May 29, 2010

GARY, Ind. - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team will play for a chance to go to the 2010 NCAA Tournament Sunday, taking on Wright State University in the Horizon League Tournament Championship at 11 a.m. at the U.S. Steel Yard. The Panthers (32-24) and Raiders (31-24) return for a rematch of Saturday's championship round contest, won by UWM by a score of 14-7.

Tournament Championship notes

-Milwaukee will be in search of its fourth all-time NCAA Tournament bid, last appearing in the 2002 campaign (also in 1999 and 2001).

-The Raiders will be looking for back-to-back trips after winning the crown a year ago, while also claiming the title in 1996 and 2006.

-Since their last title in 2002, the Panthers have also appeared in the championship game in 2005 (at Indianapolis, Ind.) and 2008 (at Niles, Ohio).

-With 32 wins, the Panthers have now reached 30-plus victories for the seventh time in school history and the first since 2006, when they also won 32.

-After throwing just one complete game during the regular season, UWM has gotten four strong outings from its starting pitchers, including two complete-game efforts (Pierce, Sukowaty). The starters now carry a 2.08 ERA and .243 opponent batting average after four games in the tournament.

-Senior Dan Buchholz is the team's leading batter, going 10-for-18 (.556) so far in 2010, including four hits and a three-run home run to spark the 14-7 win over WSU Saturday.

-Three other players are hitting better than .300 in the tournament: junior Cole Kraft is at .333 (5-for-15), junior Doug Dekoning is also at .333 (4-for-12) and senior Ben Long is batting .313 (5-for-16).

-A look back over the past four seasons shows the seniors on UWM's 2010 roster have more league tournament experience than any other team. Milwaukee has played in 18 league tournament games from 2007-2010, with Wright State and UIC second with 15 in that span.