UW-Milwaukee Splits with IPFW in Wednesday Baseball Doubleheader

May 19, 2005

IPFW 6, UW-Milwaukee 4
UW-Milwaukee 5, IPFW 4

MILWAUKEE-Junior Joe Nowicki hit a bases loaded single in the bottom of the seventh inning of game two to help the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team to a doubleheader split against IPFW Wednesday night at Henry Aaron Field. The Panthers (21-26) took game two, 5-4, after falling to the Mastodons (24-24), 6-4, in game one.


In the seventh inning of game two, with the score knotted at 4-4, senior Steve Sanfilippo doubled to left center to lead off the inning. Junior Mike Goetz was intentionally walked and both runners advanced on a sacrifice bunt by junior Jeremy Wilson. Another intentional walk, this time to junior Zak Rivera, loaded the bases with one out. Nowicki followed with a single to the gap in right center, scoring Sanfilippo with the winning run.


Sophomore Mike Rauwerdink pitched five scoreless innings in the start, working out of jams in the second, third and fourth innings to strand eight Mastodon base runners. The Sheboygan native struck out three and scattered five hits and three walks on the day. Juniors Korey Keller and Jed Dolske each allowed two runs, including a pair of sacrifice flies off Dolske in the seventh inning to tie the game at 4-4. Dolske (2-1) picked up the win in relief after his first blown save in nine attempts.


The Panthers scored twice in the third inning for the second time on the day, once again taking the 2-0 lead. Goetz walked to lead off the frame and moved to third as senior Brooks Graff followed with a single on a well executed hit-and-run. Goetz then scored on a wild pitch, while Graff came around on a double to the wall by junior Joe Nowicki.


Milwaukee made it 4-0, pushing across single runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Sophomore Ross McCoy reached on a two-out infield single and moved to second on a wild pitch in the fourth. After a walk to Sanfilippo, Goetz lined a single to left field. Sanfilippo was thrown out attempting to take third, but not until after McCoy crossed the plate for UWM's third run of the game. The Panthers tallied one more run in the fifth, as Graff led off and reached second on an errant pick off attempt. Rivera flew out to deep right field, scoring Graff from second with some heads up base running.


IPFW dodged the shutout with a two runs in the sixth inning. Nick Millspaugh walked to lead off the inning and stole second. After advancing to third on a wild pitch, he scored on a single by Brent Alwine. Back-to-back singles followed, scoring Alwine and making it 4-2.


Nowicki finished with three hits and two RBIs in game two, while Graff also had two hits and scored twice.


Trailing 2-0 in game one, the Mastodons put up five runs in the top of the fourth inning to take a 5-2 lead. They walked the bases loaded against UWM starter Robert Michaelkiewicz (3-5) and Zach Walton and Tyler Fowler followed with back-to-back RBI singles to tie the game. They then went up, 3-2, on Alwine's sacrifice fly to right field and, after reloading the bases with the fourth walk of the inning, Caleb Smith made it 5-2 with a two-run single to left.


UWM had broken through first, in the third inning, scoring a pair of runs for the early 2-0 lead. Goetz led off with a bunt single. He immediately scored on Wilson's second hit of the game, a double to the gap in right-center field. Wilson moved to third on senior Charlie Reschke's bloop single to right field and scored on a delayed double steal.


The Panthers added a pair of runs in the fourth inning to cut the deficit to 5-4. Freshman Jesse Hart singled to start the frame and McCoy followed with a triple to the gap in right-center. McCoy scored on a ground out to the shortstop by senior Shane Davis.


Michalkiewicz absorbed the loss, throwing 3.2 innings and allowing five runs on five hits and five walks, while striking out three. Junior Rick Cavaiani threw 3.1 innings, allowing just one hit, an unearned run in the fifth, and finishing with three strikeouts of his own.


From the plate, Wilson led the way, finishing 4-for-4 with an RBI and run scored, while McCoy and senior Blake Kangas each finished with two hits in the first game.


Wednesday was Senior Day, as it was the games were final home games for seniors Davis, Graff, Kangas, Reschke, Sanfilippo, Brent Buechel and Cory Kleeba. The seven players were honored on the field between games.

