Senior Matt Holzheuter
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UWM Faces UIC In Horizon League Opener Friday
Teams battle in Chicago Friday and Saturday
March 19, 2008
This Week In Milwaukee Baseball
GAME #15
• UWM (3-11) vs. UIC (5-7)
• Les Miller Field, Chicago, Ill.
• Fri., March 21 at 4:05 p.m.
• UIC leads series, 42-34
• UWM RHP Adam Ferrell (1-1) vs. UIC RHP Grant Kohlstaedt (2-1)
GAME #16
• UWM (3-11) vs. UIC (5-7)
• Les Miller Field, Chicago, Ill.
• Sat., March 22 at 12:05 p.m.
• UWM RHP Brad Lusti (1-1) vs. UIC RHP Mike Kool (1-2)
GAME #17
• UWM (3-11) vs. UIC (5-7)
• Les Miller Field, Chicago, Ill.
• Sat., March 22 at 3:05 p.m.
• UWM RHP Andy Hetebrueg (0-4) vs. UIC RHP Derrick Miramontes (1-0)
NOTE: UIC is scheduled to play two games Wednesday night against Purdue-North Central
Horizon League play begins this week for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team, as it heads south to Illinois to play the University of Illinois at Chicago for three games starting Friday.
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Friday's action gets underway at 4:05 p.m. at Les Miller Field - an hour later than the original 3:05 p.m. start. The two teams will then play a scheduled doubleheader on Saturday, with game one beginning at 12:05 p.m. The Flames do lead the all-time series 42-34, taking four of six games played between the two squads a year ago. 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 three-game series will be available in a couple of different ways if fans are not able to make it down to Chicago this weekend. Follow along with the action via Gametracker on UWM's website at www.uwmpanthers.com. Or, click on the "Listen Live" link on the UWM schedule page to listen along on UIC's Stretch Internet Radio, with Adam Levinson on the play-by-play.
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
Winners of the last six regular season championships and three of the last five tournament crowns, UIC is one of the teams to beat in the Horizon League and stands in at 5-7 with two games against Purdue-North Central scheduled for Wednesday night. They are also just one of 16 schools across the country to have won 35 or more games in each of the last six seasons.
The 2008 roster consists of plenty of new faces, as 10-year skipper Mike Dee needs to replace the loss of seven starting position players and the entire starting staff from last year's NCAA Regional team. The league's coaches even pegged the Flames for second place this year, the first time in five years that UIC was not the circuit's preseason favorite.
The Flames are 5-4 after dropping a three-game set to open the season at Tulane. Included in their early-season resume is a victory over No. 5 Vanderbilt March 6 and two wins in three games against Big Ten foe Northwestern. New names lead the offense, with Steve McGuiggan batting a team-high .364 with two home runs and a team-high nine runs batted in. Tony Altavilla (.353) and returnee Jake Carr (.303) add to the list of players batting over .300 on the year. On the mound, Grant Kohlsteadt is off to a nice start, as the senior is 2-1 in four starts with 17 K's in 25 innings of work.
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. A year ago, Larry Gempp's walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning gave UIC a 9-8 victory over the Panthers. UWM held an 8-6 lead in the eighth but could not hold off the Flames.
SO MUCH FOR "LET'S GO PEAY"
It took a trip to Clarksville, Tenn., to wake up the Milwaukee bats, as the team recorded at least 12 safeties in each game last weekend, including a season-high 17 hits in Friday's opener. All in all, the Panthers batted .347 as a team in taking two of three from Austin Peay State University, winning the first two games by scoring 10 or more runs (12-7 in the opener and 10-5 in game two). Mistakes hurt the team in going for the sweep Sunday, falling 6-4 in the finale.
Senior Nick Wichser and junior Ben Long each batted .500 in the series, with Wichser going 6-for-12 with four runs scored and five runs batted in. Long went 4-for-8 with three driven in. Sophomore Tim Patzman (.444), junior Shawn Wozniak (.333), freshman Cole Kraft (.333) and senior Troy Vesling (.308) gave UWM six players with averages over .300 on the weekend. The 41 hits raised the team batting average 30 points on the season.
