Feb. 24, 2010

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team begins the 2010 season this weekend, traveling south to Arkansas for a four-game series with Arkansas State University. The Panthers and Red Wolves open the season with a Friday night contest, scheduled for a first pitch of 6 p.m. CST.

The two teams will play a doubleheader Saturday and wrap things up with a single game on Sunday. The twinbill will get underway at 1 p.m. CST Saturday and the finale begins at 1 p.m. CST. All games will have live statistics available. ASU also has audio available on its website - www.astateredwolves.com - but please note that selection is a subscription-based option.

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The 2010 campaign will mark the 46th season of baseball at UWM. It is also the 41st season of varsity play (the program was played at the club level from 1982-1986) and the 20th in the Panthers NCAA Division I era. As a northern team that cannot practice outdoors before the start of the season, it is no surprise that Milwaukee does not have a great record in season openers. It is 4-15 in such contests at the Division I level, but did post a 2-0 victory over Saint Mary's (Calif.) in 2006 to snap what was an eight-game losing streak in openers.

A year ago, Milwaukee fell to Arizona State, ranked No. 6 nationally at the time. Friday will mark Scott Doffek's fourth opener as UWM head coach.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
It has been five years since the only other series between the two teams. Arkansas State took two out of three from UWM in March of 2005, with the Panthers winning the opener of that one by a score of 7-3.

UWM has not fared very well against current members of the Sun Belt Conference. In addition to going 1-2 against the Red Wolves, Milwaukee is 3-5 against Western Kentucky, 1-8 against Middle Tennessee State and 0-1 against New Orleans for a combined mark of 5-16 against the league.

The Red Wolves opened the season at home last weekend against Southern Illinois and defeated the Salukis in both games to win the series 2-0. ASU opened with a 14-5 win in Friday's game before clinching the series with a 5-3 win in Saturday's game before Sunday's game was rained out. In addition, the team fell to #24 Ole Miss, 3-2, Tuesday of this week. Experience returns all over the field as five position players and two weekend starters on the mound return from the 2009 team that missed the Sun Belt Conference tournament by just one-half game. Leading the way for ASU's returning position players are juniors Murray Watts and Todd Baumgartner. Watts, a second-team All-Sun Belt Conference selection a year ago as a utility player, is expected to see significant playing time at first base. He hit .305 on the year in 2009, raising his batting average over 50 points from his freshman season. He led the Red Wolves with 44 RBIs, 16 doubles and 10 home runs, was the team leader with a slugging percentage of .572 and was the Sun Belt Conference leader with 44 walks. Baumgartner led Arkansas State with a batting average of .350 a year ago.

PRESEASON NATIONAL SHOWINGS
Rivals.com predicted the Panthers to finish third in the league standings, following Wright State and UIC. The site also picked a preseason all-conference squad that included senior Tim Patzman and junior Doug Dekoning.

Collegebaseballinsider.com did not project an order of finish, but did select the Raiders as the team to beat. The website polled the league head coaches and came up with the following spots where UWM was represented:

~The best defensive outfielder is: Doug Dekoning, Milwaukee
~The three best pure hitters are: Casey McGrew, Wright State; Tim Patzman, Milwaukee; Quentin Cate, Wright State
~The three biggest power threats are: Quentin Cate, Wright State; Casey McGrew, Wright State; Tim Patzman, Milwaukee

The website CollegeBaseballToday.com projected Wright State as the favorite and Milwaukee and UIC as "contenders". It lists seniors Ben Long and Tim Patzman, juniors Doug Dekoning and Cole Kraft and sophomores Paul Hoenecke and Cameron Amsrud as all-conference candidates.

START THE COUNTDOWNS
Two historic victories should be within reach this spring, as the Panthers will enter the 2010 season 23 wins away from 500 at the NCAA Division I level as a program, currently sitting with 477 at the D-I level. Also, Scott Doffek starts the campaign 22 wins away from No. 100 as the UWM head coach.

