Baseball Wraps Up Regular Season With Six Home Games
May 14, 2002
Weekly Notes in PDF Format
Games #45-46 - Chicago St. (5-30) At Milwaukee (29-15) Wed. May 15 - 5 p.m. CDT - Henry Aaron Field Games #47-50 - UIC (33-12, 11-4) At Milwaukee (29-15, 14-5) Fri. May 17-Sun. May 19 - Henry Aaron Field * The Week Ahead UWM wraps up the 2002 regular season with six home games, including a huge four-game series with UIC over the weekend. The Panthers open the week percentage points ahead of the Flames in the Horizon League standings. UWM starts the week Wednesday by hosting Chicago State in a doubleheader. * About Chicago State The Cougars have struggled to a 5-30 mark throughout this season, winning just three road games and posting an 0-10 mark in the Mid-Continent Conference. CSU hits .233 as a team and has an 8.47 ERA. Daniel Newgent leads the team with a .347 batting average but three other regulars hit below .200. * About UIC UIC has turned a stellar start into a 33-12 record and a chance to win the Horizon League regular season title this weekend. The Flames opened the season 18-3 and have gone 15-9 since then. UIC has had four league games rained out and another contest, originally a loss at Youngstown State, turned into a suspended game thanks to a successful UIC protest. The Flames hit .333 as a team and have posted a 3.12 ERA. Three players hit better than .400 for the Flames, while all four regular starting pitchers have posted season ERA's below 3.00. * The Horizon League Race The race for the regular season Horizon League title has come down to the final weekend of the season, with UWM and UIC the two remaining teams in contention. UWM starts the weekend percentage points ahead of the Flames for the top spot in the league. Each team can clinch the regular season crown with three wins in the four games this weekend. If the two teams should split the four games, UIC would be forced to complete a suspended game at Youngstown State either Monday or Tuesday. The game was originally a UIC loss, but a protest by the Flames was upheld by the league office, meaning the game currently stands in the bottom of the eighth inning with UIC leading 2-0. * Record Streak UWM's loss in game one of its Saturday doubleheader with Youngstown State snapped the Panthers' school-record 13-game winning streak. After a 4-10 start, UWM has rattled off wins in 25 of its last 30 games, including winning 18 of its last 20 contests. Winning the close games has been the difference for the Panthers. In its last 30 contests, UWM is 8-2 in one-run games. Plus, UWM is 16-4 in its last 30 games in contests decided by three runs or less. * Series Success UWM has kept alive an impressive streak through the first five league series of the year. The Panthers have avoided losing a league series since May of 1999, when Cleveland State won three of four games over the Panthers. The streak now includes 15 series, totaling 10 series wins and five series splits. * Rain, Rain Go Away For the first time since the 2000 season, UWM had a league game postponed by rain. The last time prior to Sunday at Youngstown State was in April of 2000 when a four-game series at Butler was shortened to a two-game series. The streak of regular-season league games for UWM without a rainout had hit 55 games. * Let's Play Two UWM's Wednesday contest with Chicago State was originally scheduled as a single game, but with both teams seeing rainouts throughout the season, the schools agreed to play a doubleheader. The first pitch for game one is scheduled for 5 p.m. * Pitcher Of The Week Lefeber picked up two more wins in two starts this past week as he continued his dominating efforts on the mound for the Panthers. Lefeber pitched the best game of his brief Panther career Saturday afternoon, tossing a two-hit complete game in a 6-0 UWM win over Youngstown State. Lefeber did not walk a batter and allowed only one batter as far as second base in tossing his first complete game of the season. The win lowered Lefeber's league ERA to 1.04. Earlier in the week, Lefeber allowed just two runs and two hits in five innings of work in gaining the win against Big 10 foe Iowa. Lefeber is now 4-0 with a 1.98 ERA on the season, which ranks his 13th in the nation in ERA and leads the Horizon League. * Freisleben Saving The Day Senior Matt Freisleben picked up his 14th save of the season in Friday night's win over Youngstown State, adding to his school record for a single season and moving him within three saves of the all-time UWM career mark of 20 set by Jon Schreiner. Freisleben has also tied his own single-season record for appearances at 30 and he has made a school-best 108 appearances in his career. His 14 saves have him tied for third nationally with James Russell of Villanova. Blake Taylor of South Carolina leads the nation with 16 saves while Royce Ring of San Diego State has 15 saves. * Pudlosky Stays Hot Pudlosky continued his tear through the latter part of the season by hitting .444 and driving in eight runs in five games last week. Pudlosky, who leads the league with 18 RBI in league contests, cracked a three-run home run in UWM's Friday night win over Youngstown State. He added four more hits and four RBI in Saturday's doubleheader split. He collected two doubles and a home run during the week, posting a .722 slugging percentage. Plus he drew two more walks, boosting his season total to 33 - six off a single-season school record and the top mark in the Horizon League. He has boosted his batting average from a mid-season low of .118 to its current season high of .291. * Doering Doing It Troy Doering continued his hot hitting at the top of the Panther lineup by hitting .500 in five starts this past week. He also scored six runs and had a .571 on-base percentage. On the year, Doering has boosted his batting average to a season-high .303 and has drawn 27 walks, giving him a .414 on-base percentage. He also leads the team with 16 stolen bases - tied for the fifth-most in a single season in UWM history. Doering stands