Diamond Chronicles

Back in the Saddle Again

2011-04-21T10:15:00.000-07:00

The Road Show Continues ...

2011-03-30T18:45:00.000-07:00

California Here We Come...

2011-03-17T09:59:00.000-07:00

Senior Sam Sivilotti and junior Greg Blohowiak, members of the Milwaukee baseball team, will once again be blogging all season long on the UWM website.

They are back for their second go around and today is their fourth entry.

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Pump the brakes...

Another weekend for baseball and yet another tiring travel schedule. Boy oh boy, was Wednesday morning a riot. First of all, I was very happy to only have two days to dedicate to classes this past week. Second of all, it is, however, a very good way to get a little behind in a couple of classes. Oh well.

Wednesday started off as horribly as it could have, with a ton of snow. The snowflakes were literally the size of golf balls as we drove to the Klotsche Center to pack our bags in the bus that would pick us up at the College Avenue park and ride. Alas, there was no bus scheduled (or it just didn’t show up) to pick us up and eventually bring us to the airport. This seemed to be a problem, and if you knew anything about us you’d know we were clowning about it the whole time asking if we had to take cabs or hop on the city bus. Nonetheless, we have a good amount of guys who drive to the park and ride themselves, so getting the majority of us there was not the issue. It was getting the 30+ guys from the park and ride to the airport that was the issue. We had people dropping off others at the airport then turning around to pick up some more and eventually our assistant head coach Cory Bigler grabbed a UWM van to transport about 15 guys and all their bags to the airport.

Amid this cluster of testosterone and morning breath was the feeling of excitement and anxiety as well knowing we are headed to beautiful California but would have to hurdle the most debilitating obstacle of them all, the airport.

If you think getting 35 guys to the airport in a snowstorm was miserable, imagine getting 35 guys checked into a flight, getting their bags tagged and getting them all through security by the time our flight left at 9:40. My expectations were low for Airtran, based on all the horror stories one can hear about an airport. However, they really did a very good job at accommodating us. They had us check in and baggage stowed in the matter of 15 minutes, and since it was already 8:45 we really needed to high tail it through security. Turning the corner towards our gate and seeing the LONG line for the security checkpoint was not the best sight ever. To make a long story short, we made it through in time, barely, and we boarded the plane.

While in route to California we hit some minor bumps in the air and before we knew it we had landed. I have never been to Cali before and let me tell you, I could live there. It only took me about five minutes of being outside to decide that 65 and sunny was right for me (especially after what we’ve seen this winter). We landed in San Francisco, but our hotel was in San Jose, a 40 minute commute. We arrived in San Jose and drove through the downtown area anticipating our destination. We passed several very large and elegant hotels and thought “could it be” (Hangover reference) but to much of our avail we landed a much smaller, nice hotel in the Ramada. This place was about seven blocks away from the heart of downtown but had some eateries within walking distance, no one was going to complain since it was sunny and warm, we’ll walk anywhere in that.

We settled in around 1 pm and some of us decided to walk about the town, get some food, or what not. I went to a nice little diner that is comparable to a Big Boy. My roommate, Kyle Spurley, and I then trekked back to the hotel and continued on to pass out for a good four hours.

I’ll fast forward to the morning on Thursday where we ate some pretty plentiful continental breakfast, not to mention freshmen Ryan Solberg consumed half his body weight in waffles. We were leaving to go to the field at 3:15 so we had from 10 until then to do what we wanted, whether it was go for a walk to campus, or relax, we had some time to kill. I would love to continue on writing, however, I’m going to cut it short and somewhat give Sivvy a nice assignment for the rest. Exams and homework will catch up with ya in the whole scheme of things.

Really Quick Quick Thoughts ... San Jose is very nice, however I wouldn’t recommend that as a destination for a family vacation .... a 106-flavor soda machine must be brought to Milwaukee ... as does a Baja burrito Mexican food place thingy ... Kyle Spurley is the worst at MLB The Show 11 ... Gunnar Eastman needs to learn how to shuffle and deal cards quicker ... the UWM Union MUST get a Jamba Juice ... yummmmmmmmm ... Lastly, airport security is soooo annoying, and you can ask Josh Uhen about that, but it’s completely necessary. Thanks TSA for doing a great job at keeping us safe!

Here’s Siv..

Rejuvenated, and rested, I finally am able to collect my thoughts. Another disappointing weekend on the diamond side of things but a good experience for us all. Thursday evening we took on San Jose State. They came in as the #30 team in the country and basically took it to us. Offensively we were OK, but defensively and pitching the baseball was a let down. That message was reinforced after the game. We need to do a better job of playing all three phases of the game.

Ironically, the next day we came out and took a completely different approach against UC Davis. It started off in the morning, when we went on a nice 30 minute team jog around downtown San Jose. Surprisingly, to me at least, I wasn’t aware that San Jose had around 1 million people in the surrounding area. Huge city. Not what I was expecting at all. As we were running, I had the pleasure of sharing the jog with Coach Bigler and Chad Pierce. Running is never fun whether its for conditioning purposes or just to get a little jog in. Fortunately, with the sense of humor that Coach Bigler has and the collaboration of Pierce and myself throwing a few one-liners in there, the jog was actually quite pleasant. I also think its important to note that the “scenery” around San Jose is NOT bad at all either, which helps open your eyes to things a person might not always see, hahaha, which should be taken as a compliment to all the women out there!

On the baseball side of things, Jordan Guth did a great job keeping us in the game but we just couldn’t get our sticks going. UC Davis brought out a lefty throwing 84 mph, but had a very good mix of pitches. We just couldn’t seem to get anything going as his changeup basically kept us off balance all night. UC Davis was a solid team but were not overly impressive. On the other side, you have to tip your cap because they did nothing to beat themselves. They made all the routine plays and commanded the zone on the pitching side of things. One day it’s the pitching, the next day it’s the hitting. Right now we simply aren’t doing enough to deserve the breaks that other teams are getting.

Following the game against Davis, we went back to the hotel and basically sat around and reevaluated our season at that point. Mentally we needed to check ourselves and come out the next day and play good fundamental baseball against Santa Clara. Outside of our first trip to Tennessee, I’d say that our game against Santa Clara was our most complete game of the year. Chad Pierce gave us his best start of the year while throwing through an impingement in his right shoulder. He straight battled for us and had a “no hitter” through four-plus innings. Defensively, Sam Koenig made a number of great plays at third base that helped save and eliminate the potential for a few big innings for Santa Clara. We were having fun! Kids out there diving around in the dirt, beautiful weather, we were winning, it just seemed like our confidence was at its highest.

Offensively, we were only able to muster a couple of runs, but it was more than enough as we shut out Santa Clara and played a great all around the game. The weekend was looking half decent as we now had a chance to leave California with at least a split.

Unfortunately, Sunday was another disappointment. As we take a step forward, it's two steps backward. We need to hit the ground running and not stop. San Jose came out and put up a few runs in the first inning and the tempo was set. They continued to pile on a few more as the game went on and the offensive surge just couldn’t keep pace as we were playing from behind. They ended up going on to winning the game and closing the door on the opportunity to leave Cali with a split. At the conclusion of the game, our team meeting only provided more fireworks as we were informed of our 6:30 am conditioning session on Tuesday morning when we got home. NO FUN whatsoever.

Following the game, a former player of ours, Jeff Gordon, invited our entire team to some fine dining. Gordon’s father is an investor in a restaurant in Campbell, Calif. (a town next to San Jose), and we were gladly willing to chow on some fine dining. The food was excellent. The restaurant even had touch screen soda machines that had over 100 different flavors of soda. The coolest soda machine any of us had ever seen. The food was great, the atmosphere was fun, and we were able to relax and actually enjoy the trip a little bit more. A big thanks goes out to Jeff! Back to Milwaukee it was around 12:00 pm Pacific time (the team at the airport pictured). The plane was a little, typical way to end a weekend after losing three of four, and we did not reach Milwaukee until about 6:30 am local time.

A long weekend finally came to an end. This weekend we had to Athens, Ohio to take on Ohio University. A four game set is slated for the weekend. Continue to follow us and continue to support us. “Its not where you start the year but where you finish it.”

Thanks for following, and keep checking in for more!

Is it Spring Yet?!?

2011-03-08T12:59:00.000-08:00

Senior Sam Sivilotti and junior Greg Blohowiak, members of the Milwaukee baseball team, will once again be blogging all season long on the UWM website.

They are back for their second go around and today is their third entry.

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Holy Barnacle Batman...

What a totally random title for this weeks "Diamond Chronicles". If I could choose a word for the past two weeks, 'random' would be up there. Starting in Clarksville, Tennessee, with two games cancelled due to weather and our lone game on Sunday lengthened by rain delays and numerous “lightning is within 10 miles” warnings.

The doozie, however, was in the 10th inning - Illinois State had two runners on with no outs and, alas, another lightning warning that actually turned into us retreating into the gym due to the tornado sirens blaring outside. As we watched two Austin Peay basketball players shoot around and quite frankly in unimpressive fashion, not dunk, we wondered if the field would still be around when we returned. Long story short, it was, and that game is history. The final game vs. Austin Peay was cancelled and we returned home.

Siv and I did not ignore the Diamond Chronicles this past week. We were actually caught in a very tough position with the amount of schoolwork we had to finish before the Thursday bus departure time. We apologize for not fulfilling our duties as far as blogging goes however, to be brutally honest, we wouldn’t have much good to say. As far as this weekend in Arkansas goes, the same could be said, but we’ll do our best to describe how the team is feeling as a whole following it.

We departed at noon on Thursday and made our way on a 12-hour (or 10, or 14, or 11, depending on which guy on the team you talk to) trip to Fayetteville, Arkansas. Movies, cards, dumb bus games and some school work later, we arrived and checked into the Clarion Inn.

We all practically hit the sheets right away with the exception of a couple rooms who took the opportunity to stay up a little later to become more acclimated with one another. Breakfast, busing and batting practice all concluded we found ourselves standing on the line at Baum Stadium for the national anthem. It was a really hard fought game, and we gave them everything they could handle and then some, however as you can see we came out on the wrong end of the result. This loss definitely left us with a sour taste in our mouth because of our overwhelming ability to beat ourselves. At this point I can confidentially say that we have yet to really get beaten. We have found a way to break down, one way or another, during the course of two or three innings and give the opposing team the advantage.

It is staggering to see how hard we work and fight during practice and games to get better only to take a step backward during a select 10 minutes of a game. We dug ourselves a six-run deficit early on and proudly we climbed back into the game only to see our efforts squashed following a few walks, errors and a balk in there and lose, 15-6. That final score was not indicative of the game whatsoever. But whatever right, we had to bite our lip and come out with a chip on our shoulder the next day and play the game we love.

Saturday’s game was one that I thought would end in a 20-19 score. The way that both teams scored runs in the first half of the game was scary. Our offense jumped out to a lead only to see it go away. We then built up another lead of three to only see the same happen. That game ended 13-9 which slowed from my anticipated final, but was still a high-scoring game, especially since the new bats this year.

That game featured nine total errors (three for us and six for them) and a handful of walks and hit batsmen. It was another game in which we left with a sour taste in our mouths. We felt embarrassed to be out there for two straight days and perform the same way both days. We mimicked our game one mistakes and mental mishaps and probably added a couple new mistakes. It really isn’t a good feeling, as some of you can attest, to be in the driver's seat of a game to only see the momentum shift so dramatically that you feel as though you’ve had no say in it.

That's how I feel the game went, one momentum swing after another. But hey, we still have another game to play, and we can only log this game into our memory bank and continue onward. Our goal is to continue to get better day after day while playing baseball the right way, whether that is taking a positive and repeating it or taking a negative, such as the last two games, and learn from it.

Quick Thoughts from Blow...The dumb bus games we play (hat game, travel game, “shooting game..?”, camping game, and “this is how you play the game” game) are really fun to do with the freshmen, especially when they are completely flabbergasted ... the expression is priceless ... however, last year pitcher Cale Tassi was sooo confused and mad he went and looked up on google the different games while on the bus, so he didn’t feel left out. Can you say bush league?! ... Freshmen Mike Porcaro is yet to grab the rim ... we’re waiting Mikey P ... Arkansas is a really fun place to play but I hate it so much ... thanks a ton to the Candyman who takes pictures for the opposing teams and brings them treats (tootsie rolls, jolly ranchers, bubbleyum, and even better Peanut butter cookies). We need to get some Diamond Girl tryouts at UWM ... the Clarion Inn was better last year ... mainly because NCAA’s for Track and Field were held at Arkansas and everyone stayed there ... made for a sweet hotel atmosphere ... lastly, I wanna thank The Dave Matthews Band for keeping my sanity on this bus ride ... there is a certain artist and song for everyone, I urge you to find yours. Dave Matthews Band “What You Are” is mine...

Here’s Sam…

Alright everyone, back from a week off and boy do we have some things to catch up on. As Blow mentioned, our week of absence was not intentional but merely influenced by the amount of homework and tests we had to prepare for. All in all, we have been pretty busy between traveling, playing ball and maintain our school schedules. With that being said, we have been playing some baseball along the way.

Blow mentioned our trip to Austin Peay. Definitely was not the results we were looking for. The first game was a total debacle … simply didn’t pitch the ball, hit the ball or field the ball efficiently enough to give ourselves a chance to win.

Ironically, Sunday’s game with Illinois State was the complete opposite of the first game for the first 24 outs. Illinois State took it to us on Saturday, but we came out with something to prove. We wanted to earn some respect and dignity back. We played well and endured the two or three rain/tornado delays that took place throughout the day. Unfortunately, with an 8-4 lead going into the top of the ninth it simply wasn’t enough. They ended up scoring four in the top half and took the game into extra innings. We managed to shut them down in the tenth but as another tornado warning came through the area we needed to the clear the field. All three teams (Illinois State, Austin Peay and us) went into the Dunn Center, Austin Peay's Basketball Arena, and had a little comedic relief watching some of their basketball and football players shoot around.

Eventually, we took the field an hour and a half later and weren’t able to hold off the storm as Illinois State scored five in the top of the 11th to cap off the day with a sour taste in our mouths.

