Horizon League Baseball Championship Game Five: Milwaukee downs Wright State 20-3

May 22, 2008

Box Score

Championship Central

NILES, Ohio - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (23-34) beat Wright State University (29-22) 20-3 to advance to the semifinals of the Horizon League Baseball Championship presented by the U.S. Army. With the loss, WSU heads to the loser's bracket and will return to action against Cleveland State University on Friday at 11 a.m.

Milwaukee scored one in the first, one in the fourth, five in the fifth, two in the sixth and 11 in the ninth inning to match its season-high run total this season. UWM also tallied six doubles and broke its record for doubles in a season (145).

UWM starter Andy Hetebrueg worked 8.0 innings, struck out six, scattered nine hits and walked just two en route to his fifth win in his last seven starts. Hetebrueg's victory was his sixth on the year.

WSU starter Alex Kaminsky took the loss and fell to 8-2. The sophomore right-hander worked 3.1 innings, allowed one run and six hits.

The Panthers three, four and five hitters combined to go 9-for-18 with 10 runs batted in, seven of those RBIs came off the bat of second-baseman Jesse Hart. The UWM senior drove also hit a grand slam in the top half of the ninth inning. In the ninth inning alone, Hart drove in six runs as he doubled in two earlier in the frame.

Hart finished the day going 4-for-7 with five runs scored.

UWM jumped out to a 2-0 lead after four innings. The Panthers then extended their advantage to 7-0 after they put up five runs in the fifth frame. Junior Shawn Wozniak score the first run on a double, junior Josh Groves came up next and drove a double down the left field line that sent two runners home. Junior Ben Long followed with his sixth home run of the season.

In the sixth inning, junior Andy Gerhartz led off the frame with a triple before. Hart came up next and singled in Gerhartz from third. Senior Nick Wichser then drove in Hart with a double to increase the UWM advantage to 9-0.

Wright State got on the board in the bottom of the sixth thanks to junior Justin Parker's home run over the left field wall.

Milwaukee then collected 11 runs in the top half of the ninth inning to increase its advantage to 20-1. The 11-run frame featured five hits, with nine runs scoring after two were outs, including two on bases-loaded hit-by-pitches. Senior Troy Vesling and freshman Sam Sivilotti also added run-scoring singles in the frame.

The 2008 Horizon League Baseball Championship is being held at Eastwood Field in Niles, Ohio. Single-day tickets are $6 for adults and $4 for senior citizens and youth, while all-tournament passes are $20 and $14, respectively. Students from all Horizon League institutions are free with a valid student identification card. Gates will open one hour prior to the first game each day.

For additional Horizon League baseball information, including the championship bracket, directions to Eastwood Field, GameTracker live statistics and game recaps, check out the official web site at www.horizonleague.org. For free, live video web casts of all games of the Horizon League Baseball Championship, log onto the Horizon League Network at www.horizonleaguenetwork.tv.