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UWM Baseball Team Opens Busy Week Hosting Chicago State Tuesday

Games to be aired live on Time Warner Sports

May 5, 2008

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team will play seven games in five days this week, starting with a doubleheader at home against Chicago State Tuesday. The games, with first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m., will be aired live on Time Warner Sports - Channel 32 in the Milwaukee area. The team will then play its final non-conference game of the year Wednesday at UNI before hosting two league doubleheaders on the weekend. The Panthers welcome the first-place UIC Flames Friday for two games starting at 2 p.m. before hosting Butler in a noon twinbill Saturday to wrap up the weekend.

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UWM leads the all-times series with Chicago State by a 36-10 count, with the .783 winning percentage marking the highest that the Panthers hold against any opponent. UWM took three of four games played between the teams last season, outscoring the Cougars 33-7 in the three victories. The Panthers also swept a twinbill between the two teams April 9, winning 10-9 and 9-7. Tuesday will mark the first contests this season that will be broadcast on Time Warner Sports - Channel 32. Scott Warras and Bob Brainerd will be on the live call, starting at 3:05 p.m. UNI holds the 11-6 lead in the series with UWM, but these teams have met just once in the past six years - a 4-2 Milwaukee victory in March of 2006.

The Flames do lead the all-time series 45-34, taking four of six games played between the two squads a year ago and all three in one-run fashion when they played in late March of this year. Home-field advantage was nowhere to be found in 2007, as UWM took two of three at Les Miller Field and UIC swept the Panthers in three games at the "Hank". The Panthers carry the 43-23 all-time series edge with Butler, although BU has won four of the past nine meetings. Milwaukee won two of three at Butler in late March after the two teams split four games during the regular season a year ago.

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.

HART ON SEASON-LONG MISSION
Senior Jesse Hart is looking to put his name in the UWM record books in numerous spots over the course of his final season and two of those are approaching quickly. 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. 702, Jesse Hart	             2. 236, Jesse Hart
3. 692, Darin Haugom (1997-2001)     3. 220, Ross McCoy (2004-07)
4. 683, Charlie Reschke (2002-05)    4. 213, Charlie Reschke (2002-05)
5. 610, Chad Sadowski (1997-2000)    5. 197, Chad Sadowski (1997-2000)

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Chicago State will enter Tuesday at 7-41 overall and has gone 2-8 in its past 10 games after winning one of four (a 17-3 victory) against Evansville over the weekend. The team is batting .257 with a 7.68 ERA. Chris Goya leads the offense with a .352 average and has driven in 16 runs. Josh Appelbaum leads the way with 11 home runs and 38 RBI and is batting .296. Robert Vargas leads the starters with four wins and a 6.74 earned run average.

UNI is 25-18 overall and has been up and down this season. The "up" would be winning 20 of 23 games from March 15 through April 22. The "down" would come next, as the team has dropped seven of its last eight outings and will enter play Wednesday on a six-game skid. The Panthers can hit, as they carry a .310 team average and five regulars at .312 or higher. Brandon Douglas is having a great season, batting .395 in 43 games and leads the team with 42 runs scored, 73 hits, 22 doubles, four triples, 50 RBI, 118 total bases and .638 slugging percentage. Tim Flattery tops the staff with a 2.77 ERA and is 2-0 in a team-high 20 games, striking out 38 in 39.0 innings.

UIC had its weekend series with Cleveland State washed out and will not play midweek. The Flames will come to Milwaukee at 24-18 overall and are currently in first place in the league with their 11-5 mark. They have struggled of late, dropping five of seven, including four of their last six at home.

Steve McGuiggan leads the offense with a .373 average and has scored 34 runs and driven in 30. Brett Schaefer leads the way with six home runs and 39 driven in. On the mound, Derrick Miramontes leads the Horizon League in numerous categories in a season in which he has gone 5-1 in 14 games (10 starts), posting a 3.04 ERA and 32 strikeouts in 71.0 innings. Closer Adam Worthington has a 2.88 ERA and five saves.

Butler did not play on the weekend but will head to Louisville Wednesday. The Bulldogs are currently 10-28 on the season and 5-14 in league play. Joe Pauley is the lone batter over the .300 mark, batting .315 with a team-best 10 home runs and 35 driven in. The staff ERA is at 7.26 on the season.

LAST WEEK'S RECAP
Milwaukee put up a 2-3 mark in five games last week, improving to 2-0 against the Big Ten this season with a road win at Northwestern Wednesday before dropping two of three to Valparaiso on the weekend. The offense slowed down, batting .259 in the stretch, while the pitching staff recorded a 5.80 ERA.

Freshman Doug Dekoning stayed on fire, batting .533 for the week by going 8-for-15. He had a double, his first home run of the season, drove in three and also stole two bases. Junior Shawn Wozniak had at least one hit in each game to extend his hitting streak to 15 games. He ended the week with a .389 average, going 7-for-18 with six runs scored and five RBI's. On the mound, junior Craig Meier led the team with a 2.45 ERA and with three appearances.