Practice that week was not fun or entertaining to say the least. A lot of groundballs, mechanical work and running was essentially the agenda for the week. We knew we had something coming after the poor performances over the weekend. Although a little hot and bothered by the performance on the weekend the coaches and players alike understood that we needed to put that behind us and prepare for the nationally-ranked Razorbacks.

On to the bus again Thursday and another journey in front of us.

We arrived in Fayetteville, AR, late Thursday evening and received our room assignments. Everyone pretty much went to bed except maybe myself, Doug Dekoning and Eric King. Instead of sacking up for the night and getting some quality sleep we decided to watch four consecutive episodes of “U.S. Marshalls” on A&E and bunked up around 3:00 in the morning. The next morning and the next three days consisted of the same thing. Up early, eat breakfast, get to the field, play our game and back to the hotel and off to dinner. The three game set had its fair share of ups and downs. Blow did a good job of summarizing so I would prefer to not relive the replays of those games considering we could of came out of there with a series win.

Up next, the California sunshine as we head to the west coast to play four games against San Jose State, Santa Clara and UC Davis. Follow us along the way and we will be more efficient in our postings as this one took a while. Once again, we will keep grinding it out, stick with us and the results will be there when its all said and done. Remember its not where you start the year but where you finish it! We’ll see you all next week!

Gameday!

2011-02-23T08:23:00.000-08:00

Senior Sam Sivilotti and junior Greg Blohowiak, members of the Milwaukee baseball team, will once again be blogging all season long on the UWM website.

They are back for their second go around and today is their second entry.

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Rocky Top ... what does that even mean?

Hey, its Blow (Greg Blohowiak), I first would like to thank those who took time to make the trip to Knoxville for us, as well as those who took time out of their day to watch us on GameTracker, live feed, or listen to the game online. Your support means a lot to us and we are not about to disappoint our fans.

Secondly, that was a great weekend, weather-wise, for baseball. Wow, Tennessee you did your job of being nice and warm and I can be the first to tell you we have guys coming home with sunburn.

Thirdly, Siv and I are gonna change the structure of the Diamond Chronicles. Instead of basically going play-for-play in each game, we’ll instead give you the gist of it. I'm sure for those who are reading it were ones watching the games or at least took time out to check out the box scores. I'll just cover the first two games and add some other tidbits about the weekend.

I can honestly say I was looking forward to this 11-hour bus ride. I had so many things I could do to keep me occupied, so I was geared up and ready to go. Needless to say, I didn’t get to do all those things I wanted to and the 11 hours felt more like three. I’m sure it was all the anticipation of playing the first series of the year against an SEC opponent - but hey, I can’t complain. We made it to the hotel around 1:30 eastern time and they placed us at the Airport Hilton with NO food options within walking distance.

We would have to take the shuttle in order to grab some grub for breakfast or whatnot. Oh well, we got our room assignments and got to bed, as we were all tired from that cramped bus. It is now Friday and we have to leave the hotel by 11:45 a.m. so we can get some early ground balls and fly balls since we’ve been in the good ol' Klotsche Center for the last three months we had to gauge the field of play. The Volunteers field/stadium was pretty nice and, according to Chad Pierce (former Arkansas Razorback), it is in the middle of the road as far as SEC standards go. By ours, it is pretty much pristine.

So we get to BP and get that over with and line up for the National Anthem. All the preparation in the past six months is culminated in this song. Anticipation is at an all-time high at this point and our team is geared up and ready to go. To make a long story short we made a couple mistakes in the game and ending up losing it 4-0. And that is exactly what it was, us losing it, not Tennessee winning it. We gave them three outs on the bases and in the inning where they blew up for three runs we walked a batter and hit one as well. And, anyone who plays can tell you those add up really quick. We were very disappointed, however, we had so much to be encouraged about - our pitching was solid and we belted out 10 hits. We just had to brush off the indoor dust and get better the next day.

After the game we all got pizzas and made our way back to the hotel. Some of us visited with family members, went swimming or in the 2-foot by 2-foot hot tub, or played cards. Before I knew it we were up and showering in time for the next game.

We went to the field and got ourselves ready for the game and eventually ended up dropping the decision, 7-6. We played much better than Friday, as our bats woke up in clutch situations. However, we gave up a couple big innings with some free bases. That has been the issue the past couple games, free bases. The worst thing you can do after you have a momentum swing to your side, and that’s walk a batter to begin the next inning - and I feel like that was almost customary for us. The little things in baseball are going to kill ya, and we were perfect examples of that. We had the worst tastes in our mouths following this game because we feel as though we outplayed them in both contests, but failed to show for it in our record. We were however, again encouraged with the outcome but not happy with the loss. Our thinking at this point is that we have to come out on Sunday and perform at the top of our game, to show the Volunteers what our identity, or brand of baseball really is. If I could reiterate one thing that Coach Doffek relays to us is that we have to develop an identity, and tough road games versus opponents such as Tennessee can further enhance that.

For our dinner that night we went to the best buffet east of the Mississippi, Ryans Steak and Buffet. That was about it for the night, other than more cards being played and hanging out around the hotel there is not much to be said, before I hand it off to Siv.

Quick thoughts from Blow ... shout out to Brian Morgan, the sole man holding down the ticket office over at UWM, keep doing quality work and we’ll keep getting wins ... there is nothing like walking into a buffet with 20+ guys and have all eyes on you ... it's kind of eerie, but now I know what it was like when I saw Brett Favre in church on Christmas Eve of '07 ... once again, our redshirt freshman Mike Porcaro - aka Mikey P - cannot grab rim ... cowtails are among my favorite candies, probably fourth behind sour patch kids, sour jolly ranchers, and Mike n' Ikes ... our assistant head coach/pitching coach might have a sweeter tooth than I do ... lastly, even though we complain about long bus rides, we all embrace it and end up enjoying the camaraderie ... here's Sam.

Thanks Blow, games one and two were great disappointments as far as outcomes, but encouraging in the sense that we were competitive. Blow talked about our identity. What is our identity? Not really sure at this point but we are going to figure it out. This team grinds it out, as can be seen in the first two games. If you were to read anything the Tennessee head coach released in his preseason media day, you would have thought we were going to play the Yankees. Come on, really? I personally think that we gave them everything they could handle. Whether they see it that way is unknown, but we know that we gave away games one and two.

Game three was a different story. We came out with a little different expectation…to win. If one thing is going to help establish our identity, it is the ability to come out and play fundamental baseball day in and day out, grinding out at bats, throwing strikes, and making routine plays on the defensive side of the ball. In the long run, this will keep us in games and get W’s more times than not.

Sunday was a perfect example in the finale of the series. We got ahead early and never looked back. There was some adversity in the middle innings of the game but we overcame the unsportsmanlike crowd and their threat. Regardless, we got a win.

Going 1-2 was not the goal going into the weekend, but there were positives throughout the weekend. This team has the potential to exceed expectations and be a really sound squad if we continue to strive for success. We have to keep our eye on the bigger picture (winning conference) and along the way we are going to surprise some people and turn a few heads. A little snapshot can be taken away from this trip. The boys from Tennessee are playing outdoors practically 12 months of the year, have an unbelievable field, indoor turf hitting and pitching facilities, a strength coach designated just for the baseball team and a quality environment – all the factors that would lead a person to believe that they would come out and smoke us ... not happening with the mental makeup of this team.

We’ve been inside for six months, groundballs off of a gym floor, live hitting with a white back drop which makes it nearly impossible to see the ball and the daily grind of being a team from the North. Nonetheless, we use none of these things as excuses and have the expectation to win. We will continue to improve, make adjustments and grow as a team. Stick with us. The support is appreciated.

We want to make this a memorable season, and the only way to do that is by working hard. This team will not give in and we’ll see where were at when the season concludes. Find a way! – Our team motto … find a way to keep following and we will find a way to put an entertaining product on the field. As we grow and the support grows, the program grows. This is the only Division 1 Baseball program in the state and we will continue to strive to make a name for the Panthers and attract the support that this team and program deserves.

Thanks for everything and let's go win a series this weekend and comeback for some more fun next week.

The season is upon us ...

2011-02-15T08:32:00.000-08:00

The Journey: NCAA Regionals

2010-06-04T10:14:00.000-07:00

Junior Sam Sivilotti and sophomore Greg Blohowiak, members of the UWM baseball team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website. This is their 11th entry.

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Ever since I joined this team back in the fall of 2008, there was a bitter taste in the mouths of the veteran players. This taste was that of reaching the league championship game only to come up on the short end, receiving 2nd place. I remember the first meeting I attended. The 2nd place plaque was on the table with the coach facing us with him bantering about the disgust of getting 2nd. It was an honor to be able to play in the championship game but to come up short of your season-long goal is like a slap in the face. With the onset of the 2008 offseason one goal held constant, win the conference championship. Realizing we are in a mid-major conference, only one team would receive a bid into the NCAA tourney. Winning the regular season title was not enough, you would have to win the conference tournament. Its a sad thing to think that some teams just cruise through the year without a worry about losing or lack of distaste of it. For me losing is terrible, no matter what it is. A pick-up basketball game, solitaire, bocce ball, or a D1 baseball game. That's just how competitive I am. Truth of the matter is, winning the conference tournament is something teams build up for, all season long, all off season. Getting a good seed in the tournament is basically what the regular season title awards, however 1st and 2nd place in the regular season receive close to the same treatment. Skipping over a disappointing 2009 season, where we got 2nd place in the regular season and were 2 games over .500 for the season, we packed our bags for the summer only to return in September to build on the never-changing goal.

Arriving for “fall ball” and the beginning of the school year, our team was one with an immense amount of talent. We also had the wits about us as a team to realize that we had something special. We would gain trust and love in one another through really early morning workouts with assistant coaches Steve “Flip” Sanfillippo and Mike Goetz. Our abilities and strength were improved throughout the fall and winter and by the time the regular season rolled around we were fully prepared. Preparation, however, does not translate to success, as we began the year on the wrong foot, losing many close games with some in walk-off fashion, digging ourselves a 5-14 hole I believe. Nonetheless we were resilient and battled our tails off to insure ourselves and those around the league that we were a team to be reckoned with. Before we know it we are the #2 seed in the Horizon League Tournament with 29-23 record, 1 game behind the #1 seed and heavy favorites Wright State.

Arriving in Gary, Indiana we took on the tournament by storm. Our starting pitching was some of the best we could ask for, having a 2.03 era or something through 5 games. We went 4-1 in the tournament and ended up winning the whole thing. We had to win 3 games in a two day stretch, taking two from the number 1 seed Wright State in the process, to win. To say it was a surprise would be false, but to say it was expected would be tough to agree with, even with my bias. I mean, we have to have enough arms to win three games in a row, and the way the games were going at the Steelyard the bats were somewhat silenced. Our offense was struggling no doubt, and every one in the lineup can tell you that, however they came through when we most needed it. Recording a 3-1 win vs Valparasio in the first game on Saturday and a 14-7 victory over Wright State the following game, setting the stage for a Sunday Championship game. Chad Pierce was phenomenal, along with our DH Sivvy (Sam Sivilotti) and other crucial pieces of the lineup we won the game 6-3 guaranteeing our spot in the NCAA tournament.

There are no words to explain the feeling I had running out to the mound for the dogpile after the last pitch, mostly because it went so fast, but you know. There has been no feeling in my life thus far that had given me that kind of enjoyment and gratitude. I really haven’t been in many games like this, coming from a lackluster sports school as GB West. Celebration ensued and we rode the road of glory all the way back to Milwaukee, with news outlets and papers publishing (for the first time about our baseball team, which is embarrassing) our berth into the regional.

The next day we had the selection show on ESPN at the Oakcrest Tavern. About 5 minutes into the show we learned our destiny, Tempe, AZ regional, and we would face Arizona State the first game, the #1 seed overall, why not? We were kind of thrown for words as we saw other teams with iffy records and some with sub .500 records receiving better seeds than us. Whatever right, lets shock the world. This week has been very exciting. Many teammates getting interviews for news outlets and the AP, along with us getting meals from Qdoba, JJ’s, and Noodles. Getting prepared for the departure for Tempe I pack my jerseys, shorts, swim suit, and very warm gear (clothes because it’s gonna be 110) for the amazing weather I expect.

We left Mitchell International Airport at 7:35 in the morning Wednesday and I am currently writing while in mid-flight to Las Vegas where we will have a layover, giving me a chance to play some slots!! (Wish me luck! Or actually you’ll probably know how I do when I get to writing more).

Some observations while on board: Taking off is kind of fun, especially when we turn while we’re ascending. Cameron really hates it but he’s okay. No one likes turbulence, I dont care who you are, if you say you dont mind it you’re lying. The rockies from way above are kind of cool, but I’m not sure how much I saw. The snowcaps are what are cool. Also, we’re scattered all around this plane with 40 of us flying Southwest and they have open seating. Senior Tim Patzman, with the broken elbow is scrunched up against the window with his cast tucked nicely in his abdomen, not to alarm his neighbors with the horrific stench. Also, I really like people watching, it’s interesting and sort of creepy but who cares. Until I have something else to write about I’ll see ya later. I’ll try to document the non-baseball stuff about this once in a lifetime trip.

Arriving in Vegas was pretty cool, seeing the stip and what not. With much anticipation of our 2 hour layover we grabbed some airport grub and the “of age” guys went right to the slots. To say the least we as a whole lost money, except for a couple outliers. (Tim Patzman and Cole Kraft, right next to me ... I was furious). We then boarded our plane to Phoenix and before we knew it we checked into our hotel. The Hyatt is a great hotel and the rooms are amazing. Two beds, pull out couch, kitchenette area, and a huge LG plasma. Getting comfortable is not a problem. We left to get a late lunch at the local “Tempe Marketplace” which is a outside mall, much like Bayshore. This place was full of shops and restaurants and we had no problem wasting time and money there. A bunch of guys went to this bar-b-que place called Lucilles. It was the most amazing ribs and tri-tips I have ever had. Anywho, many guys bought new hats, shirts, oakleys, and other things before returning to the hotel.

Once back at the hotel some of us gathered at the pool area to swim and take in the sun. At this point of the day our bodies are starting to get really tired, and with the sun and heat taking a toll its not wonder a handful of us were scrambling to wake up from naps to get ready for dinner at 7:45. I was one of them, waking up from an amazing one, getting up 10 minutes before we left. (Sidenote: I fell asleep before the 9th inning of the perfect game opportunity and I didn't get to see the real time blown call, which infuriates me). We went back to the same mall and enjoyed more of the great food choices. Not too much else to talk about other than tomorrow is a new day and a really busy one.

