in the Horizon League: Hart is first with 18, senior Nick Wichser is second with 14 and junior Shawn Wozniak is fifth with 12.

OOPS, WE STILL WON
The Panthers tied a dubious team record against Chicago State April 9, making seven errors in a game to equal the team mark set April 21, 1991. The difference? UWM lost that first game in 1992 to UIC by a score of 9-4, yet somehow managed to record a 10-9 victory over the Cougars despite giving up nine unearned runs in the contest.

HART CLIMBING THE LADDER
Senior Jesse Hart has been busy at the plate lately, raising his batting average 98 points in the past 18 games while entering play this week on a 12-game hitting streak. He was batting .214 March 23 and is now at .312 after going 30-for-74 in the past 18 games, scoring 21 times, driving in 19 runs while also collecting 13 doubles and two home runs. Also, with his 18 doubles on the season, he now has double-figure totals in each of the past three years in that category and is on pace to break UWM season (23) and career (he has 56, record is 58 by Ross McCoy) marks for two-baggers.

HAIR-PULLING RESULTS
The three-straight one-run losses at UIC March 22-23 (9-8, 2-1 and 5-4) had been nearly unprecedented in the history of the Milwaukee baseball program since it went D-I for the 1991 season. Only one other time in history had the team lost three-consecutive games by one run each and it happened in that inaugural D-I 1991 campaign when it dropped a 6-5 decision to DeKalb March 26 before falling 3-2 and 2-1 to Southern Tech March 27 of that spring. To put that in perspective, that stretch of tough-luck decisions came over 875 games ago.

It took all of four games for UWM to have to go through a similar stretch, as it fell to Northern Illinois April 2, 3-2, before dropping 10-9 and 5-4 decisions at Southern Illinois on the weekend. Even more frustrating this time was that the losses all came in the final at-bat of the game each time. That has been the theme for UWM this year, as it dropped its first nine one-run games this season, but then regrouped to record victories in five-consecutive such decisions before losing 10-9 to Youngstown State Sunday.

OUR TURN
Senior Troy Vesling and sophomore Shaun Wegner have made the most of additional playing time this season, as each has already set career-highs, or is on pace, in numerous categories. Vesling has already established new career marks in at bats with 124 (was 99), runs with 17 (14), hits with 34 (25) and has already gone past his RBI-total from last season (18) and sits at 21 after play over the weekend. He is also hitting .282 this year after a .253 campaign a year ago. After batting .277 as a freshman, Wegner is currently at .338 and is on pace to blow by last season's totals of 18 runs (he currently has 19), 26 hits (has 23), and 13 RBI (has 13). In addition, he has picked three runners off base and thrown out 15 would-be base stealers.

HART IN THE 200 CLUB
Senior Jesse Hart joined a select group with his base hit against NIU April 2: players to collect 200 or more hits in a Panther career. Hart sat at 199 in his illustrious career heading into the game at Northern Illinois before lacing a double in his first at-bat. Only Darin Haugom (245), Ross McCoy (220) and Charlie Reschke (213) have more.

LET THE LEAGUE GAMES BEGIN!
Milwaukee is happy to see the start of conference play, as it has posted the best record in Horizon League games of any team since 1995, UWM's first year in the Horizon League/MCC. In that time, the Panthers have gone 168-113 (.597), while posting a 6-7 record in league openers.

DOUBLE (PLAY) VISION
The five double plays turned by the UWM defense March 28 versus Butler set a new school record and came close to the NCAA record of seven. The former mark of four has been tied on many occasions, including against Northern Illinois on May 2 of last season.

ROUNDING THIRD ... AGAIN
The 42 runs against Butler March 28-29 marked the most-ever for UWM in a three-game league weekend series and also the most it has scored in any weekend league series since plating 45 in a four-game set versus Detroit back in April of 2001. It was also the most runs scored in three-straight games since plating 49 in contests against Akron (W, 20-12 & W, 15-9) and Western Kentucky (L, 14-13) in March of 2006.

HART ON SEASON-LONG MISSION
Senior Jesse Hart will look to put his name in the UWM record books in numerous spots over the course of his final season. In addition to chasing career records in several categories, he will also look to become the first-ever Panther to bat over .300 in each of his four seasons in a Milwaukee uniform. Charlie Reschke (2002-05) was the last senior in line to give it a shot, but batted .287 his final season.

Hart, a career .342 hitter, batted an impressive .371 in 35 games as a freshman in 2005, .315 in 55 games as a sophomore and .360 as a junior a year ago.

		CAREER RECORDS CHASE
AT-BATS				HITS
1. 737, Ross McCoy (2004-07)		1. 245, Darin Haugom (1997-2001)
2. 692, Darin Haugom (1997-2001)	2. 223, Jesse Hart
3. 683, Charlie Reschke (2002-05)	3. 220, Ross McCoy (2004-07)
4. 665, Jesse Hart			4. 213, Charlie Reschke (2002-05)
5. 610, Chad Sadowski (1997-2000)	5. 197, Chad Sadowski (1997-2000)

READY FOR BUS RIDES AND MOTEL STOPS...
The Panthers were busier than ever while waiting for the snow to melt and Henry Aaron Field to be ready for them to play in Milwaukee. While that happened, they played 32-straight road games to open 2008, the most-ever to start a season in their NCAA Division I history. The previous record of 26 occurred in 2001.