Miami (Ohio) 9, Wright State 3

FAIRBORN, Ohio - A beautiful night at Nischwitz Stadium played host to an in-state battle, as the Wright State baseball team took on the RedHawks of Miami (Ohio). The RedHawks took the non-conference tilt by a final score of 9-3.


The Raiders scored their first run in the fourth inning when Travis Migliorini roped a single up the middle to plate Brian Shoup. Paul Majestic hit is sixth home run of the season in the sixth inning and along with a Migliorini sacrifice fly the Raiders rounded out their scoring.


Getting the start for the Green and Gold was southpaw Kyle Kearcher who threw six innings, surrendering eight runs, seven earned, on eleven hits. Kearcher didn't walk a batter and struck out four in the loss which drops his record to 3-5 on the year.


On the day Ross Oeder and Justin Wilson each chipped in two hits, with Migliorini driving in two RBI in the game. Majestic drove in the other Raider RBI and chipped in a hit, with John Kopilchack and Shoup rounding out the offense with one hit a piece.

Purdue 16, Cleveland State 4
EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio - A 2-0, second-inning CSU advantage was not nearly enough to hold of Purdue at Forest Hill Park on Wednesday (May 18), as the Boilermakers put the game away with 16 runs in the next six innings to top the Vikings, 16-4.


Things looked good early on for the Vikings, as CSU starter Nathan Schaefer held Purdue to a lone single in the first two innings.


Meanwhile, Cleveland State rallied for a pair of runs in the bottom of the second with three straight hits to start the inning. Dominic Erney led off with a double down the right field line, moved to third on a single by Marc Sikora and came in on a single right center by Jeff Katlen. Sikora then tallied the second run on a ground out to short by Josh Geric for a 2-0 lead.


The lead would be the last for the Vikings, however, as Purdue struck for three in the third and six in the fourth to go ahead 9-2.


A two run home run by Katlen in the bottom of the fourth would cut the deficit to 9-4, but the Boilermakers would cross the plate seven more times in the next four innings to put the game out of reach.


Sikora finished the game 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored, while Katlen would drive in three on two hits.


Purdue rapped out 20 hits on the day, led by Matt Bush, who went 4-for-5 with a home run and two RBI, and Mitch Hilligoss, who drove in five runs on a pair of hits. Meanwhile, reliever Skyler Young held CSU to two hits in three innings of work.


The loss sends the Vikings to 10-33 on the season, while Purdue improves to 22-27 overall. Schaefer took the loss to drop to 1-4, while Jay Buente moves to 2-2 with the win.

Pittsburgh 16, Youngstown State 2

PITTSBURGH - The Youngstown State baseball team trailed Pitt 12-0 after four innings and never recovered losing 16-2 on a sunny Wednesday afternoon at Trees Field in the final non-conference game of the year for both teams.


The Penguins (25-24) have lost eight straight games and have dropped nine of their last 10 overall contests. The Panthers (28-20) snapped a two-game losing streak with the win over the Guins.


Pitt greeted YSU starter Matt Gnacinski (1-1) with a pair of doubles to open the game tallying a run in the first when Jimmy Mayer knocked home Ben Copeland. Mayer finished the contest with three doubles and six RBI. Copeland scored four runs on three hits, including two doubles.


In the second, the Panthers scored five runs to go ahead 6-0. In the third, the onslaught continued as Pitt scored three more runs and knocked Gnacinski from the contest after he surrendered eight runs on seven hits and four walks. Freshman Joe Johnson came in to relieve Gnacinski and allowed four runs on five hits in 1.2 innings.


Freshman Chuck Schiffhauer was YSU's most effective pitcher of the afternoon allowing only two hits in three scoreless innings to keep the Panthers at bay. Freshman Ryan Sellman pitched the eighth allowing four runs, but just one was earned.


YSU avoided the shutout with two outs in the top of the ninth when Jason Coffey doubled to left center scoring Eric Diedrich and Dustin Thomas.


The Penguins finished with seven hits on the afternoon, two of which were by Diedrich. Pittsburgh finished with 18 hits on the afternoon, nine of which were doubles.


The Panthers' Chad Baker improved to 2-0 with the win pitching six scoreless innings while surrendering just four hits.