This whole regional thing is something I can become accustomed to. It is really nice to be in a warm and beautiful city with the opportunity to play the game I love. Until tomorrow, stay hot and always ask why not?

The Journey: Wright State

2010-05-21T09:54:00.000-07:00

Junior Sam Sivilotti and sophomore Greg Blohowiak, members of the UWM baseball team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website. This is their 10th entry.

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Want a shot at the title?

With much anticipation extinguished, our 8-hour busride was underway toward Dayton, Ohio. We are playing one of our more intense Horizon League series’ of the year, Wright State University. Wright State earned a berth to the NCAA Regional last year, winning the Horizon League tournament for their bid. They are a very good team and are top-20 in the nation in hitting this year. However good they may be on paper, we know we are just as good, if not better, and are able to take the series. To add some more incentive we currently are two and a half games back of them for 1st place in the league. In order to take over 1st place we would need to sweep them on the weekend, a hefty task, which can certainly be done.

We arrive in Dayton on our shortened Lamers bus, which allowed for the coaches to drive themselves, in humid 80-degree weather, and received our room assignments and went to bed. With alot of stress put on the treacherous weather that could be seen in the Dayton area we woke up and kept our eyes on the radar to see what we had in store. With a severe thunderstorm watch, as well as a tornado watch, put in place we boarded the bus on our way to the field. The temperature was probably 83 degrees when we began batting practice and concluded our pregame activities.

The game started with both pitchers earning 0’s in the first inning of work. Junior Chad Pierce once again toed the rubber for us on this Friday night and was throwing much better a week after his shortened Valpo appearance. Our offense got on the board first with a 5-run explosion in the top of the 2nd inning. We gained runs off the bats of Hoenecke (double), Buchholz (single), and Shaun Wegner (double, 3 rbi). Guerrero was walked to load the bases to lead up to the bases-clearing by Wegner. Following Wegner was junior Cole Kraft, who took the first pitch over the left field wall for a 2-run homerun. Following another scoreless frame from both teams Wright State proved to be the hitting team they are perceived to be. Wright State answered with five of their own runs in the bottom of the 4th inning with a few singles as well as a walk and HBP. Four runs in that inning were unearned, as we had 2 errors in the inning resulting in scoring plays.

After a few more innings of 0’s for our offense and a one-spot for WSU in the bottom of the 5th, we had a score of 6-5 going into the top of the 7th inning. Many times this year we found ourselves in this situation. In games past we couldn't find the extra hit in order to plate a run, but with nothing but a win in mind we dug into the batters box and scored two runs to take the lead. Following a couple strikeouts and a walk senior Ben Long laced a ball to the right center gap for a double. With runners on 2nd and 3rd, senior Tim Patzman came to the plate with the chance to take the lead. Tim, like he has all year, stepped up in the clutch and hit a triple to right center, which proved to be his final collegiate hit.

In the bottom half of the inning Pierce cruised through the first two batters of the inning and seemed to be out of the inning when Wright State’s center fielder Ryan Ashe hit a tailing ball to left field. Today was a day where wind was definitely a factor, at times gusting to 33 mph, out to left. The ball carried all the way to the wall and Tim Patzman attempted to make the catch causing him to crash into the wall. When all was said and done, Ashe got a triple and Tim Patzman had to be taken out of the game. Later on in the night we found out he broke his elbow and we lost him for the rest of the year. With a runner on third Pierce was relieved by sophomore Greg Blohowiak. Walking the first batter on four-straight pitches, Blohowiak did what was necessary and got a ground ball to 2nd base to end the threat. In the top half of the 8th, we extended our lead to two runs when Paul Hoenecke, Nino Guerrero and Shaun Wegner all strung hits together to plate another run.

After walking the first batter he faced in the 8th inning, Blohowiak was relieved by sophomore Cameron Amsrud, our closer. He got a ground ball to defensive substitute Jimmy Lundstrom, who make a spectacular play by tagging the runner to second and firing the ball to first to get the double play. It was a huge play in the game that squashed any momentum Wright State had. Jimmy had been sitting on the bench for the whole game and he came in and proved why he is in for defensive purposes.

Another run was scored by us in the top half of the 9th and Cameron came in and closed the door getting the three out off a hard-hit ground ball right to his belly. We win 9-6, beginning our attempt at a series sweep on the right foot.

Following the game it was a relatively low key night at the hotel considering by the time we got changed and finished with dinner it was already 11:30 p.m. local time. Off to bed in preparation for a crucial day.

Game two of the series was slated for a 1:00 start. Unfortunately for us, we didn’t recognize this until about the third inning when we were already down 12-0. The game continued to be a living nightmare as the Raiders went on to win 20-3. Not much to say other than we now need to salvage game three and come away with a series win while pulling a game closer on Wright State.

Game three turned out to be quite the shootout as both offenses were relentless on the opponent. Jeff Gordon faced off against Raider pitcher Jon Durket, both of whom are California natives, something fairly uncommon to see in the Midwest. Gordon went a strong five innings for us allowing five earned. His numbers simply do not justify the effort he gave us on the hill. He battled all game and kept a potent Wright State offense in check. Durket on the other hand was not so lucky. His day concluded after 2.2 innings after allowing five runs all earned in the top half of the third frame. Following Durket was Jordan Marker for Wright State who also threw 2.2 while allowing four of his own to cross the plate. The scoring in the fourth began when Cole Kraft doubled to left center. Following Kraft, Shaun Wegner hit his second home run of the season extending the lead to 7-0 at that point. Wright state would respond by putting a three spot up in the fourth and another solo run in the fifth closing the gap to 7-4. We then countered with another three spot of our own in the sixth when Nino Guerrero, Cole Kraft, Shaun Wegner, Dan Buccholz and Paul Hoenecke all singled in the frame. Wright State would then go on to tack on two more in the bottom of the sixth and then one in the bottom of the seventh but their effort was not mighty enough, as we closed out the game 10-7 on the back of Luke Annen who came in and relieved Gordon. All together it was a successful weekend as we took the series and closed the gap on the conference leaders, just wishing we could have game two back.

The bus ride home was fairly energetic, as we were excited on the successful season. Arrived home to Milwaukee around 11:30 local time and it was off to sleep as the last week of formal classes was ahead of us along with a very crucial four game conference weekend against Butler and UIC.

The Journey: Valparaiso

2010-05-11T09:21:00.000-07:00

Junior Sam Sivilotti and sophomore Greg Blohowiak, members of the UWM baseball team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website. This is their ninth entry.

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April Showers bring May Flowers...

We have now found ourselves in the thick of things in the Horizon League. Even though the conference season is halfway through, we have, legitimately, five teams who are vying for the top spot in the conference. This weekend we welcomed Valparasio into the friendly confines of “The Hank”. We are currently riding an 18-game win streak while playing at “The Hank”, and looking to extend that streak throughout the weekend.

Getting the Friday start is Chad Pierce, coming off a no-decision last Friday, Pierce is looking to get another Horizon League win. Valpo got off to a quick start plating two runs in the first two innings. Having already thrown 61 pitches throughout the first 2 2/3 innings with 4 walks, Pierce was relieved by senior Luke Annen, who got the final out of the 3rd unscathed. In the bottom half of the inning our offense got things going, starting with a double off the bat of Cole Kraft followed by a single from Shaun Wegner. Following reaching off of a fielders choice, we found ourselves with the bases loaded and no outs. Senior Ben Long then singled through the right side plating 2 runs, tying the game.

The following innings proved to explain the crazy game of baseball. In the top half of the 4th and 6th, Valpo gathered 6 and 7 runs, respectively. It seemed as though every single hit they had was in the hole. It was as if in the Valpo dugout they had rigged the ball with a remote control and they were guiding the ball throughout the field. Luke Annen pitched well and was ahead of most of the batters he faced, however the game of baseball can treat you like that sometimes. No matter where we pitched it they seemed to get a hit. Following another two runs in the top of the 9th we saw the final score rest at 17-3. We got our third run on a homerun to right field off the bat of junior Doug Dekoning, into howling wind might I add.

This game was definitely not the type of game we were looking for to kick off a series. Getting thwarted at home, ending our 18-game “Hank” win streak, was absolutely demoralizing. However demoralizing it was, we also knew we lived to play another day. We had two more games to get ready for and they would prove to be what was most important. We tarped the field in anticipation of heavy rain that night and went home to relax. This final day of April brought “showers” in both runs and actual rain, hopefully it would bring “flowers” on the Saturday doubleheader.

Saturday morning came early. We arrived at the field a half hour early to pull the tarp and take care of the necessary field duties in preparation for the doubleheader. Kyle Schmidt started the first game for us. Valparaiso countered with the hard throwing righthander Bryce Shafer. The first inning was rough for both teams. Schmidt gave up three runs on three hits and an error in the opening frame. Thankfully he settled in, after our offense countered with a three-spot of our own in the bottom half of the frame. From that point on, runs were hard to come by. Valpo added single run innings in the third and the seventh to tally five in the game. Our offense closed the gap with a run of our own in the sixth to bring us even and then back down eventually one after Valpo struck in the seventh. The table was set for an opportunity to come back in the ninth. With the 18-game home winning streak snapped the day before, we were anxious to start another. In the bottom of the ninth things started slow but there was a bright spot, Shafer was out and in came a reliever. After a groundout, Dekoning hit a single up the middle. Following a pop out things began to look even more bleak. Needing this game so badly we knew we could not just fold up and give in. Tim Patzman then singled through the left side to move Dekoning up to second. Out came one reliever and in came another. Dan Buccholz then stepped into the box. Down 0-2 in the count early, Bucchy put together one of the more impressive at bats of the year. He fought back to 2-2 fouling multiple pitches. Finally, he managed to get the count to 3-2. Buccholz then hit a laser back up the middle allowing Dekoning to score from second and tie the game. Paul Hoenecke followed Buccholz. Paul took a 1-1 fastball and hit a rope to centerfield that was unfortunately caught. Nonetheless, we tied the game at 5-5 and had an opportunity to win. It was not until the eleventh frame that the fireworks came. With two outs and nobody on, Ben Long hit a single to the left side, bringing up the hot-swinging Tim Patzman. Patzman dug in and really came up big. He quickly got down 1-2 in the count but found a way to work it back to even at 2-2. He then got a fastball on the outside half of the plate that he drove to left field. Roars erupted. The ball was in the jet stream and we knew it had a chance. Everyone jumped up from the bench to watch the ball carry through the air. The leftfielder continued to go back and eventually got to the wall. The ball cleared the fence by 30 feet. Our whole team ran to the plate awaiting to greet Tim. He rounded third base, threw his helmet in the air, and jumped on home plate as he got mauled by our entire team. A walk-off home run. What a great way to start off a day in which both games were must-win.

Following the fireworks of game one, both teams prepared for the series finale. In general, game two of the day was pretty slow. The first run of the game came in the bottom of the fifth when Sam Sivilotti doubled to centerfield to start the frame. Following a lineout, Alex Erdman singled to the shortstop advancing Sivilotti to third. Sivilotti was eventually plated after Cole Kraft singled through the left side, giving us our first run of the game. We eventually added two more in the seventh to give us a 3-0 lead going into the back end of the game. Jeff Gordon did an outstanding job for us on the hill as he threw 6.2 of scoreless ball, striking out three and only scattering four hits. Cameron Amsrud then came in to toss the last 2.1 while striking out three of his own in putting up scoreless frames to close the game out. The series was ours and we know were in a position to make an end of the year run that could potentially win us a conference championship. Three weekend series to go, 10 conference games left, an opportunity to win a title. The most important one this upcoming week as we head to Dayton for a first-place showdown with Wright State. With a little rivalry to spice things up, this weekend could have a number of fireworks as we hope to jump into first place and over take the league.

The Journey: Younsgtown State & Cleveland State

2010-04-30T10:48:00.000-07:00

Junior Sam Sivilotti and sophomore Greg Blohowiak, members of the UWM baseball team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website. This is their eighth entry.

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The Price is WRONG Bob!!!

After a week or so off we are back once again to offer an insight into the recent adventures of the baseball team. The Butler weekend was one of much dismay and was a definite step back as a team. It was just one of those weekends where it seemed that nothing was going right and we lacked energy and focus, which is inexcusable. After going 1-2 versus Butler, we came back the following Tuesday morning for a 6:45 a.m. practice at the one and only Klotsche Center. Going in early and getting the point across that the way we played was unacceptable, we had a new perspective on the upcoming games. After sweeping Bradley on a combined score of 32-8 we gained momentum going into the weekend versus a couple of Horizon League opponents.

We left the Klotsche Center at 12:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon to begin our trek to Youngstown, Ohio. The first movie we watched, which has been a long time coming, was Happy Gilmore and the part where he states “there's 364 more days until hockey tryouts, I gotta toughen up!” got us revved up for a long trip. We arrived to Youngstown around 10 pm Eastern time with empty stomachs and tired eyes. Some of us went to the local gas station or Denny’s to solve our hunger, with others laying to rest in the hotel.

This weekend was a very unusual weekend for baseball as we were slated to play Youngstown State on Friday in a doubleheader with a doubleheader against Cleveland State looming on the following Sunday. Even though this was a weird schedule our starting pitchers remained the same. Junior Chad Pierce toed the rubber for game one. The weather was beautiful, at 70 degree sunny skies for the first pitch, and the pregame routine followed suit. You could tell that we came to play and everything was done full speed pregame.

Pitcher Chad Pierce would be the first one to tell you that he did not have his best stuff Friday, however the way he pitched he kept us in the game for seemingly the whole time. The game was a back and forth battle for the first six innings, with the biggest lead at anytime was 2-1 or 3-2 held by both teams. Going into the bottom of the 7th inning Pierce was reaching a staggering 120 pitches, however he felt strong and remained in the game. He got the first YSU batter to fly out to right and the second to pop out to third basemen Paul Hoenecke. After getting the first 2 outs of the inning Pierce hit a speed bump. After a single and a couple walks Pierce found himself battling to get out of the inning with the bases loaded. Following a wild pitch and another single the score was set at 6-3 and Pierce saw his day come to an end. In came sophomore Greg Blohowiak to try to get the final out of the inning. He got a fly ball to right field with 2 outs and a runner on 1st to end the threat.