2009 REWIND
Milwaukee recorded 25-plus wins for the 12th time in the past 13 years in 2009, a season in which head coach Scott Doffek was named Horizon League Coach of the Year after leading the Panthers to a second-place finish in the league standings.

Doffek's team had a league-high four first team all-league selections a year ago and set a school record by going 14-1 at home. That established new standards for home-game winning percentage (.933) and also with a 13-game home winning streak that will carry over into 2010. He has won 78 games in his first three seasons, a school record, after already establishing marks for most victories by a first-year head coach (25) and most after his first two seasons (50). He was rewarded with a new three-year contract following the season.

LET'S HIT THE ROAD...
The Panthers will be busy waiting for the snow to melt and Henry Aaron Field to be ready for them to play in Milwaukee. While that happens, they will be playing 20-straight road games to open the 2010 slate. That will seem easier compared to other seasons, as the record for longest season-opening road trip was set at 30 games in 2008.

The Panthers will travel over 6,300 miles over the course of the first five weeks of the season via plane or bus, visiting five different states (Arkansas twice, Minnesota, Tennessee, Kansas and Illinois twice) before playing their home opener March 30 against Parkside.

HOME SWEET HOME
The Panthers took the phrase "home field advantage" to a new level in 2009. In 15 games at "The Hank" and at Miller Park, Milwaukee went 14-1 and sported a .363 batting average and 2.98 ERA as a team (Note: UWM did lose a make-up game at Cleveland State in May as the `home' team). Seven regular starters batted over .300 and four were at .404 or higher. Senior Tim Patzman (.490) led the way with an impressive 25-for-51 showing, hitting six home runs and driving in 20 runs in the 15 games. Josh Groves (.429) was next, recording a .491 on-base percentage and scoring 15 runs. Third on the list was sophomore Paul Hoenecke, (.423), who batted 22-for-52 and knocked in 20 runs and scored 15 times. Shawn Wozniak (.404) was also over .400, going 19-for-47 and scoring 16 times with 14 RBI. UWM hit 19 home runs compared to just two for it's opponents. On the mound, the staff compiled a sparkling 2.98 ERA. Brad Lusti (2.88 ERA, 21 K's in 25.0 IP) and Andy Hetebrueg (2.74 ERA, 21 K's in 32.0 IP) were both 2-0 in three home starts.

JUMP RIGHT IN
Junior Doug Dekoning will be looking to find his offensive stroke quickly in 2010, as he will be carrying a 16-game hitting streak into the new campaign. He collected at least one hit in each of the final 16 team games in 2009, singling in his final at-bat of the year to keep the streak alive. Dekoning went 25-for-68 (.368) in that stretch.

No other player has a streak of more than three heading into the season: seniors Tim Patzman (3), Ben Long (2) and Shaun Wegner (1) and juniors Cole Kraft (1) and Sam Sivilotti (2) will all carry small active streaks into 2010.

DOESN'T YOUR ARM GET SORE?
Sophomore Cameron Amsrud will look to improve on a successful first year in a UWM uniform. He went 5-1 with a 4.94 ERA in 33 games as a freshman, with those 33 appearances finishing second in the Horizon League. That was quite a bit of work for a freshman, setting a record for the most-ever by a first-year pitcher in program history (previous record was 26). He worked 31.0 innings, striking out 21 batters and limiting opponents to a .257 average - the lowest on the squad of those with more than 20 innings pitched.

READY TO GO
Sophomore Paul Hoenecke stepped right in as a freshman last season, earning Horizon League All-Newcomer Team honors after batting .286 with 30 runs batted in. He appeared in 50 games, with his 46 starts the most for a UWM freshman since Ross McCoy made 50 back in 2004.

BASEBALL SEASON ALREADY
The February 26th start to the season is one of the latest in recent years. The last time a UWM team started later was in 2004 when Milwaukee opened the campaign at Kansas on March 5. Three of the four earliest starts to the season have taken place in the past five seasons.