The Panthers traveled more than 12,500 miles over the course of the first seven weeks of the season via plane or bus, visiting six different states (Florida, California, Louisiana, Tennessee, Illinois and Indiana), including two trips to Indiana and four separate road trips to Illinois.

PRESEASON SHOWINGS
Milwaukee was picked to take second in the Horizon League season preview put out by www.rivals.com, one spot ahead of UIC and behind league favorite Wright State. Three players made its Preseason All-Conference Team: seniors Jesse Hart (at 2B) and Nick Wichser (OF) and junior Josh Groves (3B). UWM was the only team to have three players on the list.

The preseason issue of Baseball America featured its 2008 College Preview as well. The Panthers were slotted for third in its version, behind UIC and, once again, WSU as the top pick. Hart and Groves appeared on the Preseason All-Conference Team.

GROVES GETTING `PUB'
Junior Josh Groves became the first Panther to ever be named to the College Baseball Foundation Brooks Wallace Award Watch List in December. The Wallace Award is presented annually to the nation's top collegiate baseball player.

Groves had a breakout season as a sophomore in 2007, leading the team with a .396 average while earning All-Horizon League First Team honors as a utility player to earn a spot on the list, which had its inception prior to the 2004 campaign.

Groves is one of just four players from the Horizon League to make the list, joining John Koehnlein of Youngstown State and the Wright State duo of Justin Parker and Jeremy Hamilton.

DOFFEK IN THE MIX
Milwaukee head coach Scott Doffek established a baseball program record last year for wins by a first-year coach with 25 victories, breaking the former mark of 21. The mark for most wins by a head coach in his first two seasons? That would be 44 by former skipper Jerry Augustine, with 21 in 1995 and 23 in 1996.

BIG SHOES TO FILL
The Panthers will look to replace four team members (three position players and one pitcher) that all earned Second Team All-Horizon League honors a year ago. The trio of position players (Ross McCoy, Rob Brockel, Grant Berkovitz) accounted for 618 at-bats and a composite .306 batting average, 110 runs scored and 102 runs batted in. The pitcher (Robert Michalkiewicz) led the squad in earned run average, wins, games started, innings pitched, shutouts and complete games and was second in strikeouts.

PROFESSIONAL PANTHERS
Another summer of baseball meant another summer of former Panthers playing professionally across the United States. Mike Goetz batted .318 for the Helena Brewers, the Rookie League affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. He scored 28 runs in 46 games, recording 27 runs batted in and stealing 11 bases before getting called up to the Huntsville Stars at the end of the season. Ross McCoy signed as a free agent with the Utica Brewmasters in the New York State League in June. After the short state league season was over, he was promoted to the Lincoln Saltdogs of the American Association on July 21 where he batted .302 in 29 games, scoring 11 times, recording seven doubles, one home run and drove in 12 runs. Joe Nowicki started the season with Frederick Keys of the Carolina League, going 2-for-3 in one game before being transferred to the Aberdeen Ironbirds for the remainder of the season. There he batted .283 on the season, hitting .330 in July. Nowicki hit eight home runs and drove in 41 in 69 games en route to being named to the New York-Penn League All-Star Game. Ben Stanczyk was a Florida State League All-Star with the Brevard County Manatees, recording a 7-4 record with three saves in 43 games. He started four times, striking out 71 batters in 78.2 innings.

PRESEASON POLL
The Panthers were picked third in the 2008 Horizon League preseason baseball poll. They will look to improve on their third place finish from a year ago, when they had their season come to a close in extra innings just one game away from the league tournament championship.

Wright State was the top pick to win the league in the vote of Horizon League head coaches. The Raiders went 36-22 last year, falling in the league tournament championship to UIC. They received 34 points and four of the seven first-place votes. UIC took a close second despite having won its sixth-straight regular season title in 2007 and third tournament crown in that span as well, advancing to the NCAA Tournament.

1. Wright State (4) - 34 points
2. UIC (3) - 32 points
3. Milwaukee - 25 points
4. Butler - 17 points
5. Youngstown State - 14 points
6. Cleveland State - 13 points
7. Valparaiso - 12 points

ON TAP
Milwaukee closes out the month of April with yet another busy week, returning home to play Northern Illinois on Tuesday. Then, it's off to Illinois for a midweek showdown at Big Ten foe Northwestern before returning back to Henry Aaron Field for a weekend series against first-year Horizon League opponent Valparaiso. The Panthers and Crusaders open the series Friday at 2 p.m. before playing a noon doubleheader Saturday.