April 7, 2009

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team will now continue the current homestand for five more games this week. Due to the field conditions at Chicago State University, the Panthers and Cougars are now playing Tuesday's doubleheader in Milwaukee at Henry Aaron Field instead of down in Chicago. Then, on the weekend, the homestand continues with three originally-scheduled contests against Wright State University Friday and Saturday. Game one of the non-conference twinbill starts at 3 p.m. Tuesday, while first pitch is slated for 1 p.m. Friday at the "Hank". UWM and the Raiders then close out the weekend with a noon doubleheader Saturday.

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The Panthers lead the all-time series with Chicago State by a count of 37-11, its highest winning percentage (.771) against any opponent in program history. UWM won three of four match-ups in 2008 and have won seven of the past 10 overall.

Milwaukee is 34-31 all-time against Wright State, just one of two Horizon League members with a winning record against WSU all-time. The Raiders did take two of three during the regular season in 2008, but UWM posted a convincing 20-3 victory in the league tournament.

The 2009 campaign marks the 45th season of baseball at UWM. It is also the 40th season of varsity play (the program was played at the club level from 1982-1986) and the 19th in the Panthers NCAA Division I era.

SCHEDULE UPDATE
After losing a couple of games due to the weather this spring, the Panthers have added one contest to their home slate. UWM will now host Wisconsin Lutheran College in one game, scheduled for a 5 p.m. start April 15 at Henry Aaron Field.

Also, Milwaukee and Chicago State flip-flopped venues and dates for their two series this season. With the April 7 doubleheader now being played in Milwaukee, that means the April 21 doubleheader that was scheduled for Henry Aaron Field will now be played in Chicago.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Chicago State is 3-25 on the year and has won two of its past 10 outings, but one of those was a 6-4 victory over then-No. 17 Pepperdine March 21. This past weekend, the Cougars split with Urbana Friday before getting a twinbill cancelled Saturday.

Patrick Hernandez leads the offense with a .354 average, while Michael Carpen is at .308 and Austin McDowell at .306. Matt Haug leads the squad with 12 runs batted in. The team is batting .237 overall and the staff currently carries a 13.74 earned run average.

Wright State went 30-23 a year ago and finished second in the Horizon League standings. It returns four of its six all-league selections, including three of five first-team honorees. Jon Durkett (P), Jeff Mercer (DH) and Gerald Ogrinc (C) were all named first team, while RJ Gundolff was tabbed for second team honors. The Raiders set school records for batting average (.323) and slugging percentage (.499) in 2008. The team sits at 15-16 after taking two of three from LeMoyne this past weekend and hosts Cincinnati Tuesday before traveling to Milwaukee. Mercer does lead the team with a .362 average and 34 runs batted in, with Casey McGrew close behind with his .333 clip and 25 RBI. Rylan Ostrosky (3-2, 2.81 ERA) and Alex Kaminsky (2-2, 3.38 ERA) lead the staff. One of the highlights in 2009 was an 8-5 win over then-No. 1 Georgia March 24.

WELCOME TO OUR HOUSE
After posting a 6-3 victory in the 2009 home opener over UIC, the Panthers are now 16-3 all-time record in home openers at the NCAA Division-I level. A year ago, Milwaukee beat Bradley, 4-3, after trailing 3-0 early. It had won 12-straight before falling to Butler, 5-2, in the home opener in 2007. 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 close to 10 runs a game in the past 14 openers, while allowing just under four runs on average.

LAST WEEK'S RECAP
The Panthers went 2-2 in four games last week, falling to Northern Illinois midweek before taking two of three on the weekend against first-place UIC. The team had a good week at the plate and on the mound, batting a collective .319 while also recording a 4.63 staff ERA.

Senior Josh Groves led the way at the plate, continuing his hot hitting with a .429 week, going 6-for-14. Right behind was junior Tim Patzman, batting .412 (7-for-17) for the week with a home run and team-high five driven in. On the mound, the Panthers received strong starting efforts from seniors Brad Lusti (complete-game four hitter, striking out six and walking one) and Andy Hetebrueg (two earned runs in seven innings, striking out eight and walking two).

TOPPING THE CHARTS
It may be early, but Milwaukee has two players topping the league leaders in two different categories each. Senior Josh Groves continues to lead the league in hitting, batting .408 at this point in the season to be the only league player over the .400 mark. He also tops the charts in on-base percentage, and is the only league member over .500 in that category (.506). Senior Andy Gerhartz leads the league with 10 stolen bases and with 10 hit-by-pitches.

