UW-Milwaukee Continues Winning Ways, Forces True Championship Game at Horizon League Tournament

May 28, 2005

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Using the momentum from its win earlier in the day, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee upended top-seed University of Illinois at Chicago 8-4 Saturday in the 2005 Horizon League Baseball Championship, forcing a winner-take-all final on Sunday.


First pitch for the true championship game will be 11 a.m. Indianapolis local time, which is a change from the originally scheduled time of 12 p.m.


The Panthers, who had upset second-seed Youngstown State University 12-10 only hours earlier, burst out to a 5-0 lead and then rode the left arm of sophomore Robert Michalkiewicz for their third win in just over 24 hours. Michalkiewicz (4-5) pitched 8 1/3 innings, scattering eight hits and four runs, only two of which were earned.


UW-Milwaukee (26-30) jumped on UIC starter Scott Saling with three runs in the top of the first, courtesy of Joe Nowicki's team-leading ninth home run of the season. Jesse Hart added a solo shot to lead off the second and scored again in the fourth when reliever Ryan Hopkins couldn't handle a sacrifice bunt off the bat of Jeremy Wilson.


The Flames trimmed the deficit to two in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI double by Larry Gempp Jr., who then scored with two outs along with Bryan Nolte on a throwing error by Hart, UWM's second baseman. But the Panthers added single runs in the fifth, sixth and eighth and let Michalkiewicz do the rest.


After Michalkiewicz allowed a pair of baserunners with one out in the ninth, reliever Rob Brockel recorded the final two outs for his second save of the day and third of the season.


Saling (4-1) lasted just two-plus innings, giving up four earned runs to take the loss.


UW-Milwaukee's two, three and four hitters -- Brooks Graff, Zak Rivera and Nowicki -- went a combined 9-for-12 with three walks and five runs scored. Nowicki's finished 3-for-5 with five runs-batted-in.


Shane Crowder and Mike Bruszer had two hits apiece to pace UIC (37-19-1), which saw its eight-game winning streak come to an end.

Game 10123456789RHE# 3 UW-Milwaukee310111010--8132#1 UIC000300100--482

WP-Robert Michalkiewicz (4-5)LP-Scott Saling (4-1)S-Rob Brockel (3)HR-UWM Jesse Hart (2), Joe Nowicki (9)Time-3:07