Horizon League Baseball Championship - Day 3

May 26, 2006

Game 5: (#5) Butler 6, (#1) UIC 4
Fairborn, Ohio - Fifth-seeded Butler scored three unearned runs in the sixth inning to support starter Brian Deter as the Bulldogs defeated top seed UIC 6-4 in the 2006 Horizon League Baseball Championship. The Bulldogs advanced in the winner's bracket, climbing to 20-34 on the season while the Flames drop into the comeback bracket at 34-19 overall.

The teams battled through five scoreless innings before Butler dented the scoreboard off UIC starter Joe Skinner in the sixth. With two outs and the bases empty, Mike Stout reached on third baseman Mike Rainwater's error and advanced on Joe Pauley's infield single. After Joe Dempsey walked to load the bases, Jeff Brown singled in one run and Tony Barnes followed with a two-run hit to stake Deter to a 3-0 advantage.

The Bulldog starter pitched out of two jams earlier, walking the bases full in the third before inducing an inning-ending ground out from Flame slugger Bart Babineaux, while Rainwater and Mark Hallberg singled with one out in the fifth but Babineaux flied out to end that frame as well. UIC finally got to Deter in the sixth as Justin Johnson drew a leadoff walk and eventually came around on Ted Rosinski's one-out single. The Flames put two runners on base before Stephen Gill made a diving catch of Rainwater's fly ball to end the threat.

Butler carried that momentum into the seventh inning, scoring two more runs. Clayton Deeb homered with one out and Gill followed with a double to left field before Stout cracked an RBI single for a 5-1 cushion. Brown's homer in the eighth extended the margin to 6-1.

The insurance proved valuable as UIC rallied in the eighth. Butler reliever Josh Vollmer walked Johnson and Ben Trotter to open the game and Larry Gempp Jr. greeted Jon Gages with a three-run blast to right center field, closing the margin to 6-4. Rosinski was hit by a pitch but Dages retired the next three batters in the eighth. Chad Schroeder and Babineaux singled to open the bottom of the ninth for UIC but Johnson bounced into a double play and Trotter struck out to end the game.

Deter allowed only one run on five hits to improve to 5-7 on the season while Skinner dropped to 7-6 despite yielding only two earned runs on eight hits in 6.1 innings. But the Flame right-hander could not overcome those three unearned tallies in the sixth. Gill and Brown each had three hits for Butler, with Brown's line including a double, home run and two RBI. Johnson was 2-for-4 with two runs scored for UIC.

The Flames' loss, combined with second-seeded UW-Milwaukee's 20-3 defeat against host Wright State on Thursday, marks the first time since 1996 that the League Championship's top two seeds each lost their first game. Butler advances to face hot-hitting WSU in Saturday's first game at 11 a.m., while UIC will meet the winner of Friday's survival battle between UWM and sixth-seeded Cleveland State to close Friday's schedule.

Box Score and Play-by-Play in PDF Format

Game 6: (#2) UW-Milwaukee 8, (#6) Cleveland State 3
Cleveland State eliminated
Fairborn, Ohio - Jeremy Wilson and Rob Brockel both hit solo homers as second-seeded UW-Milwaukee defeated sixth seed Cleveland State 8-3 in an elimination game at the 2006 Horizon League Baseball Championship. The Panthers are now 32-24 while the Vikings close the 2006 campaign with a 10-42 record.

The two blasts highlighted an 11-hit attack and provided plenty of insurance after the Panthers scored twice in the bottom of the third inning. Consecutive singles by Mike Goetz, Jesse Hart and Joe Nowicki opened that flurry, with Nowicki's shot to right field plating Goetz for a 1-0 lead. Brockel followed with a sacrifice fly for the second run, and Wilson connected for his second homer of the season in the next inning to extend the margin.

Cleveland State answered with a run in the top of the fifth on Marc Sikora's leadoff triple and an RBI double from John Westra to cut the deficit to 3-1, but Nowicki's blast over the left field fence in the bottom of the inning re-established the three-run cushion. UW-Milwaukee tacked on another run in the sixth as Ross McCoy led off with a double and crossed the plate on Matt Curran's sacrifice fly two batters later.