Even though this was a 3-run inning and now YSU had the lead going into the top of the 8th inning there was no reason for us to put our tails between our legs. We “manned” up and did what we have been doing all day, hit the ball. We came back with a 3-run inning of our own with hits by senior Nino Guerrero, sophomore Paul Hoenecke, freshman Jon Capasso and junior Cole Kraft. With help from a couple wild pitches and a fielding error we found ourselves right back in the game with a 6-6 score going into the bottom of the 8th. Blohowiak remained in the game getting their first hitter to fly out to right before giving up a “fisted” single through the left side. After striking out YSU shortstop Jacke Healy, Blohowiak delivered a pitch that the YSU runner attempted to steal 2nd base. Catcher Dan Buchholz fired down to 2nd missing only by a couple feet, but because we were a split second late covering the ball squeezed out to center field causing the runner to advance to 3rd. With a runner on 3rd, Blohowiak got a hard hit ground ball back to him that hopped up off the tip of his glove and shortstop Cole Kraft attempted to make an off balance throw, missing slightly up the line, causing the runner to score from 3rd and YSU taking the lead. Blohowiak saw his day come to an end with sophomore Kaleb Engelke relieving him, after throwing one pitch the YSU runner was thrown out at 2nd to end the 8th.

Once again we found ourselves down one in the top of the 9th inning. We fought back nonetheless, scoring one in our half of the ninth after a sacrifice fly by Hoenecke to plate Shaun Wegner, who came in and pinch ran for senior Ben Long after he singled. With the game tied once again at 7-7, Engelke took the hill to begin the 9th. He got a ground ball out to begin the inning. Unfortunately, the next batter found the perfect spot to hit the ball and received an infield hit. With a runner on 1st, sophomore Cameron Amsrud came into the game to relieve Engelke. The story remained the same with Amsrud however, with the next two batters getting ground ball hits through the infield. Youngstown won in walk off fashion to take the first game 8-7. It was disappointing, however our energy and focus was one that needed to be carried over to the next game where we would almost be guaranteed to be in a dog fight for the win, which proved to be the case.

The game began with much of the same energy carried over from last game with the offense providing us a 7-2 lead after two innings. This game proved to be one where we let them inch back. Starting pitcher Kyle Schmidt did well throughout much of the game, but once again he would be the first one to tell you he has had better outings. After 8 innings the score was 9-6. The ninth inning for YSU proved to be a typical end of the game inning for our opponents this season. With us “making it interesting” to say the least. We have many older guys on the team who claim any more of these types of games will indeed stop their heart. After a walk and a single through the right side Schmidt saw his day come to an end collecting 8 innings pitched throwing 130 pitches. In came Kaleb Engelke to relieve Schmidt.

A lefty submariner, Engelke did exactly what he was called upon to do. He got two straight ground balls to get the first two outs of the inning. However, during this time two runs scored due to a wild pitch that advanced runners to 2nd and 3rd, with them scoring on the ground outs. Engelke stayed in the game to face the next batter who he subsequently walked. Coach Scott Doffek made the stroll to the mound and called upon Cameron Amsrud once again to preserve the win. Cameron is known for making things very interesting, with one example being against SIU-Edwardsville earlier in the year. The next batter for YSU came in and got a hit up the middle just off the glove of junior Jimmy Lunstrom, advancing runners to 1st and 2nd. Amsrud made it very interesting by walking the next YSU batter to load the bases. This seemed to be a bad dream, or nightmare, as we have seen something like this before. Even though this was happening once again we had confidence in Cameron to close the door. With the YSU closer/hitter Marzec at the plate, Amsrud pitched the ball up and in and got Marzec to weakly ground out to 2b Lundstrom, getting the final out of the game, giving us the win.

What an important win this was for us, especially coming off a close game. We were 6-5 in conference play following this game and had two more games Sunday for us to look forward to. We went back to the hotel and figure out eating situations and relaxed in the hotel until bedtime.

With games one and two of the weekend out of the way, we woke up Saturday morning unsure of whether or not the weather would allow us to play the final two games of the weekend at Cleveland State. Having a day off on a weekend series is a little unusual for us. We took advantage of having Saturday off with a light workout and some batting practice back at Eastwood Field. After about a two hour workout we all showered up and hopped back on the bus. The team was then treated to a delicious all you can eat pizza buffet at Cici’s Pizza in Youngstown, Ohio. Following the meal, we made the two hour journey to Cleveland. As we got closer to Cleveland, storm clouds began to roll in. We finally arrived in Cleveland and checked in to yet another Extended Stay Hotel and received our room assignments. After about three hours of lounging around the hotel, taking naps and playing pranks on teammates we went to dinner at a local Applebee’s. A big shout out goes to Ricky Babcock, Director of Baseball Operations, for arranging the phenomenal deal we received at the restaurant. Richard, as we like to call him, can finagle any restaurant manager into getting us ridiculous deals, that let me assure you, we take full advantage of. Following the meal it was back to the restaurant and to bed in preparation for a long day at Cleveland State.

All Pro Freight Stadium is the home of Cleveland State this year and is newly constructed. It has all the typical amenities that you expect to see in a minor league or independent ballpark: suites, concessions, and souvenir shops. With that being said, upon arrival, we ran into one speed bump. We COULD NOT wear our metal spikes on the freshly laid field turf. What seemed to be ridiculous to us, all position players were issued rubber football spikes. After issuance of the spikes we preceded with pre-game exercises and batting practice in preparation for the two games ahead. The weather was beautiful. National anthem was sung and we were ready for some ball.

Continuing the hot-hitting from Friday, we jumped out to an early 5-0 lead after two innings. In the second we plated four with a leadoff flare single by Sam Sivilotti. Paul Hoenecke then followed with another bloop single that moved Sivilotti to third. Doug Dekoning then hit a rocket up the middle to plate Sivilotti and move Hoenecke to third. Nino Guerrero then continued his hot hitting with a single of his own to move the runners up another base. Cole Kraft then extended the rally with another flare to left field plating Paul and Doug. Out came Cleveland State’s pitcher and in came another. Did not matter. Shaun Wegner then singled through the left side scoring Guerrero. The offensive was stalled when a laser inning-ending double play concluded the inning.

With a comfortable lead through three innings, the game drastically changed when Cleveland State put up a five spot of their own in the bottom of the third to tie the game. We were now essentially in a 0-0 battle over the next six innings. Following the offensive explosions, Luke Annen entered the game for us on the hill. He came in and dealt giving us an opportunity to win the ball game. Luke had pitched five scoreless innings before the ninth rolled around. Dekoning lead off the top half of the inning with a walk. Following a strikeout, Kraft hit a single through the left side on a hit-and-run. With runners on first and second, Cleveland State made a move to their pen bringing in a new pitcher. His outing seemed to be a rather difficult one as he threw a wild pitch in a 1-0 count to move both Doug and Cole up to second and third. Cleveland State then opted to intentionally walk Wegner. After getting to 3-0, Schwegler, the new pitcher for CSU, through another wild pitch to plate Dekoning and give us a 6-5 lead. Out came Schwegler and in came Miller who induced an inning ending double play to get Cleveland State out of the jam. Annen was able to then shut the door on Cleveland State in the bottom of the ninth to close the game out and give us an opening game win.

Following game one, the rain began to come down. After about a two hour rain delay and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on the bus, both coaching staffs and the umpiring crew decided that game two was going to be cancelled due to the amount of rain that the Cleveland area was still expected to get. Back on the bus it was. An eight hour journey home was ahead of us. Movies, napping, and jokes…the usual. We returned home around 11:30, which was a little earlier than expected. Nonetheless, it was late and we were ready to get back to the weekly grind, although with anticipation for the big doubleheader scheduled for Wednesday at Miller Park against Northwestern.

The Journey: Cleveland State

2010-04-12T09:59:00.000-07:00

Junior Sam Sivilotti and sophomore Greg Blohowiak, members of the UWM baseball team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website. This is their seventh entry.

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Another week goes by and we find ourselves in the midst of another Horizon League series. After taking two games from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside baseball team on Tuesday, we looked to ride that momentum into the weekend. We welcomed Cleveland State University to the friendly confines of the Hank for a three-game weekend series before Easter. It is very important for us as a team to get off on the right foot on this weekend, seeing as we faltered in the previous series versus UIC. High energy coming off of two wins at home (15 in a row, dating back to last season) and also confidence brought us to the field on Friday afternoon.

It was a beautiful sunny day with the temperatures flirting with the 80's as we stepped on the field for batting practice. As not to beat a dead horse, we lined up on the line, only to notice that we would not be hearing the national anthem, as we do not have a flag to recognize at our field. Nonetheless, we went through introductions and the ceremonial first pitch from team manager Michael Poll and the game was underway. For only the 3rd time all year we would be starting off in the field. Getting the start to begin this pivotal series was Chad Pierce, a pitcher who is making a name for himself with his stellar performances thus far. Not to miss a beat, Pierce found his groove early on in the game with only a couple hiccups along the way. He allowed one earned run, coming in the 8th inning, as well as 6 strikeouts to work his way to another astounding outing. Behind Pierce’s strong pitching effort was a dangerous offense, which jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the 1st inning with help from Cole Kraft’s leadoff double. He was eventually plated when Doug Dekoning was regretfully picked off of first. Following a couple scoreless innings our offense scored once again, with a Ben Long homerun over the right field wall. On a beautiful day like this it was only customary that there would be one complaint. The wind was howling all day - sometimes reaching gusts of 30 mph. This wind would not phase our hitters however, with three of the four runs coming off of homeruns. Two homeruns by Ben Long (4th and 6th innings) and Cole Kraft (8th inning) capped off the scoring on the day.

Keeping the streak at home going, as well as winning the first game of a league series was very important for us. It causes us to maintain a high level of confidence going into the next game. We met as a team and stressed the fact we cannot be satisfied with how we played, in other words we would strive to make the best of our todays, being the worst of our tomorrows. We have to come out and be even better to continue to succeed in this conference and as a baseball team. We broke huddle and continued to clean up the field, putting the tarp on and everything (a new tarp might I add, one without any holes!!!) since we would be seeing rain within the next 24 hours as the weather people forecasted. As time would tell, this tarping of the field was a very good idea for two reasons, for maintaining a dry field, as well as some much needed entertainment to start off our Saturday.

Unlike normal Saturdays where we arrive to the ball park and usually plan on playing a doubleheader, we got to the beloved “Hank” unsure of whether or not our games were going to withstand the storm that was moving into town. It was a cold chilly morning, but there was promise on the horizon after we found out that the games were only going to be postponed about an hour. In the meantime, both teams had a few pregame festivities that always keep us loose during rain delays. It started with both Cleveland State and our team throwing baseballs back and forth between both dugouts to think of acceptable activities that freshmen could participate in (typical amongst most teams in the country). Both teams settled upon tarp slides, a freshman dance off, and a few upside down men. The tarp slides always get a good laugh, seeing freshman of all heights and weight running through the wet sloppy field in sliding shorts and then diving into huge puddles of water on the tarp. The upside down men usually are a big hit but did not seem to generate the laughs that we are normally accustomed too. Finally, everything concluded when Michael Poll started to perform his infamous dance to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” As we all got a good chuckle from Michael, Cleveland State sent starting left fielder Ryan Franks out to battle Michael. We then countered with Drew Pearson (the only freshman that had yet to participate in either of the previous two events) to turn the tables into a two on one dance off.

Finally, Anthony Sambula, starting pitcher from the previous night, began strutting his stuff as he made his way behind home plate. Pearson, Sambula, and Michael withstood one another’s challenges, although the trophy was taken home when Michael decided to take off his shirt and wave it around his head. Nothing more needs to be said…Lets play some ball…

Game two started with Kyle Schmidt facing off against Cleveland State’s Jimmy Cowhy. Both pitchers did an exceptional job of minimizing offensive threats from both teams. Schmidt threw 7.1 innings while striking out eight and giving up three earned, where as Cowhy threw 7.2 while allowing up four earned. The tables turned when Dan Buccholz hit a single to the left side with two outs in the eighth. Out came Cowhy and walking up to the plate was hot-hitting Tim Patzman. Patzman was already three for three on the day looking to add more. After swinging through the first two pitches, Patzman was down 0-2 in the count. He then took a belt high fastball and drove it over the wall in left center. Patzman had given us a 5-3 lead and that was all that was needed. Cameron Amsrud, who came in for Schmidt, shut the door on the Vikings in the top half of the ninth giving us a 2-0 series advantage and win, but there was more to be taken.

Before game three, we knew the importance of this game. Although it was early in the year, we know that we would have to make up for a disappointing previous weekend (1-2 vs. UIC) and a weekend sweep was just what the doctor prescribed. To call this game a must-win might sound a little crazy considering there are numerous weeks left to the conference schedule, but that is just the way we approached it. We jumped out to a hot start putting up four runs through three innings, but there was a little cause for concern. Cole Kraft had to come out of the game in the second inning with an oblique injury and starting pitcher Jordan Herbert exited after the third with some arm concerns. In entered Alex Erdman at shortstop and Jeff Gordon to pitch, both proved to be extremely pivotal substitutions. Gordon threw 4.1 of shutout baseball while only allowing three hits, and Erdman went two for four with two RBI’s (first collegiate hit and RBI). Both RBI’s proved to be the difference in the game, as Cleveland State bit into our commanding 7-2 lead in the eighth when they added three runs of their own, closing the gap to 7-5. Once again, for the second straight game, in entered Amsrud with a save opportunity at hand. And once again, we achieved the same result. Amsrud closed the Vikings out for the second time in one day, giving us a third-straight victory and a weekend sweep of the Cleveland State Vikings. In general, it was a good weekend and we are now right back in the mix of the top of the conference standings. With a conference weekend off, we have in-state schools Wisconsin Lutheran and St. Norberts on tap for this Thursday and Friday along with a community camp this Saturday and Sunday, and then off to Butler to continue our Horizon League journey…

The Journey: UIC

2010-03-31T08:23:00.000-07:00

Junior Sam Sivilotti and sophomore Greg Blohowiak, members of the UWM baseball team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website. This is their sixth entry.

