The Journey: Cleveland State

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…