The Vikings attempted a comeback in the seventh when Bobby Cash doubled to drive in a pair of runs, but consecutive triples by Goetz and Hart produced a two-run answer in the bottom of the frame. Hart's RBI single in the eighth closed the scoring.

Keller, making only his second start of the season, allowed one run on four hits in five innings to improve to 4-3. Vikings starter Nathan Schaefer dropped to 1-8 after giving up five runs on six hits in 5.2 innings. He held the Panthers scoreless in the first two frames but was not as effective following a 39-minute rain delay which followed the top of the third inning.

Hart was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two driven in for UW-Milwaukee, while Brockel went 2-for-2 with three RBI. Goetz and Wilson each added a pair of hits. Leroy Pederson and Jed Dolske combined for 2.2 innings of scoreless relief, with Dolske recording the final four outs for his seventh save of the season and 21st of his career, breaking the school career standard he shared with Jon Schreiner (1996-98). Sikora and Westra each had two hits for the Vikings.

UW-Milwaukee advances in the comeback bracket to meet top seed UIC in Friday night's final game. The winner of that game moves on to Saturday's action while third-seeded Wright State and fifth seed Butler square off in winner's bracket action to open Saturday's schedule.

Box Score and Play-by-Play in PDF Format

Game 7: (#1) UIC 14, (#2) UW-Milwaukee 6
(UW-Milwaukee eliminated)
Fairborn, Ohio - Larry Gempp Jr. and Ted Rosinski each drove in three runs as top-seeded UIC staved off elimination by defeating UW-Milwaukee 14-6 in the comeback bracket of the 2006 Horizon League Baseball Championship. The Flames moved to 35-19 overall while the Panthers saw their season come to an end at 32-25.

UWM jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead against Flames starter Zach Peterson, as Mike Goetz singled to lead off the game and Jesse Hart followed with a double. Both runners came around to score, staking UWM starter Aaron Sorenson to a 2-0 lead before he took the mound. That gap expanded to three runs in the third on Joe Nowicki's two-out double and Rob Brockel's RBI single.

Sorenson shut down the UIC bats in the first two innings, but the Flames erupted for four runs on five hits in the third. RBI doubles by Mark Hallberg and Gempp highlighted the outburst, with Rosinski's two-bagger scoring Johnson with the go-ahead run. UWM answered in the top of the fourth on Jeremy Wilson's RBI double, only to see UIC counter on Nick Rainwater's single and a run-scoring triple off Gempp's bat to put the Flames back in front 5-4.

Like two prize fighters trading punches, each team scored twice in the fifth. UW-Milwaukee came back to grab a 6-5 lead in the top of the frame highlighted by Ross McCoy's double but UIC's answer came in the form of a Johnson single and Rosinski's two-run blast, a 440-foot shot over the scoreboard in right field which put the Flames ahead 7-6.

Peterson settled down from there, allowing only one hit in the final four innings. His teammates continued to pour on more runs, plating a single tally in the sixth before exploding for four in the seventh. Two of those came across the plate when reliever Jed Dolske hit batters with the bases loaded, and the other scored on a throwing error by Wilson attempting to pick a runner off third base. The Flames batted around in the inning, which ended with UIC ahead 12-6.

UIC pushed the margin a bit further in the eighth as Rosinski and Chad Schroeder singled to start the inning and eventually scored. The offensive barrage enabled Peterson to improve to 9-3 despite allowing six runs on nine hits in his fourth complete-game effort of the season, a 136-pitch performance which included seven strikeouts. Sorenson fell to 5-4 after giving up seven runs on ten hits in five innings. Panther relievers combined to allow seven more runs in three frames.

Hallberg scored three runs in a 2-for-5 showing for UIC, while Gempp's similar 2-for-5 line included a double and a triple, two of the victors' six extra-base hits. Rosinski had three hits for the Flames, while Goetz, Nowicki and Brockel each collected two for the Panthers.

Saturday's schedule begins at 11 a.m. as third-seeded Wright State meets fifth seed Butler with a berth in the championship game on the line. The winner of that game is one victory away from a spot in the NCAA Championship, while the loser takes on UIC at 3 p.m. for the opposite side of that title tilt. The schedule of the championship game(s) will be determined by the results of those two contests, with the first showdown either Saturday evening or Sunday morning.

Box Score and Play-by-Play in PDF Format