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"Light post and back is one..."

It is no question that the past couple weeks have been a struggle. A struggle to find out where we stand compared to other teams as well as amongst ourselves. Suffering several heartbreaking losses, and also some embarrassing losses, we had a very sour taste in our mouths. This does not cause us to dwell on ourselves though, we take it as a learning point and grow from there. Following the rough patch of games, this is the time of year we were all preparing for; opening weekend in conference. For our first series in the Horizon League we would be facing off against our rival, University of Illinois-Chicago. Winners of the last seven regular-season titles, UIC is like the Vikings to the Packers. The energy and anticipation that go along with playing against this team is unmeasurable.

We boarded the bus once again and began our (very relieving) short trip to Chicago. Only about an hour and a half, we put a movie in (Blind Side, great movie!!) and enjoyed the ride. We would not be stopping at our hotel before the game, therefore many of the guys were changing on the bus as we were pulling into Les Miller Field. It was a bit windy, as expected, with the sun beating down on us along with 40-degree weather as we began batting practice. We finished up the pregame routines as usual and lined up for the recorded anthem.

Like I said before, energy for this game would be unmeasurable. We were lined up on the front edge of the dugout cheering on our hitters as we laced single after single to get out to a 2-0 lead after the first inning. On the bump for us was Chad Pierce, who is pitching stellar this year, who has also been on the short end of some walk-off wins. He is reigning Horizon League Pitcher of the Week and brought his game to Chicago. Following another run in the second inning off of a walk and a laser back at the pitchers foot by Sam Sivilotti, Jon Capasso was plated on a fielders choice. After an answer by UIC the score was 3-1 after three full innings. Following a couple more runs by UIC the score was deadlocked at three when senior Dan Buchholz smashed a homerun over the left field wall to regain the lead with two innings left to play.

The first game versus UIC was one that was far too cliche. UIC is a baseball team known for playing small ball (bunting, stealing, hit and run) as well as taking advantage of their opponents mistakes. In this game Pierce surrendered three runs, with none of them being earned. Our defense played a little shaky the first game having five errors to show for it. Even though we did not play the type of baseball that was ideal in beating a well-rounded team, we had a 5-3 lead going into the bottom of the 9th inning. Coming in for the save was sophomore Cameron Amsrud, a submarine guy who has a large amount of experience, and is no push over. He began the inning getting a pop out to Cole Kraft. Following a couple singles and a hit by pitch, Amsrud found himself pitching with the bases loaded. With the score still at 5-3, UIC second basemen Matt Serna took a pitch from Amsrud off the thigh, getting an RBI and closing the gap with us to one.

This seemed like a bad nightmare, with this same situation occurring at least five times in the past. With two outs and the bases loaded, Cameron got a ground ball to 3rd basemen Dan Buchholz, which seemingly was the relief we needed to get this win. However, after bobbling the ball he had to resort to diving at the running attempting to advance to 3rd. A fully outstretched Buchholz dove and tagged the UIC runner on the back, which made us hold our breath waiting for the umpire to make his call. The umpire ruled the runner safe, to much distaste from all of our players, but the most angry was Buchholz, who looked as though he was going to rip off someone’s head. On that controversial play the runner from third scored tying the game at 5 runs a piece. It was almost surreal that this was happening again, to such a competitive and talented team. Following a walk to the next batter we found ourselves wondering what had just happened, pinching ourselves to see if it really was a bad dream. After several minutes of cleaning up the dugout and boarding the bus, the upperclassmen made a decision that the kind of baseball we played was unacceptable and we would have to face some punishment. This decision was one that was almost expected following that performance, as well as following the performance earlier in the week when we let another game slip away in the latter innings versus Northern Illinois.

When we arrived to our hotel we got our room assignments and gathered in the lobby 15 minutes after with shorts and workout gear on. As a team we marched outside to an unknown baseball diamond at dusk. We had to get mentally tougher and in order to teach a lesson we began doing sprints. We chose to sprint from one light post to another with a down and back equaling one. All in all, we as a team had completed 15 of these sprints before joining together as one. With gasping for air and cramps setting in we got in close and had a talk. Led by senior Shaun Wegner and junior Sam Sivilotti, this inspirational meeting was one unlike any other. With all of our cards on the table we could not afford to go 0-2 to begin our conference play. We had to come together as one unit and compete against another unit of men in order to prevail in a game we each love to play. There is no question that wood was added to the fire that was a rivalry conference game. Saturday is a new day, with the same opponent, same game, same diamond, same players, but most importantly ... a new mindset.

We awoke Saturday morning with a chip on our shoulders and a point to prove. We arrived at the field and got our game on. After the usual pregame rituals we prepared for a long day full of baseball. You could tell our loss the day before and running gave us a sour taste. We exploded for 12 runs over the first 5 innings of the game with all nine starters recording a hit and seven of them recording multi-hit games led by Cole Kraft (3-4, 1 RBI, 2 Runs), Ben Long (3-5, 3 RBI’s) and Tim Patzman (3-4, 1 RBI, 2 Runs). Starting the game on the mound was Jeff Gordon. He was scheduled to only pitch one inning and then hand off the game to Kyle Schmidt. Gordon had a flawless first inning while only throwing one off speed pitch. Sophomore Kyle Schmidt took it from there, going the rest of the way while giving up no earned runs. There was a five-run outburst for UIC in the bottom half of the 5th inning, however the runs were scored following some errors in the field, therefore Schmidt did not give up an earned run. The final score of the game was 13-5. This game was one that was played much better than the one from the day before. Even though we had some hiccups in the field, we maintained focus throughout much of the game. It was a very positive way to come out and play the first game of a doubleheader, especially following the rough outcome Friday. Nevertheless, we have to now forget about all of the achievements we made in this game and focus on the third game of our series.

In this pivotal game of our series, it would determine if we had a successful or an unsuccessful opening weekend in league play. The second game did not see as much offensive firepower, however we did open up with three straight one-run innings, while also threatening to score more. We got out to a 3-0 lead, but then UIC had taken advantage of some errors and strung some hits together to plate five to bring the score to 5-3 UIC at the end of three innings. From there on out we seemed to be deflated by their pitching and their defense. It was a day were we couldn’t catch a break and we came up on the short end of some good plays by their defense. With the score at 6-4, Jordan Herbert (starting pitcher) saw his outing come to a close after giving up a homerun and walk. He didn’t have one of his better outings, however, to UIC’s credit their hitters stepped up and made timely hits. Junior Jayme Sukowaty came in relief of Herbert and saw much of the same. “Suko” came in and with a runner on gave up a single and then one of UIC’s leading hitters, Steve McGuiggan, homered to left field putting the score at 10-3. We managed to plate one more run off the bat of Sam Sivilotti to end the game with a score of 10-4.

This game was not a result we were looking for, and it also shows how important the first game of a three-game series is. Being able to win the Friday game enables you to have to win one of the two games on Saturday, instead of winning both. However depriving this weekend was we had to remind ourselves it is a long season and we have another opportunity to gain momentum in the next coming days. We packed up and changed into proper bus attire and continued home with the weekend on our minds and the anticipation of our first home games looming. A seven-game homestand is before us and we have alot of work to do to get at where we want to be. We are a very talented bunch and can be dangerous if we believe in ourselves. With the homestand coming, we have an opportunity to relax in the comfort of our own beds instead of those in hotels, enjoy our own meals, as well as wear our ALL WHITE JERSEYS!!! We like to wear those (we were 14-1 last year) in home games. Come out and support us this Tuesday versus UW-Parkside in a double header and this weekend we welcome Cleveland State for a Horizon League series!!

The Journey: Kansas State

2010-03-30T09:09:00.000-07:00

Junior Sam Sivilotti and sophomore Greg Blohowiak, members of the UWM baseball team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website. This is their fifth entry.

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Toto, We’re not in Kansas anymore...

Another weekend, another 12-hour bus ride. As the reality of playing baseball every weekend is finally setting in, with many people starting to get into a routine with school and their homework, we yet again stepped foot on the Lamers bus. Taking a similar route as last weekend, we picked up the fellas at the park and ride and began our trek to Manhattan, Kansas. We were scheduled to play a series versus Kansas State (#25) with one game on Friday, two on Saturday and another one on Sunday. But due to anticipation of horrible cold and snowy weather on Saturday, we bumped up a game to Friday so we would play a doubleheader. A little different from what is normal, however we were going to approach this weekend like any other, aiming to win games while continuing to get better in the process.

The long bus ride was full of movies, with a photo slideshow from Arkansas and a couple minutes of laughs at the end to begin. With a request for the best of Will Farrell from SNL quickly on the table we popped that in and continued with the laughs. Following a couple hours of movies we were in the thick of the March Madness tournament updates. With many teams going down to the wire and some upsets (thanks Georgetown...) it was no doubt people were itching for any updates available.

Before we knew it we made a stop at a Urbandale, Iowa, Happy Joes pizza buffet to absolutely destroy the establishment, for food of course. We have enjoyed this pizza buffet in the past, however it came only a couple hours before a game versus Iowa, therefore stuffing our faces was not such a good idea. This time though was different, with four hours on a bus ahead of us we could afford to mash out the countless number of delicious pizzas without worry. While in Happy Joes Panther Baseball prize machine victor (AP #1 for winning things) Paul Hoenecke was at it once again. Taking five dollars worth of tokens straight to his favorite ticket game, Speed Demon. Before all was said and done Paul had won around 2500 tickets and redeemed them for a number of stuffed animals and other miscellaneous items.

With all the pizza in our stomachs and our bodies on the bus we continued on toward Kansas, only to arrive at our Holiday Inn hotel on campus shortly before 11 pm. We unpacked and got situated in our rooms and laid to rest, to wake up and play a couple games versus the Wildcats of Kansas State.

The morning started off rough, without a free continental breakfast, many of us went to the nearby gas station to pick up the necessary energy supplements and food for the morning. We then boarded the bus and starting on the one mile trek to the field, only to go around the block three times before we figured out where to park the bus to let us out. Thanks to the problem solving skills of our bus driver and picking up a Kansas State rep, we pulled up and continued toward the dugout.

The usual occurred, with batting practice and infield as well as the national anthem, we then proceeded toward the first pitch. Taking the rubber for us was Kyle Schmidt, usual game one starter, however we once again were at the plate to begin. A quick start, junior Cole Kraft laced a double past the diving first basemen. After a sacrifice bunt by Shaun Wegner the KSU pitcher then struck out Hoenecke and Long to end the threat. Kansas State started off strong, putting up three runs in the bottom of the 1st, getting runs on a leadoff double, a couple off end of the bat, two-strike, only-off-metal-bat kind of hits and a error fielding a bunt, that inning ended with a unconventional double play by Doug Dekoning (caught a ball and throwing behind the runner who was stealing to double him off). The next inning we were limited to only three batters, with KSU tacking on another run. The score was 4-0 after two innings and didn’t see a change the rest of the game.

With temperatures dipping and the swirling wind picking up runs on this day were very hard to come by. With the baseball “gods” not in our corner for game one, we saw many hard hit balls fielded by luck (Ben Long hit a liner in the gap, only to be snagged by the wind and caught by the right fielder below his knees, when he didn't even expect it) or because they were hit right at someone. That is baseball I suppose, many hard hits at people, and many handle-shots that fall in between people. That was the case as well as some pretty good pitching on either side of things, Schmidt had a rough first two innings before settling in and only allowing four runs. Also their pitcher did well, nibbling away at the corners while receiving some iffy strike-three calls. To note, Senior Bob Stone came in the bottom of the 8th inning working a run free frame.

We saw the first game end with a 4-0 score and some promise, promise that we play another game shortly following. After a brief meeting in right field we grabbed our in-between game food and got ready for the 2nd game, hoping to pull out a win versus a very good Kansas State team.

With game two on the horizon, the weather began to drastically change. Normally in Wisconsin we are used to 20-degree weather in March, but when we prepared to leave for Kansas we expected at least something a little warmer. As pregame sprints and throwing finished, the temperature dropped to 25 and snow flurries began to fall. Chad Pierce toed the rubber, and yet again, gave us another quality start. Pierce went eight innings and scattered three hits on top of seven strikeouts. Chad gave a great effort and put us in a position to win the game. The first run of the game came in the fifth when Tim Patzman laced a double down the left field line. Unfortunately, the double was erased when Dan Buccholz grounded into a fielder’s choice but as Patzman remained in a run down, Buchy advanced to second. Doug Dekoning then came up and hit a single that plated Buccholz giving us a 1-0 lead.

The score would remain the same as K-State kept us off balance all game, only surrendering five hits. We had a chance to extend our lead in the eighth but after a one-out single by Nino Guerrero followed by a double Sam Sivilotti, we had runners on second and third with one out. Cole Kraft then was intentionally walked, but back-to-back strikeouts ended our threat. Kansas State then plated an unearned run in the eighth to tie the game. We then went down one, two, three in the top of the ninth. The Wildcats were then able to put the go ahead run on base with one out in the bottom half of the ninth with a single through the left side. An infield single followed, and runners were on first and second with still only one down. We then got an out to bring the game right down to the wire. Two down, two runners on…Unfortunately Kansas State prevailed. A single through the left side scored the game winning run from second.

After a brief post game talk, we gathered our things and boarded the bus. We got back to the hotel and tried to get warm. As the night passed on the snow continued, and the weekend series began to look a little bleak. We went to bed unsure of the Saturday game status. 9:10 AM, next morning, all players are notified that the weekend series was cancelled and we are going home. The “pack-up” process was extremely surprising as most of us had imagined that we would at least try to preserve one game from the series. Twelve hours on the bus ride passed by with movies, funny conversations, music and sleep. We got back to Milwaukee around 10 pm. We took the rest of the weekend to get healthy and prepare to turn our play around at Northern Illinois the following Wednesday.

The Journey: University of Arkansas

2010-03-15T19:36:00.000-07:00

Junior Sam Sivilotti and sophomore Greg Blohowiak, members of the UWM baseball team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website. This is their fourth entry.

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Woo Pig Sooiee?

This trip to Fayetteville, Ark., was unlike all the rest. This may hold true, however there were some constants that we cannot avoid. First of all, the good ole Lamers bus we’re all accustomed to was once again awaiting the team for this 12-hour ride. Had to leave the Klotsche Center and pick up people at a park and ride. Instead of the College Ave. one we chose to take 43-South and take a new route to the northwest part of Arkansas. After getting settled in and having our bagged lunches provided by Assistant Coach Steve Sanfilippo, we put in the movie and let the long ride swallow us up.