A REAL GUNNER
Junior Shaun Wegner has done a very impressive job in challenging base runners when he gets the start behind the plate this season. He has thrown out 11 of 28 would-be base stealers and picked one other off base.

DOUBLE-DUTY
Senior Andy Hetebrueg showed off his skills at the plate and on the mound April 4 against UIC. In game one, he entered the game as a substitute and went 2-for-2 with two line-drive base hits. Then, in game two, he helped give UWM the series win with a brilliant performance on the mound, striking out eight and walking just two in seven strong innings on the hill.

TEARING IT UP IN LEAGUE PLAY
Through six league games, a look at the statistics reveals some impressive trends. After playing two series against first-place UIC and third-place Valparaiso, the team is batting .304, with senior Josh Groves pacing the offense with an impressive .522 clip, collecting 12 hits in his first 23 league at bats. Close behind is sophomore Doug Dekoning, who has warmed up recently and is batting .423 (11-for-26) in league play. On the mound, weekend starters Brad Lusti and Andy Hetebrueg are off to a quick start as well. The senior hurlers are a combined 3-0 with 27 strikeouts and just four walks in a total of 30.1 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 179-128 (.583), while posting a 6-8 record in league openers. A year ago, UIC topped the Panthers, 9-8, in winter-like conditions in Chicago.

TOUGH EARLY SCHEDULE
The Panthers sat at 3-8 through 11 games on the season, but if you take a look at the schedule, they played ranked teams in seven of 11 games to that point and had the 36th-highest strength of schedule in the country after those 11 games. The teams that UWM had lost to at that point had combined for an overall record of 25-8. Arizona State (11-1) had risen as high as No. 4 in the polls, Louisville (8-4) remained at No. 25 and Eastern Illinois was 6-3 on the season.

NOW THAT IS WHAT THEY CALL A TEAM EFFORT
Milwaukee did a lot of things right on offense to record the 19-11 victory over #25 Michigan Feb. 27, but one look at the box score will show that it was a true "team" effort. Every starter had at least one hit and scored at least one run, while every spot in the batting order also drove in at least one run.

LONG STREAK COMES TO A CLOSE
Milwaukee was shut out Feb. 22 for the first time in nearly two years. The 11-0 loss to ASU marked the first time the UWM offense had been held without a run since a 14-0 loss at Austin Peay on March 11 of 2007 - a span of 112 games. That established a school record, breaking the former mark of 98 games covering the final 21 games of the 2001 season, all 56 games in 2002 and the first 21 games of the 2003 campaign.

PRESEASON NATIONAL SHOWINGS
Rivals.com predicted the Panthers to finish fourth in the league standings, following UIC, Wright State and Youngstown State. However, they then went on to pick UWM as the league "Team on the Rise" and state that the Panthers could definitely finish third. The site also picked a preseason all-conference squad that included senior Shawn Wozniak.

Collegebaseballinsider.com did not project an order of finish, but did select the Flames as the team to beat. The website polled the league head coaches in late 2008 and came up with the following spots where UWM was represented:

-The hitter you least want to face is: Shawn Wozniak, Milwaukee
-The biggest power threats are: Shawn Wozniak, Milwaukee; Jeff Mercer, Wright State and Brett Schaefer, UIC
-The best pure hitters are: Shawn Wozniak, Milwaukee; Kyle Schultz, Butler; Casey McGrew, Wright State and Brett Schaefer, UIC
-The best base-runner is: Andy Gerhartz, Milwaukee
The most recent issue of Baseball America featured its 2009 College Preview as well. The Panthers were slotted for third in its version, behind WSU and, once again, UIC as the top pick. Wozniak appeared on the Preseason All-Conference Team.

The website CollegeBaseballToday.com projected UIC and Wright State as the favorites and Milwaukee as a "contender". It lists Wozniak, Gerhartz, seniors Ben Long and Brad Lusti and sophomore Doug Dekoning as all-conference candidates.

WOZNIAK SERVING NOTICE
Senior Shawn Wozniak became the second 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.

Wozniak had a breakout season in 2008, setting career-highs in every category while finishing in the top 10 in numerous lists in the Horizon League: doubles (second), walks (third), hits (sixth), total bases (sixth), on-base percentage (sixth), slugging (seventh), runs batted in (eighth) and average (10th). He earned Second Team All-Horizon League honors at first base, leading the team with a .364 batting average, appearing in all 61 games (a school record), while making 58 starts. He scored 42 runs, had 26 doubles, hit six home runs and drove in 51 while leading the team in walks (29) and slugging percentage (.564). He also finished seventh in the NCAA with his 26 doubles.