1. 2006: February 10
2. 1999: February 13
3. 2007: February 16
4. 2009: February 20
5. 2003 & 1998 (tie): February 21

PRESEASON POLL
The Panthers were picked third in the 2010 Horizon League preseason baseball poll. The Panthers, picked third for the fourth-straight season, will look to improve on their second-place finish from a year ago. Wright State was the unanimous choice for the top spot after going 33-30 last season. It was also the Horizon League Tournament champion in 2009 and returns four all-league performers. The Raiders received six first place votes and 36 points.

UIC comes in second (31 points) and received the other first place vote. The Flames won their eighth-consecutive regular season title in 2009 before getting knocked off by WSU in the tournament championship. UWM sits just behind in third with 24 points after going 28-27 overall last year and taking second place in the regular season standings.

1. Wright State (6) - 36 points
2. UIC (1) - 31 points
3. Milwaukee - 24 points
4. Valparaiso - 22 points
5. Youngstown State - 15 points
6. Cleveland State - 12 points
7. Butler - 7 points

SUMMER "JOBS"
Thirteen members of the team spent the summer in different leagues around the country this past summer.

Junior Doug Dekoning and senior Nate Caldwell played for the Riverhead Tomcats this summer, one of six teams in Hamptons Collegiate Baseball. The HCB is a wood-bat summer baseball league located in the Hamptons in New York and part of the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League. The team went 22-19 overall, with Dekoning playing and starting in 33 games. He scored 15 runs and recorded 26 hits, five doubles and three home runs. He drove in 14 while also going a perfect 8-for-8 in stolen bases. Caldwell appeared in six games, making three starts. He went 3-1 with one save, striking out 17 batters in 22.1 innings of work.

Juniors Chad Pierce and Cole Kraft were members of the Fauquier Gators, playing in the Valley Baseball League in Virginia. The team finished 21-23, with Pierce finishing second on the team with his .299 batting average. In 27 games - 24 starts - he scored 11 runs, had 20 hits and drove in 13. Kraft batted .209 in 25 games, making 20 starts. He had 14 hits and scored seven times, knocking in seven runs and stealing five bases.

Senior Ben Long and sophomore Paul Hoenecke and Cameron Amsrud all played for different teams in the Northwoods League this summer, with Long earning South Division All-Star honors. Splitting time between the Madison Mallards and Wausau Woodchucks, Long batted .272 in 52 games, driving in 30 runs and his six home runs finished fifth in the league. Hoenecke was a member of the Green Bay Bullfrogs, batting .285 in 51 games. He drove in 25 runs on 47 hits, adding 10 doubles, two home runs and 16 runs scored. Amsrud was on the roster of the Mallards, seeing just 9.1 innings on the mound. He did strike out six in that time and also recorded a save.

Seniors Dan Buchholz and Jordan Herbert spent their summer in Newark, Ohio, helping the Licking County Settlers of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League to a 22-13 record. Buchholz had a banner season, earning First Team All-GLSCL honors after batting .313 in 31 games. He made 28 starts, threw out almost 40% of would-be base stealers while scoring 18 times, knocking in 19 runs and recording a .424 on-base percentage. Herbert saw action in four games, striking out four in 5.1 innings while allowing an opponent average of just .211.

Seniors Tim Patzman and Gabe Marshall and sophomore Greg Blohowiak all played for the Sheboygan A's in the Wisconsin State League, helping the team to a 33-23 overall record. Patzman continued his stellar play, leading the team with a .372 batting average, 48 runs, 77 hits, 37 RBI, 21 doubles, four triples and five home runs. He played in a team-high 52 games and also went 6-for-7 in stolen bases. Marshall saw action on the diamond and at the plate, going 2-4 in seven games, striking out 24 batters in 31.1 innings of work. He also hit .235 in 81 at bats on the season. Blohowiak was 3-4 on the season, striking out 50 batters in 57.2 innings of action over 11 appearances. He also batted .375 when called on in 24 at bats on the year.

ON TAP
Milwaukee continues its early season road trip with a midweek visit to Minneapolis for a game against the University of Minnesota. The Panthers and Golden Gophers will play a 6:35 p.m. contest Wednesday, March 3, in the Metrodome.