Following some six hours on the bus, we made our first and only stop along the way. It was in Troy, Ill., at a Pizza Hut where we were fed with 18 large pizzas and breadsticks. A very delicious meal that only took a half hour to get situated. We were on the road again with some people getting testy along the way, as expected with a 12-hour bus ride for the 3rd weekend in a row. Games of cribbage, PSP, as well as our Ipods usually can take up a good chunk of the ride. Before we knew it we were approaching the final couple hours, with a large sigh of relief. We need to thank our bus driver Tracy for finding a route that cut off an hour from the whole ride. Who knows what could have happened to our sanity if he did not make such a crucial decision, thanks Tracy. After going through some patches of lights resembling cities we finally made it into Fayetteville and pulled into our hotel, The Clarion.

Our first impression was not a good one, as the outside looked outdated and used up. These comments could have been out of frustration from such a long ride, however one comment did not arise that would encapsulate this establishment, interesting. We got our room assignments and shuffled a ways through the pool and restaurant area to the door that led to our ultimate abode. Our rooms were located in the “annex” of the hotel, as stated by an Indiana All-American (which I'll touch upon shortly). This area of rooms, which was about 25, was separate from the main hotel and looked as if it was excavated strait out of the movie Joy Ride. (Candy cane anyone?). Opening the doors and welcoming us was two queen sized beds with a old woman-dress flower pattern comforter which was nothing like its name, as well as a sink that was apart from the toilet and shower, and the astounding 25 inch Zenith TV. Not to mention the wireless internet that is integral to our advancement in learning was very weak in our outcast of rooms. Living the high life of course. The housing could be a little iffy, however, we are here to play the #14 ranked team in the nation in Arkansas and the rooms were the last things on our minds. We quickly went to bed and dreamt of a successful weekend.

Waking up for breakfast at 9 a.m. was good. The breakfast was a buffet-style with the best french toast I’ve had in a while. As we were all waking up and munching on our food we noticed a trend throughout the breakfast hall. There were big-named schools from across the country being represented by what we came to learn as the National Indoor Track and Field Championships. Basically, the best of the best in the nation were on hand in Fayetteville to compete against one another at the Arkansas field house, which might I add is “Unbelievable” according to sources. Some schools to mention are TCU, Indiana, Florida State, South Carolina and Oregon. Nonetheless, these people were here for the same intentions we were, to win, either against another team, or another person. After bantering with these people, mainly the girls, we finished up eating and got dressed and ready for the departure for the field. Boarding the bus there was a very anxious and excited energy, one that can be expected when playing such a high profile team. We left and arrived at the field a short time after with some of our eyes fixed on the stadium. Baum Stadium at George Cole Field is one of the top five places to play in college baseball. This stadium has had record crowds of over 11,000 people and has a reputation for being in the top echelon. Following batting practice and infield we lined up for the national anthem with anticipation at an all-time high. Getting off to the right foot on the weekend is the most important thing. It all starts with the first pitch, and it was quickly approaching.

Getting the nod in the first game was Friday night starter Kyle Schmidt. Coming off a loss to Austin Peay, Kyle was looking to come out of the gates and start fresh. The Razorbacks started Mike Bolsinger, a pitcher who has a sub-2.00 ERA coming into this game. We would start on the offensive side of things with Cole Kraft earning a walk with a great first at bat of the game. After a stolen base and a couple outs, senior Ben Long plated Kraft with a two-out single. After a back and forth first few innings we found ourselves deadlocked at 2-2 in the 4th inning when Kraft had a big moment. With us just scoring former Razorback-turned-Panther Chad Pierce, John Capasso was on first base when Kraft took a fastball from Balsinger off the scoreboard in right field, setting the score at 4-2. A couple more runs from us and one from them the score was 6-3 going into the 6th inning. After a walk and a hit by pitch, Kyle Schmidt saw his day come to an end. A struggle for him all day to find his stuff, Schmidt battled through and made crucial pitch after crucial pitch to keep us ahead or in the game, credit to him for being such a competitor. Junior Cuyler Franzke got out of the inning after Arkansas scored a few more to tie the score at 6’s. After a scoreless top of the 7th the Arkansas Razorbacks responded with an eight-run bottom of the 7th. We found ourselves trying to find answers for this outpouring of hits, however the offense in the 8th and 9th was held scoreless to reach a final of 14-6. The final score was definitely not indicative of the playing of the game. We played very hard and with a lot of energy but in the end we just did not have our arms behind our bats on this day. This loss was one we felt was a great opportunity that we let slip away, but it also was one that opened our eyes. It opened our eyes to the type of baseball it takes to compete with a high-caliber opponent. We played ahead of them for most of the game and the confidence and belief we take from this game will go further than the final score.

After returning to the hotel we took our showers and went and got a bite to eat. After getting back we congregated in the pool area to surf the web and do our schoolwork, due to the poor internet in our rooms. The night turned long when we stimulated our brains with the never-ending sporcle competitions. With AP #1 player Tim Patzman no where to be found, the pride and dignity that comes along with dominating sporcle was up for grabs. At times it seemed to float from person to person however AP #2 player Shaun Wegner showed why he’s #2. Going to bed followed shortly with us setting our alarms and tv timers and resting our bodies from a long day of battle, to only wake up and continue versus the Hogs.

With game one behind us, we woke up refreshed for yet another opportunity. The same routine underwent for the majority of us. Wake up early, go to breakfast, come back to the room and hang out, get dressed, and board the bus. As we stepped off of the bus, our focus began to dial in. With two and a half hours until game time, we like to keep things loose. We gathered as a team down the right field foul line to highlight some of the keys of last night’s performance. After the game summary was completed and the objectives for today’s battle were expressed, we began our batting practice. With a country flavor in the air, we listened to a mix of rap, pop and country that the Razorbacks had collaborated together for their pregame warm up CD. Some unusual songs, nonetheless, provided great entertainment for all of us while shagging balls in the outfield. At the conclusion of batting practice, you could see our focus set in.

We were sending former University of Arkansas pitcher Chad Pierce to the mound. Pierce had been waiting a long time for this moment. For weeks we have been hearing from him about how he was going to go back to Arkansas and pitch a gem. Well…that’s exactly what happened. After both teams going scoreless in the first, Arkansas struck in the bottom half of the second. With two outs, and a runner on second, the Razorbacks roped a double to plate the first run of the game. No fear in mind, Pierce closed the inning by putting up a one spot and diffusing any more possible damage. Once again, going quietly in the third, we could not muster any offensive production through three innings. Unfortunately, it looked as if Arkansas may have been hitting their stride as Wisconsin native and current Razorback, Collin Kuhn, hit a solo homerun to put the home Razorbacks up two. Unwilling to lay down, we gathered ourselves and were ready to counter the first two punches. In the fifth inning, with the score still 2-0, a leadoff single by Tim Patzman followed by a walk by Dan Buccholz gave us our first real offensive opportunity of the game. Doug Dekoning moved both runners up a base as he laid down a sacrifice bunt. Following a strikeout, we had runners on second and third with two outs. Big moment play of the game. With a 1-0 count Junior Sam Sivilotti hit a hard ground ball up the middle. As he was running down the line he recalls that he thought the ball was going to get through the middle and potentially knot the game up at two. Unfortunately, the second baseman made a diving play only to gather himself and throw Sivilotti out at first. The momentum had remained in the Razorback dugout. As the game continued, Pierce made big pitch after big pitch to keep within striking distance. Pierce’s day concluded when he came out of the game after 6 and 2/3 of quality baseball. Once again, we could not get any closer. As Arkansas began to pull away and extend their lead to 6-0 after seven. The game eventually ended at 7-0 but for a second straight day did not come close to reflecting the quality of game we played.

After post game reflections, and an inspirational talk from head coach Scott Doffek, we showered and boarded the bus again to eat a post game team meal at the Golden Corral. By now, we have become experts at buffets and now which courses at which places. Indulging in steak, mac and cheese, butterfly shrimp, and a tasty selection of fruits and vegetables we concluded our meal and headed back to the Clarion. With our last day in Fayetteville quickly approaching, we got back to the grind and prepared ourselves for departure. Packing suitcases, gathering toiletries, and getting a good night’s rest we put our heads to rest in hopes of a different result tomorrow (although we did lose an hour of sleep from daylight savings…we love sleep come on now).

Game three, a new day, hopefully a better result. Jordan Herbert toed the rubber for us as he was coming off of an impressive start against Dayton last weekend. The Razorbacks countered with Josh Eibner. Eibner was drafted out of high school in the fourth round is projected to be a top-75 pick by most scouts in this year's upcoming draft. Eibner is said to have an electric fastball that sits around 91-92 and can get as high as 95. Fear? I think not. We have had great success in the past when facing pitchers that have been highly recognized because the majority of us take it as a smack in our face. Our hitters live for moments like this. We play with a chip on our shoulder because we know that at the end of the day we have something to prove. A great opportunity and challenge lay before us. After a scoreless first three innings from both teams (we had no luck early…barreled seven consecutive balls off of Eibner and could not squeeze one hit) we struck in the fourth. After Paul Hoenecke’s single, Ben Long reached on an error. Following the first two runners reaching, Eibner got the next two outs. Dekoning then roped a single up the middle to plate Hoenecke. The inning continued with a single by Sivilotti through the right side to load the bases. Unfortunately, a fly out concluded the scoring in the fourth and we could not rally anything else. At this point, Herbert had the Razorbacks off-balance. Anyone watching could see Jordan getting stronger and stronger as the game went on. He was making pitch after pitch with no real threat from Arkansas. As the game moved into the sixth, we still had the lead until Tim Patzman had a laser opposite-field homerun to left center. Putting us up two, we felt confident going into the last leg of the game. Herbert continued his performance and was looking to silence the 3,000 fans that were at Baum Stadium. Here we were…2-0 bottom of the ninth, so close in the previous two games, and yet another chance to put away the 14^th best team in the country.

Leadoff single and advance to second on a wild pitch (thought process: no big deal, run means nothing at this point). Next batter ground ball to short, Kraft backhands it and throws to second…gets the lead runner out as he was too far off the bag (perfect). Following that a single was hit to centerfield putting runners on first and second. A wild pitch made things more interesting as runners were now on second and third. Herbert made a great pitch to get another ground out to short. Two outs, runner on third and we have a one run lead. A hit batter put another runner on. He immediately was pinch ran for. The pinch runner stole second as we were not throwing through to second base. Herbert does a great job to get ahead in the count and put the hitter in an uncomfortable situation. Unfortunately, another wild pitch led to the runner from third to score the game-tying run. Herbert then did a magnificent job to get a ground out to close the inning and give us a chance to still win the game.

Tied at two a piece, we went down quietly in the top of the tenth. In entered Cameron Amsurd for us. Amsrud got the first two outs of the inning with ease. It was not until the third hitter that the dramatics came into play. With a 2-2 count and nobody on base, Cameron made a great pitch on the inside part of the plate but Matt Vinson was able to squeeze his hands inside the baseball and lift it up into the jet stream. As we looked up we held our breath. The 3,000 Razorback faithful rose to their feet and began to cheer. We could not bear to watch as we saw centerfielder Doug Dekoning going back to the wall. As Dekoning reached the wall he stopped and began his jump in an attempt to bring the ball back. The inevitable had happened. Doug could not bring the ball back and Vinson had just hit a walk off homerun. As we watched the Arkansas crowd the plate and wait for Vinson to touch home, we could not believe the game unfolded like this in front of our very own eyes. Devastated to say the least. We gathered as a team in the outfield and Coach Doffek communicated how special he thought our team can be. Words can not explain what type of game Jordan Herbert pitched. He gave us everything he had and then some. In the end, we came up a little short.

Not much for the bus ride home. With the majority of us worn down from the weekend, both physically and emotionally, the ride home was pretty low-key. A few movies, two stops for food and munchies, and picking up a new bus driver was about it. The twelve hour ride seemed like an eternity. We did not reach Milwaukee until about 4:30 a.m. and could not wait to get home. Another week, a few heartbreaking losses, but more work to be done. We will not crumble but rather rise above. We await another opportunity to get back on the field this weekend against Kansas State.

The Journey: Austin Peay Invitational

2010-03-10T09:09:00.000-08:00

Junior Sam Sivilotti and sophomore Greg Blohowiak, members of the UWM baseball team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website. This is their third entry.

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It seemed like only a few hours after we stepped foot off the puddle jumpers that we were back and boarding the Lamers bus. To be truthful, it was about only 12 hours later that we were on the road. A pretty quick turnover, considering we just spent a full day of energy toward one game, however thats how baseball is.

This time our destination was Austin Peay University in Clarksville, Tenn. This was about a nine to 10 hour bus ride depending on the stops. The luxury of flying planes was all but a memory with us aboard the humble bowling alley carpet-covered Lamers bus. After a couple of movies (40 Year Old Virgin and The Girl Next Door), we made our routine stop at the Marion, Ill., Ryans Buffet. After indulging in fried chicken, mashed potatoes, salad and of course ice cream, we continued down the final stretch towards warmer weather. We finally arrived in Clarksville, Tenn., and checked into the Riverview Inn. This has been the humble abode for us for the last couple years while we played Austin Peay. Situated on top of a large hill, this hotel provided us with 70’s style rooms, 26 inch Zenith rounded screen TV’s, and belly button reaching shower heads. However old-school this hotel may be, it was located in a prime spot for eating options. With Hooters, O’Charleys, Wendy's, Subway and a Chinese buffet within walking distance, we were assured to be reaching our caloric needs each day. Tonight we arrived a little too late for us to grab a bite, so we just got our room assignments and got prepared for the Austin Peay Invitational.

The Austin Peay Invitational included four teams. Ourselves, Austin Peay, Dayton, and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Our first game was scheduled for 3:30 p.m. versus the host Austin Peay. The pregame routine was a bit skewed with a game occurring before us. We had to take batting practice off to the side in cages and stretch in that same confined area. After batting practice we had about an hour and a half of downtime due to the geriatrics of the previous game. Dayton and SIU Edwardsville battled with a combined 25 runs and several big innings, extending our waiting time. After the game was completed, we took the field and got ready for our turn. After infield and the longest rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, the game was underway.