Wozniak is one of six players from the Horizon League to make the list, joining Brett Schafer and Steve McGuiggan of UIC and the Wright State trio of Jeff Mercer, Alex Kaminsky and Quentin Cate. Wozniak is just the second Panther to ever be named to the list, joining Josh Groves, who made the cut in 2008.

Pingbaseball.com selected its All-Ping! 2009 Preseason Teams in January and Wozniak was an honorable mention selection there as well.

2008 REWIND
Head coach Scott Doffek's squad recorded 25-plus wins for the 11th time in the past 12 seasons in 2008, and he has established new marks for most victories by a first-year head coach (25) and most after his first two seasons (50). The 2008 season ended just one victory away from the Panthers making their first trip to the NCAA Regionals since 2002, with UWM falling to UIC in a one-game, winner-take-all, title contest. Milwaukee rode three upsets and a potent offense to the title game, batting .347 in the six games, averaging almost nine runs and 14 hits per contest.

Eight players earned postseason honors from the Horizon League and the offense ended the season ranked 73rd in the NCAA with its .309 batting average. Its 412 runs scored led the Horizon League and ranked 67th in the country. Its 672 hits were second all-time in program history, led the league and ranked 16th in the country. The Panthers were a doubles machine, recording 156 two-baggers to smash the old school record of 143 and end the season ranked No. 2 in the NCAA.

HART LEAVES IMPRESSION ON RECORD BOOK
Jesse Hart left his name in the UWM record books in numerous spots over the course of his final season a year ago when he became the first-ever Panther to bat over .300 in each of his four seasons in a Milwaukee uniform. The two-time All-Horizon League First Team selection finished his career as the program leader with his 267 hits (old record was 245), 778 at-bats (was 737) and 66 doubles (was 58). He finished second with his 380 total bases (just missing mark of 382) and 149 runs scored. His 66 doubles also tied Adam Casillas of Oral Roberts (1984-87) for the Horizon League career mark in the category. As a senior, Hart led the Horizon League in RBI's, doubles, total bases, at-bats and infield assists and was second in hits and third in runs scored

READY FOR BUS RIDES AND MOTEL STOPS...
The Panthers were busy waiting for the snow to melt and Henry Aaron Field to be ready for them to play in Milwaukee. While that happened, they played "just" 21-straight road games to open the 2009 slate. The previous record for longest season-opening road trip was set at 30 games a year ago. In 2008, UWM was originally scheduled to only play its first 27 games on the road, but the Wisconsin weather moved a three-game series with Cleveland State to UIC's Les Miller Field to extend it to 30.

The Panthers traveled close to 10,000 miles (approx. 9,375) over the course of the first six weeks of the season via plane or bus, visiting eight different states (Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan, Iowa and Illinois) before playing their home opener April 3 vs. UIC.

PRESEASON POLL
The Panthers were picked third in the 2009 Horizon League preseason baseball poll. The Panthers, picked third for the third-straight season, will look to improve on their fifth place finish from a year ago, when they had their season come to a close just one game away from their first NCAA Regional appearance since the 2002 season.

UIC was the unanimous choice for the top spot after winning its seventh-consecutive regular season title in 2008 and advancing to the NCAA Tournament. The Flames were 35-22 last season and return eight starters to the diamond this spring. They received six first place votes and 36 points. Wright State was second after going 30-23 last season. The Raiders finished second a year ago, but did lose three players to the MLB Draft. WSU tallied the other first place vote and garnered 29 points. UWM sits just behind in third with 26 points after a late-season surge took then all the way to the Horizon League Tournament Championship last season.

1. UIC (6) - 36 points
2. Wright State (1) - 29 points
3. Milwaukee - 26 points
4. Youngstown State - 21 points
5. Valparaiso - 15 points
6. Cleveland State - 14 points
7. Butler - 6 points

THE NAME GAME
A lot has been made of the correct way to talk about the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, especially in the area of athletics. It would be appreciated if you would refer to the athletics teams as either "Milwaukee" or "UWM". Your cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated.

ON TAP
Milwaukee has five more games on the schedule next week, with just one of them coming at home. First up is a game at Minnesota Tuesday, followed by a home contest against Wisconsin Lutheran College before a road trip to Ohio for a weekend series at Youngstown State.