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UWM Travels To California For Weekend Series With Saint Mary's

Panthers and Gaels scheduled for four-game set

Feb. 27, 2008

It's off to California this weekend for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team, as it continues early-season play with a four-game weekend series against Saint Mary's. The teams will start things out Friday with a 4 p.m. CST start time, before taking on each other in a doubleheader Saturday. That twinbill is slated for a 1 p.m. CST start, with the first pitch for Sunday's contest set for 2 p.m. CST.

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All games in the series will be available on Gametracker on the UWM website. This is just the second-ever series between the two teams, as SMC took three of four the first time around, which opened the 2006 season for Milwaukee.

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
The Saint Mary's baseball team, under fifth-year head coach Jedd Soto, is off to a quick start at 3-1 through its first four games. The team opened with a 14-3 win over Towson Feb. 22. The Gaels topped Towson again the next day, 4-2, before losing two other games to the weather. They made those contests up with trips to Stanford (4-2 win Feb. 25) and UC-Davis (4-1 win Feb. 26), leaning on strong pitching efforts.

The staff earned run average checks in at 2.50, giving up 10 earned runs in 36.0 innings on the year. Offensively, the team is batting .321, led by Kyle Jensen (.615), Anthony Aliotti (.500) and Geoff Byrns (.400). No player has recorded more than three runs batted in, while Jensen leads the squad with four runs scored, eight hits and five doubles. The team also boasts a .980 fielding percentage, making just three errors in the four games.

The 2008 roster has 17 freshmen on it, so the team is looking for newcomers to make a big impression. Sean Gleason was a workhorse a year ago, pitching 94.1 innings in posting a team-leading 73 strikeouts and four wins. The pitching staff also boasted two strong freshmen in Brandon Berl and utility man Aliotti. The two combined to start 24 games with Berl winning four games in 82 innings of work and Aliotti winning six games in 52.2 innings.

FOR OPENERS
Milwaukee traveled to Florida last week to open the 2008 season, posting a 1-2 record at the Jacksonville Invitational. The Panthers dropped the season opener to the host Dolphins, giving them a 4-14 record in season openers at the NCAA D-I level. UWM then fell, 6-3, to UNC-Wilmington Saturday after falling behind 5-0 in the first inning. The team closed out the weekend with a 5-2 victory over Richmond.

Against Jacksonville, Josh Groves became the first player in Milwaukee's NCAA Division I history to hit more than one home run in the first game of a season, finishing the contest with two.

Groves led the way offensively, going 5-for-10 to bat .500 while adding a team-high two home runs and five runs batted in. Junior Ben Long had a solid first weekend in a Milwaukee uniform, batting .417 with five hits in 12 at-bats. Senior Nick Wichser was at .364 (4-for-11) and junior Shawn Wozniak (3-for-10) gave Milwaukee four players at .300 or better.

LET'S GO STREAKING
Senior Nick Wichser and junior Josh Groves each ended the 2007 season on a 16-game hitting streak. After the three-game set in Florida, both have extended those to 19 with safeties in each of the three contests. Wichser is batting .392 in the streak, collecting 29 hits in 74 at-bats while driving in 19 runs. Groves is hitting at a .447 clip in his, going 34-for-76 with 25 runs batted in and 13 doubles in the stretch. The duo is now tied for fifth for the longest hitting streaks in team history.

1. 32; Mike Goetz, 2006
2. 27: Mike Goetz, end of 2005 through 2006
3. 22: Scott Gillitzer, 2001
4. 20: Rob Brockel, 2007
T5. 19, Wichser and Groves

SHUTTING IT DOWN
The Milwaukee bullpen did a very nice job in the first weekend of play, with five pitchers in the group combining for 12.0 impressive innings of work in which they allowed just one unearned run on eight hits while striking out eight batters. Junior Brad Lusti (5.1 IP), senior Adam Ferrell (3.0 IP), senior Matt Holzheuter (1.1 IP), freshman Brett Proud (1.1 IP) and junior Jordan Herbert (1.0 IP) all have 0.00 earned run averages on the year. Herbert made his first appearance in his closer role Sunday, converting his first save opportunity with a strikeout, foul out and ground out in facing four batters.

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

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.

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 most recent 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-ever Panther to 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 has 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.

KEEPING IT IN THE PARK
Often overlooked a season ago was the job the Panther pitching staff did in keeping the ball in the yard. The staff combined to give up just 26 home runs - the fewest since the 2003 season. That was down from 49 in 2006, 43 in 2005 and 44 in 2004.

HART ON SEASON-LONG MISSION
Senior Jesse Hart will look to put in 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			1. 245
Hart at start of season:
521			178
At start of this week (Feb. 25):
533			181

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.

CAN IT BE BASEBALL SEASON ALREADY?
If February 22nd seemed early to start playing baseball to you, there is a reason. Starting the year on the 22nd of February marked the sixth-earliest beginning to a season in program history.

Earliest start to season:
1. 2006: February 10
2. 1999: February 13
3. 2007: February 16
T4. 2003 & 1998: February 21
6. 2008: February 22

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

HIGH SCHOOL HONORS
Freshman Doug Dekoning earned a prestigious high school honor, as he was named the 2007 recipient of the Dick Falk Award in November. The honor is presented each season by the Old Time Ballplayers Association of Wisconsin and is given to the high school player of the year in the state. Dekoning enjoyed a stellar high school career at Menomonee Falls High School.

He comes to Milwaukee after being named the Greater Metro Conference Player of the Year as a senior after hitting .448 with 48 hits and 34 runs batted in. He led his team to a 69-9 record his last two years, winning back-to-back Greater Metro Conference titles.

ON TAP
Milwaukee heads to its third different state in the first three weekends of the season, playing in Louisiana against Centenary College March 7-9.