Getting the start for us was sophomore Kyle Schmidt. He pitched pretty well while only making one mistake, a three-run homerun. This game overall was a sloppy one for our side, with five errors in the field and no energy, physically or mentally. Anytime we come out and play like that we cannot expect to win. To make things short we ended up losing the game 9-1 and were completely embarrassed. Post game discussion consisted of understanding that the baseball we played would not warrant us a win all year. Coach Scott Doffek made it quite clear that he will not put up with sloppy baseball. After apologizing to our parents for the horrible show we put on we headed back to the hotel.

With the memory of losing on everyone’s minds, we showered and went to eat. Coming back to the hotel on a full stomach, a good chunk of us cleared our minds with a life changing game of trivia located on sporcle.com. Senior Tim Patzman showcased his knowledge of the world around him basically winning every category we chose. Some speculate that he was screen cheating, however to his credit he is quite the nerd deep down. When this game ended the group that was in his room returned to our own and passed out, understanding that the next game is the most important for us.

Waking up and delighting ourselves with the continental breakfast we hopped on the bus at a gut-wrenching time of 8:30 a.m. To some players dismay we were scheduled for two 7-inning games against SIU Edwardsville. These games would prove to be our first home-away-from-home games of the season, with us wearing our white jerseys and batting in the bottom half of the innings. The routine was once again broken with us not partaking in batting practice before the game. This may or may not have been a good idea, but after the result of the following game I suppose it was phenomenal. The game began with freshman Eric Semmelhack on the mound. However, after working two innings of scoreless baseball, he was pulled from the game with injury concern, thus giving way to junior Cuyler Franzke.

While this was going on the offense of the Panthers was shattering records, so to speak. Senior’s Ben Long and Dan Buchholz both hit homeruns, as well as junior Doug Dekoning joining in the fun with one of his own. Long had three RBI’s in this game with three solo homeruns. Buchholz had four RBI's on his homerun, as it was a grand slam. Other notable offensive weapons were the whole lineup, top to bottom. Sophomore Paul Hoenecke provided doubles of his own, as well as junior Jim Lundstrum. Seniors Shaun Wegner, Nino Guerrero and Tim Patzman also joined the hit brigade en route to a 20-2 victory.

Cuyler Franzke, junior Jayme Sukowaty, seniors Bob Stone and Jeff Gordon got the nods on the mound and shut down the dangerous SIU offense.

This was the type of game we were looking for. All three aspects of the game were on the same page, with very few mistakes, clutch hitting and pitching, as well as flawless defense. We got a feel for what it takes to set a tone for the day and we were not looking to get tentative for the next 7-inning game.

After a brief gathering with family and friends along with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, we resumed our baseball focus in an attempt to sweep SIU Edwardsville. For the third straight game we were facing an opposing left-handed pitcher. With no discontent in mind, we took the field with the same energy as the first game. Chad Pierce got the nod for us on the mound looking for his first victory of the year. After a scoreless first from both sides, Edwardsville took a 2-0 advantage in the top half of the second with a solo homerun and an infield single that plated another from a throwing error. With a little concern from our dugout about a lack of focus, we bounced back and tied the game in the bottom half. Pierce then went out and threw two scoreless innings, as we added three in the bottom of the third and one in the fourth. With a 6-2 advantage going into the fifth, Edwardsville was unwilling to lay down and fold. They added two in the top half of the inning putting pressure on our defense to hold the lead. After two hits in the top of the sixth, Pierce managed to get Edwardsville’s nine hitter to roll over to second base closing the threat. We were again blanketed in the bottom of the sixth going down in one-two-three fashion.

Chad Pierce’s day was done and in entered sophomore Cameron Amsrud. He made it interesting by giving up a leadoff homerun to push the Cougars to within one. Cam regathered himself and got a groundout from the two hitter. Unfortunately, with one out and no one on, a triple was laced to right center field making the final inning uneasy. With Amsrud’s “no-fear, I’ve been here before” attitude in mind, he made a quality pitch to get a ground out to third base holding the runner and pulling himself closer to a save. Pierce, nearly having an anxiety attack in the dugout could barely stand to watch. The stage was set. Runner on third, two outs, and a chance to tie the game for Edwardsville. Fortunately, for us, Amsrud prevailed. Cam got a hard hit ground ball to Ben Long at first base that Long scooped up, ending the threat and closing the game. Panthers won 6-5 and took the sweep on the day. As we cleaned up the dugout and changed out of spikes and into turfs we met briefly with the coaching staff preceding the two victories. Coach Doffek mentioned that in general he thought we played pretty well. He also highlighted that we now had the opportunity to turn what looked like a bleak weekend into a really positive result. The possibility of going 3-1 on the weekend lay in front of us tomorrow with a tough opponent in the University of Dayton.

Rising early, the majority of us got up and took advantage of the continental breakfast for the last time. Seniors reminisced about leaving Clarksville, with many proclaiming that they will never come back. Cleaning up rooms, packing suitcases and recharging ipods and computers is usually how Sunday mornings play out. Following all the meticulous clean up, we left for the field at 9:30 in the morning. After a short bus ride, we arrived at Raymond C. Hand Park. With the opportunity to close the weekend on a positive note, the energy and focus was high as we took care of pregame duties. Although unusual, once again, we took just batting practice and no infield outfield. This did not seem to have any effect on the outcome of the game. Senior Jordan Herbert pitched five scoreless innings while only giving up two hits. Luke Annen, fellow senior, took care of the rest. Annen close the game with four scoreless innings in a bounce-back performance from last weekend. The offense provided six runs on 13 hits giving the team all we needed. With a 6-0 victory the team and coaching staff was more than excited with the way the weekend turned out. Assistant/pitching coach, Cory Bigler, gave the final words in the post game huddle. He highlighted the majority of the positives from the weekend and reinforced the importance of coming out and playing with energy and passion. The team dispersed and gathered their equipment. Saying good-bye to family and friends that came to support, we hit the showers and prepared to depart back to Milwaukee.

Following showers, we ate in town at Clarksville’s local Chinese Buffet right on the river. After shoving our faces with General Tso’s Chicken, Crab Rangoon and sushi we boarded the bus and did not stop for another five hours. With the majority of us either sleeping or catching up on homework for the first half of the trip, the atmosphere was quiet and relaxing. About two hours in, the anxiousness of getting home reignited. It did not help that the Lamer’s bus was nearly 105 degrees (not really, but hot enough). Ben Long was topless and others were stripping of fleece pants and other garments that were containing heat. The trip lasted another seven hours, with much restlessness. Another episode of “Panther Life” was filmed and another stop at yet another McDonald’s was made. We reached Milwaukee at approximately 1:00 a.m and we were delighted to see the majority of the snow melted. Home sweet home. Another trip, another 12 hours, another opponent starting on Thursday as we head to the University of Arkansas to take on the Razorbacks in a three game set on starting Friday afternoon.

The Journey: Minnesota

2010-03-10T08:54:00.000-08:00

Junior Sam Sivilotti and sophomore Greg Blohowiak, members of the UWM baseball team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website. This is their second entry.

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Oh Minnesota. Along with your 10,000 plus lakes, supposedly, some noticeable accent (Minnesot-ah), and your lackluster love for hockey, you brought about a very interesting trip. Midweek games are never as simple and efficient as this one seemed to be. We boarded the Lamers bus and departed to Waukesha, as we would be flying out of Cripes Field. Oh yea, forgot to mention that we would be flying charter for this trip. The 20-minute bus ride was full of anxiety due to the fear or inexperience of flying, in small 9-seat planes nonetheless. We arrived at the airfield and pulled right up onto the tarmac. We unloaded our bags and observed the situation.

There were five possible planes that we speculated about. One had dual propellers, three of them had one propeller and the final one was a jet-looking one, the only one a handful of us really wanted. The pilots came out and boarded the dual propeller plane. Our coaches, trainer Chad Henneberry, SID Chris Zills and senior Ben Long all packed up and walked on. After we cheered their take off, the other three boarded soon thereafter. As the propeller fired up and gained speed, which might I add is quite impressive, junior Sam Sivilotti was more than ready stating “there's no turning back”. In our plane, which seated nine, were seniors Tim Patzman, Zach Hoch, Jordan Herbert and Jeff Gordon; juniors Doug Dekoning, Cole Kraft, Sam Sivilotti and Chad Pierce; and me, sophomore Greg Blohowiak. As we made the final turn into our approach of the strip Sam was intent on holding hands as if we were on a rollercoaster. Opposed to popular belief, we did so, and before we knew it we were 2000 feet in the air and ascending.

The hour-long ride was surprisingly smooth, with only a patch of turbulence at takeoff and for a minute right before landing. As all four planes landed in different time intervals in St. Paul, Minn., we congregated in the shack of a private passenger area and waited for the bus. Our bus picked us up and we continued on, only in anticipation of playing Big Ten foe Minnesota. Our first destination on this trip was for food, as we were all hungry. We stopped at a local Old Country Buffet, typically, and went at it like the Ryans a few days before. The food was never ending and filling, as expected, and we definitely needed some time to digest this.

We did a great job of planning this out, as suspect as that sounds, but we found an hour and 15 minute period to go and walk about the mammoth Mall of America. We arrived at the mall with full bellies and with full energy ready to tackle any store or rollercoaster we could. We all split up and made our ways to different areas of this large mall. A couple of us went on the rollercoasters in Camp Snoopy, some of us, well actually one of us, spent 20 dollars in singles attempting to win an iPod touch from a string cutting, 3% odds of winning, money-sucking machine, at which he definitely did not prevail. After the hour was up we boarded the bus with new video games, hats, fresh pants and some sweet or sour candy and headed for the glory, or despair, of the Metrodome.

The Metrodome is a beast of a stadium, both fielding the Minnesota Twins, until this year, and the Vikings, who we loathe, but we weren’t impressed. Most of us have either been there or have played there before and aside from the conditions of the field, which can range from firm to spongy, the place is quite nicely, a dump. We walked in and got our bags tagged and continued toward our locker room. The same locker room that have housed such greats as Derek Jeter, Cal Ripken Jr., and Nolan Ryan. We got dressed in the echo of music and prepared for batting practice. Finishing our pregame routines as well as batting practice comes as second nature now after the first four games of the year. With everything set and ready to go for gametime, we lined up for a beautiful rendition of the star spangled banner, and put the helmets on for the first pitch.

First Inning: With emotions running high, and the memory of last year's loss looming (final score: 12-2), we were excited to engage in rivalry battle with Minnesota. The Gophers gave the nod to a freshman pitcher, Kevin Kray, who is expected to make an immediate impact within their program. Nonetheless, we were not intimidated. Cole Kraft, leadoff hitter and starting shortstop, stepped into the box and immediately got down two strikes. As percentages would dictate, hopes of getting a hot start turned into a battle immediately. Cole battled his way back to an even count at 2-2 before lacing an opposite field double down the left field line. Doug Dekoning followed with a walk and set the table for a big inning. After making a few quality pitches, we were only able to squeeze one run out of the top half of the first.

Following that half, Lucas Annen toed the rubber for us, and preceded to take the Gophers down in 1-2-3 fashion.

Second Inning: After a strikeout and pop out, Jon Capasso continued his hot hitting with a single through the left side. With two outs, Kray threw a wild pitch with Shaun Wegner at the plate, advancing Capasso to second. Wegner then proceeded to hit a single past the third baseman, advancing Capasso to third. Cole Kraft then came back to the dish with runners on first and third. Making it easy on the Panthers, Kray balked advancing Wegner to second and scoring Capasso. Kraft then struck out to close out the inning.

Looking a two-run deficit in the eye, the Gophers - who were heavy favorites - came to bat looking to cut into it. Annen got the first hitter as he fouled out down the right field line. Kyle Knudson, returning from double hip labrum surgergy, then walked for Minnesota. A single through the right side followed, advancing Knudson to third. After a sharp ground ball hit down the first baseline and a diving stop by first baseman Ben Long, the Gophers were able to escape a double play and plate their first run of the game advancing the runner to second.

Annen then gave up a hard hit ball to third base, where Dan Buccholz sacrificed his body and wore the one-hopper to his chest. Although just a single, this spectacular defensive play kept runners on first and second allowing Annen to get out of the inning after getting a force out at second base.

As the game continued, the Panthers battled back and forth with the Gophers until the fifth. UWM proceeded to score two in the third and fourth while Minnesota put up one in the third and four in the fourth.

Going into the fifth inning the game looked as if it was going to come down to the wire. Head coach Scott Doffek rallied his troops before the top half of the fifth, calling a brief team gathering in the dugout, reinforcing logical intent and aggressiveness in the box. This seemed to spark both sides of the baseball. Offensively the Panthers erupted for three runs in both the fifth and the sixth while adding one in the eighth. Supported by Dekonning’s three run bomb in the fifth that resembled a big league shot, the Panthers never turned back. Cuyler Franzke and Greg Blohowiak then stifled the Gophers offense only allowing two hits the rest of the way. Frustrated and flustered, the Gophers began to unravel, unlike the Panthers. UWM continued to play stellar defense behind Franzke and Blohowiak while closing out the game.

For the first time since 1998, UWM beat the Gophers. Not only was it the first win of the year for the Panthers, it was a win that means more to both programs. Typically, both teams recruit the same players and whenever a team can leverage themselves against the other it is crucial in attracting players to their respective universities. The Panthers, glowing with excitement, were now able to meet parents, friends and relatives that were in the stands. Following the hugs and kisses the Panthers headed back up to the locker room where we showered and took our seats in the locker room as Coach Doffek gave his post game analysis. We basked in the glory of the victory as we received our post game meal, Jimmy Johns - always tastes better after a victory.

Walking through the loading dock, where memorable videos of Brett Favre and other greats have been taken walking into the Metrodome, we boarded our bus back to the airport feeling as if we were big leaguers leaving town for another city. We headed back to the airport preparing for our departure back to Waukesha. Boarding the planes once again, the uneasiness of flying set back in. We boarded our nine-seaters and took our seats hoping for a smooth flight. Upon take off, the uneasiness settled. With a collective group of guys that like to have a good time, we filmed the third episode of “The Panther Life” that provided much excitement and the best episode yet.