On the mound, junior Brad Lusti turned in a nice outing Saturday, striking out seven in 6.0 innings in getting the win. Senior Adam Ferrell also picked up a win Friday with a four-inning outing in relief. Senior Matt Holzheuter added two more scoreless appearances, upping his season total to five games without allowing a run. Friday's win was also a big one, since it snapped what was a nine-game losing streak that Milwaukee had in the series - a streak that dated back 13 years to the 1995 campaign.
TOP OF THE LINE
Now that he has enough innings pitched to qualify for the league statistics, senior Adam Ferrell moves to the front of the line with his 2.51 earned run average. In his 14.1 innings this season, Ferrell has struck out 11, walked just three and allowed just four earned runs. He is one of just three league pitchers with ERA's under three so far this season.
RED-HOT STRETCH
Senior Nick Wichser has been a force offensively for the past six games: he has at least one hit in all six contests and multi-hit efforts in four. After starting the season 4-for-28, Wichser has recorded 11 hits in his last 23 at-bats (.478), scored six runs and driven in 10.
GUNNING `EM OUT
Sophomore catcher Shaun Wegner is off to a fast start throwing out base runners this season. In his eight starts, he has already thrown out eight runners trying to steal out of the 21 (38.1%) who have attempted to run on him.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE ANALYSIS
Milwaukee's 1-10 start was very uncharacteristic of the team. However, a closer look at the four teams that UWM had lost to at that point in the season was a better measuring stick for reasons why. On March 10, the four teams were 36-10 for a .783 winning percentage. Centenary was 9-2, Saint Mary's was 8-3, UNC-Wilmington was 9-4 and Jacksonville was 10-1.
According to the baseball statistics and analysis website www.boydsworld.com, the Panthers had the 10th-highest strength of schedule for games played through March 10.
1. Duquesne
2. San Diego
3. Stanford
4. Cal State Fullerton
5. Texas Christian
6. San Diego State
7. Loyola Marymount
8. Oklahoma State
9. Siena
10. Milwaukee
WHAT? ME WORRY?
History for the Panthers proves that a slow start is not indicative of the way the rest of the season will go. Last year, the team finished 25-18 after a 14-game skid at the start of the season. In 2006, the team started 1-5 after its first six games before going 31-20 the rest of the way. In 2001, the Panthers went 39-18 overall after a 1-5 start. Lastly, and most impressively, they went 30-16 to finish 30-24 in 2000 after an 0-8 start.
READY FOR BUS RIDES AND MOTEL STOPS...
The Panthers will be 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 happens, they will be playing 27-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. UWM will take it as a good sign - the team went 15-11 in those 26 games in 2001 and also had a nine-game win streak in that stretch.
The Panthers will travel more than 12,000 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.
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. 220, Ross McCoy (2004-07)
3. 683, Charlie Reschke (2002-05) 3. 213, Charlie Reschke (2002-05)
4. 610, Chad Sadowski (1997-2000) 4. 197, Chad Sadowski (1997-2000)
5. 579, Jesse Hart 5. 191, Jesse Hart
PRESEASON SHOWINGS
Milwaukee was picked to take second in the Horizon League season preview put out by www.rivals.com last month, 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.
GOING YARD EARLY
When junior Josh Groves hit two home runs in the opener, it marked the first time a UWM player ever had a multi-HR effort in the first game of the season.
Other multi-HR games that came early include:
Game 2 of season:
--Randy Wilke, 3/1/92: 2 HR vs. Indiana
Game 9 of season:
--Brett Huebner, 3/20/00: 2 HR vs. Jacksonville State
Game 11 of season:
--Scott Gillitzer, 3/22/00: 2 HR vs. Samford
Game 13 of season:
--Todd Ludwig, 3/17/99: 4 HR vs. Tennessee Tech
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 plays its first midweek game of the season, heading to Indiana for a non-conference match-up with Notre Dame Wednesday. Then, it's a return trip to Indiana for the weekend, squaring off with Butler for a Horizon League series on the weekend.
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