third in the league in stolen bases and tied for third in walks. Doering also has a seven-game hitting streak entering the week and has hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games and 19 of his last 22 games. * Career Day For Charlie Freshman Charlie Reschke has found a regular place in the Panther batting order. Reschke recorded the first four-hit game of his career in the game-one loss to Youngstown Saturday afternoon. He is hitting .274 on the season and has made 37 appearances, including 30 starts. * 30 Wins, Again? With one more win, UWM would claim another 30-win season. It would mark the fifth-straight 30-win season for the Panthers, easily a school-record. Also, UWM's 14 league wins are tied for the second-most in school history. Last year UWM won 16 league games. * Big On The Big 10 UWM is now 3-1 against Big 10 teams this season after its doubleheader sweep of Iowa last Tuesday. The Panthers have beaten Iowa four-straight times. * Home Field Edge UWM's 13 wins at home so far this season have pushed the Panthers to 23-2 in their last 25 home games. Over the last two-plus seasons, the Panthers are 39-6 at Henry Aaron Field. UWM is 77-23 at home over the last five-plus seasons. * Getting Used To Home As UWM heads into the final week of the regular season, the Panthers are set to play their most extensive home schedule in school history. Weather permitting this week, UWM will play a total of 21 home games - including the two at Miller Park - marking the most home games the Panthers have ever played. UWM played 20 home games in 1997. * A Record-Setting Day Quintin Oldenburg set a school record by tossing 10 shutout innings as UWM collected a 1-0 win over Detroit on May 4. The senior right-hander allowed just six hits and did not walk a batter while striking out nine and was named the Horizon League Pitcher of the Week for his work. That same day, Oldenburg moved atop UWM's all-time lists for strikeouts and wins. He now has 224 career strikeouts and 24 career wins. * Mound Mastery Runs have been hard to come by for UWM opponents lately. The Panthers have their league ERA down to just 3.01. UWM's season ERA stands at 4.02, on pace to smash the school record mark of 4.73 set last year. Panther pitchers have also thrown four shutouts this season. * Tough Against Detroit The four-game sweep of Detroit extended a lengthy streak of wins by UWM over the Titans. The Panthers haven't lost to Detroit since April 10, 1999, a streak of 16 games. * The Fans Are Watching The April 24 doubleheader win over Bradley at Miller Park included the largest crowd ever to witness the Panthers play baseball in Milwaukee. 1,056 fans went through the turnstiles at the Milwaukee Brewers' year-old facility. UWM won game one, 5-4, before cruising to a 20-7 win in the nightcap. * Player Of The Week Honorees UWM has had three players honored as the Horizon League Player of the Week earlier this year. Dave Pudlosky was the most recent honoree, winning the award after collecting 10 hits in 20 at bats in a week that saw the Panthers go 5-1. Steve Guden won the award the week before after collecting 11 hits in 20 at bats during a six-game span that saw the Panthers go 4-2. John Vanden Berg won the award in March after hitting .588 with 10 hits in four games. * Tough Early Season Sure enough, UWM's return to Wisconsin meant more success on the field. The Panthers battled through the most difficult non-conference schedule in school history during February and March. UWM dropped a pair of games to Nebraska to wind up the difficult stretch in early April. The Cornhuskers made the College World Series a season ago. UWM also faced defending national champion Miami (Fla.), Northern Iowa, which qualified for the NCAA Tournament last year, and Illinois. UWM also played six games against Big 12 schools. * Fresh Faces The lineup UWM fielded in its season opener with Kansas in February included newcomers in five of the nine spots in the batting order, and the trend of using newcomers has continued throughout the early season. Ben Beno, a transfer from UW-Oshkosh, was in center field while Adam Christ, a transfer from Iowa State, was at shortstop. Newcomers David Michna, P.J. Cannon and Troy Doering were also in the starting lineup. Plus, the starting pitcher in each half of the doubleheader with Kansas on day two of the series was new to the Panther program. In total, the roster includes 18 players that did not play for UWM last year. * Picked To Win UWM has been picked to win the 2002 Horizon League championship. They received four first-place votes and 34 total points in voting conducted among league coaches. UIC received two first-place votes and was picked to finish second. UWM has also been picked to win the league crown in a number of publications. * Panther Background UWM won the regular season and tournament titles in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference last season, claiming its second berth in the NCAA Tournament. UWM finished the season 39-18, setting a new school record for wins. The Panthers were eliminated from NCAA Tournament play by Notre Dame and UC-Santa Barbara. * Returning With Honors A handful of Panthers honored by the league last season are back this year. Senior Quintin Oldenburg is the reigning League Pitcher of the Year, while John Vanden Berg was the League Co-Newcomer of the Year. Oldenburg was on the all-league first team while Steve Guden joined Vanden Berg on the second team and the all-newcomer team. * Tourney At The Jake League officials announced two weeks ago that an additional day of games at this year's league tournament will be played at Jacobs Field in Cleveland, meaning only the first-round game will not be played in the Indians' facility. * Up Next
UWM will play its first Horizon League Tournament game next Thursday in Cleveland. If the Panthers are the top seed, they will play at 10:30 a.m. EDT and if they are the second seed they will play at 2:30 p.m EDT.
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