Almost an hour later, around 11:30 we landed safely in Waukesha. Continuing to recap both the game and the flight, we waited for our teammates to land. As they landed the rest of the team ran onto the bus as the frigid Wisconsin air was almost unbearable. Our Lamers bus then took us back to the East Side of Milwaukee where our campus is located. Ready to get home and sleep in our own beds, players departed the bus and headed home preparing to leave for the Austin Peay Invitational at 2:00 p.m. Thursday.

The Journey: Arkansas State

2010-03-10T08:25:00.000-08:00

Junior Sam Sivilotti and sophomore Greg Blohowiak, members of the UWM baseball team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website. This is their first entry.

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With all offseason workouts, early soul-shattering running, Klotsche Center bad hops and simulated games in the cage all but a memory, this is the day we have all been waiting for. Walking out of my house with my two duffel bags and my backpack, the sun seemed warmer than ever. The idea of going south and leaving this bitter cold weather was enough motivation for me. Arriving at the Klotsche Center and seeing the infamous Lamers bus awaiting 36 people for a 10-hour circus of a bus ride was a far too-familiar sight. Gearing yourself up for one of these trips is a task of its own. Making sure you have enough snacks, candy and fluids is almost as important as packing your cleats. As we were leaving to go to the park and ride, at 11:59, which might I add has to be a record for leaving on time, the usual conversations of where people were sitting and what movie will be first were had. Usually those who decide to park at the park and ride get a little mad at us if we start a movie early, so with them in mind we chose to wait to put in our first movie. After picking up the coaches and some other players at the park and ride we started our 10 hours of anticipation.

The eating situation is a little bit different this year, as we are looking toward a more “team” atmosphere. Making less stops with more choices and stopping once for one team meal. With that in mind we planned to drive about six hours before our team meal. As we could hear our own hungry stomachs growling Steve “Flip” Sanfilippo bailed us out and provided individual bags of sandwiches, chips, and apples to satisfy us. Following a brief munch period the upperclassmen picked their goat and hand-chose freshman pitcher Jordan Guth for movie duty, one duty that will probably stick with him the rest of this season. We put in “The Hangover”, all time CLASSIC, and let the laughs roll. For an hour thereafter there was a mysterious aura about our bus. People were receiving calls that weren’t actually happening. For example, Junior Shortstop Cole Kraft was being peppered by calls from Myself, Junior Doug Dekoning, and Junior Sam Sivilotti with all of our phones either being off or out of our reach. Investigative studies haven’t caught the perpetrator however we are proactively awaiting his capture. After the phantom phone calls, three movies, the two word game (these stories are rated PG-13, parental advisory is recommended), and several games of either cribbage, or this PSP phenomena called “skittles” the team dinner seemed to come out of nowhere. Stopping in Marion, IL at the local Ryans “amazing, fattening” Buffet you could only imagine what 36 or so men can do.

After some weird looks from the locals and putting a dent into the food we were back on the road, to our ultimate destination. We were told 196 miles to go after the dinner, but when you drive through the flatland of southern Illinois, and Missouri in the pitch black the trip seems to be another six hours. However, once we got the 14-mile countdown to Jonesboro we let loose. The state of Arkansas greeted us with a tender smell of skunk and over 25 car dealerships specializing in brand new 1983 Ford Rangers within a 14-mile stretch, closely resembling Pulaski, WI. After clowning on the decisive naming of their gas stations and the scare of the Fairview INN (amenities including Wi-Fi and a meeting room for 49.99) we drove another minute to our hotel.

Stepping off the bus never felt so good, for that one second, until the cold Arkansas air gave us Wisconsin folk a brunt back hand. You would think 30 degrees would feel a little warmer however when you’re expecting mid 40's the cool air is not welcomed. The Comfort Suites was very inviting following our 10-hour chicken coup of a bus. Getting situated in our rooms and preparing our jerseys for the next following days a couple of us decided to make the long walk to the nearest gas station.

Waking up to an alarm at 8 a.m. can sometimes be a challenge. However, with the opening day of the 2010 season upon us the excitement was building. Getting continental breakfast, Comfort Suites got it right, and relaxing for a couple hours before a short “walk-through” practice at 11:30 is all you can ask for on the road. We got our cleats and workout clothes and headed to the field. Taking in the 45 degree sunny weather and smell of fresh grass and dirt as an inspirational tool we had no lack of energy for this 35 minutes. After the fly balls and ground balls we trekked back and dove into Dominos Pizza, a little iffy before a game but our empty stomachs didnt care. Once 3:30 rolled around we boarded the bus for the real beginning to our season. All geared up and ready to go we got off the bus to the Arkansas State Red Wolves taking their batting practice and the music at max volume. Once batting practice and infield was finished for both teams we lined up for the national anthem and got the goosebumps rising.

The lineup for our team went as follows, SS Cole Kraft CF Doug Dekoning 1st Ben Long, 2nd Paul Heonecke, LF Tim Patzman, 3rd Dan Buchholz, DH Chad Pierce, RF John Capasso, C Shaun Wegner. Our starting pitcher sophomore Kyle Schmidt had no trouble getting warmed up in the 39-degree weather. Wearing no sleeves being his usual goofy self, but focused nonetheless. Our first inning was a progressive start for our team, a couple hard hit balls by Kraft and Dekoning were right at fielders and they were out. With two outs senior Ben Long struck out however the ball got passed the catcher and he reached first with great hustle. Following another passed ball Ben Long was hit in to score by a double supplied by sophomore Paul Hoenecke. Pitcher Kyle Schmidt then took the mound and had a very efficient start to the game getting 0’s in the first three innings.

Once we got into the fourth inning we still had the energy and momentum we began the game with. The fourth inning we managed to tack two more runs on the board to extend the lead to 3-0. Arkansas State had an answer in the bottom half of the inning with one run. The 5th inning brought about a sac hit for senior Ben Long to score Doug Dekoning following a double. (There were four extra-base hits, including a triple by Dan Buchholz) With the score at 4-1 entering the bottom half of the 5th, it looked at though we had a grip on the momentum and game.

Momentum is the most important thing, arguably, in a baseball game. When you have it you don't wanna lose it, when you don't have it you battle the other team for it. This was one of those innings that the Red Wolves fought hard to get it. They had a couple of breaks in that inning with an error and a balk. To their credit, they did hit the ball in places we weren’t, including a couple doubles in route to a three-run inning. The score was tied at 4-4 going into the 6th. With one out in the top of the 6th Senior Dan “The bat taping aficionado” Buchholz took an inside fastball to the center field wall, watching him rounding second and coach Scott Doffek putting the hold up sign on there was no choice for him but to keep going. He mustered up enough speed to beat the throw to third by three feet.

Following another strikeout freshman John “Jasper” Capasso (who was 2-4 with 2 RBI’s) capitalized on a fastball and took it to right field, scoring Buchholz and putting us ahead 5-4 in the 6th. Following a two-out walk in the 7th inning, head coach Scott Doffek made the stroll out to the mound and called upon senior Lucas Annen, thus ending Kyle Schmidt's phenomenal start (6.2 innings/6 hits/4 runs and earned runs along with 5 strikeouts). After getting himself out of a two-out jam, Annen kept the score at 5-4.

Following two scoreless innings for us the game hung in the balance. Even though we were up one, we still had the feeling of being on our heels. Playing passively is a bad combination in this sport, or any sport for that matter. Their leadoff batter had a great at bat versus Annen. He made some quality pitches during this at-bat, getting the batter down to two strikes. The next pitch seemed to be the game changer. After the delivery and a seemingly good spot their 2nd basemen G. Garcia hit a deep fly ball to left field, finding itself a landing spot only four feet past the wall. Game tied 5-5.

The air was sucked from our dugout as we looked at our lead down to nothing in the 8th inning. Eventhough we were stunned we were all too confident to think it was over. Following another pitching change for us, sophomore Cameron Amsrud came in a picked up where he left off. Getting us out of crucial jams and important spots. Going into the 9th inning the score remained tied at 5. The Red Wolves had a freshman pitcher who came in the 6th inning in relief. To his credit he had a very efficient stint versus the Panther hitting. Facing 12 batters he struck out eight. He had a very good curveball which made it hard for our hitters to get comfortable in the box. Getting the Red Wolves into the bottom of the ninth inning with the score still tied was crucial for him.

The ninth inning started with an “only in baseball” kind of hit. Their best player arguably, Todd Baumgartner, swung at a two-strike fastball and had a base hit swinging bunt. Nothing we could have done about it. After that another stud for them (preseason all Sun Belt 1st basemen) Murray Watts came up to the plate and executed a perfect play where Baumgartner steals, causing Cole Kraft to be on the move toward second. The ball was placed, by Watts, right out of reach for Kraft, landing both Red Wolves on base. Following a couple iffy calls by the opposing coach we had runners on 2nd and 3rd with two outs. The same man who hit a homerun to tie it up had a chance to win the game. With the count at 2-2, Amsrud threw the pitch and Garcia hit it through the right side, winning the game, in walk-off fashion. A clear disappointment and draining game we were kicking ourselves. It was a hard fought game with both teams never giving up. The best thing about this game, is it gave us a gauge somewhat of how we can play. Being inside for the past five months we have no clue how leaving the friendly confines of the “Kdome” will treat us. We have three more games against this team, who we believe is beatable, as for every team. It a matter of perseverance and trust in one another. On to the next one.

Waking up Saturday morning for breakfast everyone was feeling the effects of the first game of the year. A quote from Dan Buchholz sums it up the best. In his words he stated that it felt as though “I was hit by a train, then ran over several times by four Milwaukee county buses”. Whether you were playing or not the game took a toll, being bitterly cold and doing our pregame procedures for the first time.

The first game of the double header was scheduled for 1 p.m. Making his first collegiate start, freshman pitcher Eric Semmelhack was as loose as someone can be before a nerve-wracking start. To his credit, he pitched a gem of a ballgame, going seven innings and only allowing two runs. Needless to say his performance was that of a seasoned veteran.

Before all was said and done we found ourselves on the short end of another walk-off win. With runners on first and second with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning junior Cuyler Franzke delivered a pitch and an Arkansas State hitter put the ball in play. Hit to shortstop Cole Kraft, Kraft got to the ball and he attempted to field it. The ball kicked in between his legs and Cole lost his footing. While this was happening an ASU player was rounding 3rd. Before he knew it Kraft was on his butt with his legs in full hurdler stretch without a realistic chance of getting the guy at home. Game over 4-3. Very back-breaking loss for us because it was two chances we had to get a win, not only to find ourselves 0-2, both coming from walk-off hits. In both games we never really trailed, which is the most disappointing thing about the outcome. We let them get back in those games, without a knockout punch. However, losing this game was now in the past, with the 2nd game of the double header coming a little before dusk.

Getting the start on the mound was senior pitcher Jordan Herbert. A savvy veteran of his own coming off a redshirt year due to arm problems. He was beginning the game on a pitch count in order for him to build his arm up for later in the year. Our team started the game off with the same mentality of winning we came to Arkansas with. ASU got off to a four run lead and did not look back, putting us away 11-4 and giving us our 3rd loss on the year. It was just one of those kind of games where too many opportunities were lost and none were taken. On our way back to the hotel we were certainly disappointed with ourselves for not playing the kind of baseball we wanted to. This would not effect our focus for the final game however. One thing we are taught, or lectured about, is living in the moment. You cannot do anything about the previous game, the previous pitch, previous at bat, or anything for that matter. The only thing you can control is the present, this pitch, this at bat, this out or this swing. One of the several great insights our coaching staff offers is this very point. So naturally we are already gearing up for the next days action. Going to sleep and forgetting about this rough day on the field, and focusing on Sunday.

Sunday treated us a little better physically. Bumps and bruises were something we are getting used to as well as what a full speed baseball game feels like afterward. Yeah, arms will be sore and legs will feel stiff but we still have a game to play, and we have nothing to lose, but everything to gain. It was a beautiful 50 degrees by the time the game started. Weather we in Wisconsin only see maybe 1/3 of the time.

Getting the start in the 4th game was junior pitcher/utility Chad Pierce. Pierce got off to a rough start, with ASU tagging six runs on us. The second inning showed us a glimpse of power senior Dan Buchholz has. Buchholz provided us with our first homerun of the year, smashing a fastball over the left field wall, probably landing 390 feet later. By the 7th inning it was 6-3 with Arkansas State having the advantage (another homerun by Dan Buchholz gave us the 3rd run). By the end of the game we were given another loss, 8-3. We had several opportunities to get that extra 2 out hit, or extra 2 inches on a pitches however today just was not our day on the diamond. Going to the showers and on the way home one would probably think how can you see any positive in this weekend. Here's how we see it...

Being able to identify the positives in a baseball game, and weekend, is an art. Most of the time people are too caught up with the negatives of anything. Sure, we had negative aspects about our team’s play this whole weekend, and those were addressed. We like to look at the positive aspects so we can focus on getting those to mesh. Believe it or not there were alot of positives within this weekend series. One of which that is a huge factor for any collegiate or professional team is that the first-year players (freshman) are stepping in and contributing. Drew Pearson and John Capasso had very good at bats and each had a pair of RBI’s on the weekend. Pitchers Jordan Guth and Eric Semmelhack (referenced above) had good outings for us. Having young players filling in the holes from last year is a promising thing to see. Having older guys who have been around and proven themselves with young players just reaching their potential makes for an exciting year. Other things to note are the great hustle and burning desire to win. One thing head coach Scott Doffek said to us Saturday before the game was “when I was walking back to the dugout after last nights loss (one which we lost 6-5 on a walk off hit), I could sense that you guys were disappointed, truly disappointed, which is great, means you care more about your teammates than yourself”.

I think that will be one continuing storyline for this years team. We believe in ourselves and want ourselves to do well of course, however the team is above all, wanted to hit, throw a strike, and win for the guy to your left or right is mostly important. The make-up of the 2010 UWM Baseball team is one of young/old, goofy/serious, experienced/inexperienced, but one thing remains constant, COMPETITIVE. We will not lay down for anyone and I hope that teams come through expecting us to, because thats when we’re most dangerous. Heres to a great year, with many wins, personal accomplishments, and satisfaction, and most important of all limited Panther U-Turns….funny baseball joke.