SO HOW DOES THAT FIGURE?
Despite the 20-3 loss May 3 against Valparaiso, the UWM pitching staff equaled the program record of 15 strikeouts set March 30, 2003 against Northern Iowa. Freshman Cuyler Franzke got the start, fanning just one in 2.0 innings. Sophomore Tim Hoy added two in 2.0 innings and it took off from there. Senior Matt Holzheuter and freshman Brett Proud each went on to strike out five batters in their 2.0 innings of work and sophomore Zach Hoch took care of the rest. He struck out the first batter of the inning to get to 14 and the final batter of the frame to get to 15 and equal the mark.

THESE GUYS CAN HIT
With the team batting average hovering near .300 lately, a look at the line-up shows six different every day players with season averages over the .300 mark. Sophomore Shaun Wegner currently leads the team at .359 and has been the starting catcher in 36 games. Senior Nick Wichser is next at .353, having started all 45 games in the outfield. Junior Shawn Wozniak is third at .338, having started 42 games at first base. Freshman Doug Dekoning gives UWM two starting outfielders over the mark, as he is up to .330 on the year. Senior Jesse Hart is batting .320 and has started 43 games (mostly at second base) and junior Josh Groves is at .301 and has spent the majority of the season as the starting third baseman.

HART IN THE 200 CLUB; WICHSER UP NEXT
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. Senior Nick Wichser is now on pace to join that select group as well, as he has upped his career total to 183 entering play this week.

THIS "WOZ" GOOD; VERY GOOD
Junior Shawn Wozniak continues his impressive breakout junior campaign, as he has set new career-highs in runs (30), at bats (154), doubles (18) and runs batted in (33) while batting .338. He enters play this week on a 15-game hitting streak. In 50 games last year, Wozniak recorded 33 hits in 133 at bats (.248), scored 26 runs, hit four home runs and drove in 22. He currently has three home runs, so that may be the next category to fall.

FRESHMEN LEARNING CURVE
Freshman Doug Dekoning opened the season as one of the starting outfielders for the Panthers and has gone on to appear in 36 games, making 29 starts. After a slow start which saw him batting .173 at the end of March, the Dick Falk Award winner (high school player of the year in the state of Wisconsin) has raised his batting average to its current .330 and entered play this week having batted safely in 13 of his last 14 games. Over his last 14 contests, he has recorded 23 hits in 42 at bats (.548).

HIT PARADE
The Panthers combined for 40 hits in back-to-back games last week, accounting for 18 against Iowa April 22 and then 22 more in the opener against Wright State April 25. That marks the most hits that the UWM offense has had in consecutive games since collecting 41 in April of the 2006 season. That year, the Panthers tied the school record with 29 safeties against Chicago State April 12 and then added 12 more against Youngstown State April 15 for a two-game total of 41.

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 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.

DOUBLE ME UP - HART IS NEW CAREER LEADER
Hitting doubles has been a hallmark of the UWM offense, as the team has broken the season record in two-baggers five times in the past eight seasons. This year is no different, as they currently lead the Horizon League with 110 doubles and are on pace to break the record once again. Senior Jesse Hart has been the biggest contributor, as he leads the team with 21 entering play this week. With a double in the fourth inning against Northwestern April 30, he also broke the career record for two-baggers with No. 59. That eclipsed the former mark of 58, held by Ross McCoy (2004-07). As of last week's NCAA statistical release, Milwaukee ranked 11th as a team in doubles per game and 20th in overall doubles. Hart ranked ninth in the NCAA in total doubles and fourth in the NCAA in doubles per game. In addition to that, UWM has three of the top accumulators of doubles in the Horizon League: Hart is first with 21, junior Shawn Wozniak is fifth with 18 and senior Nick Wichser is sixth with 17.

HURTS SO GOOD
For a pair of Panther players, getting on base by any means can be a little painful at times. Junior Andy Gerhartz and sophomore Shaun Wegner lead the team in getting hit by a pitch this season, with both ranking in the top three in the league heading into play this week. Gerhartz has been plunked 15 times (tying for the league lead) and Wegner is now tied for third at 13. For the record, the UWM season mark is 26 by Clay Schwartz in 1997.

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 in numerous categories. Vesling has established career marks in at bats with 157 (was 99), runs with 22 (14), hits with 40 (25) and has already gone well past his RBI-total from last season (18) sitting at 27 after play this week. After batting .277 as a freshman, Wegner is currently at a team-leading .359 and is blowing by last season's totals of 18 runs (he currently has 24), 26 hits (has 37), and 13 RBI (has 18). In addition, he has picked four runners off base and thrown out 15 would-be base stealers.

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.

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 30-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
UWM closes out the regular season with a three-game series against Youngstown State, beginning with a doubleheader at Miller Park Thursday. The two teams will also play Friday at 1 p.m. at Henry Aaron Field.