The Postseason: And so it Begins...

Senior Greg Blohowiak and redshirt freshman Michael Porcaro, members of the Milwaukee baseball team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website.

Blohowiak is back for his third season of blogging, while Porcaro gets his first go at it. Today is their 11th entry for the 2012 season.

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It’s that time … tourney time!! I would just like to thank everyone for their support all year and it would mean a lot to the team to see familiar faces down at the tourney this weekend. So if you can find a way down to UIC, please make it!

The ultimate goal for every team in this league is to win the conference tournament. To say we are excited to start the tournament is an understatement. We feel really good about ourselves right now and have been playing well as of late. But it’s important for us to control our emotions and take each game pitch by pitch. A lot of teams can go into these tournaments and hype themselves up too much. We are looking to stay in the moment and execute every play. If we do this, we have a great chance this weekend.

Not much else I have to say. It’s going to be a fun weekend and I can’t wait to go to battle with my teammates.

The Goal

Go Panthers!!

Go Panthers is right!

What a great weekend this past weekend was. Three game sweep of Wright State to basically help spoil their regular season championship hopes. It never really is a good thing to be a “spoiler”, since that means you fell short of your goal for the regular season. However, there is no better time to play that role than right now. Playing good baseball at this point of the season is something some teams can take for granted, but I assure you we are not. Getting hot at the end of the season reminds me a lot of the 2010 year. I feel like we were firing on all cylinders that year towards tourney time and look what the end result was? I’m hoping to see some sort of parody with this season but only time will tell.

The sweep was a great thing, but something more personal to myself and six others was the presentation of “Senior Day”. A lot of work went into that day, starting with Steve Sanfilippo and ending at the Parents. We appreciate all the hard work you all put in to make that day as special as possible for us seniors. The bats, flowers for mom, baseballs for dads, and the amazing feast following the win was the icing on the cake (the cake was amazing as well!). YUMMMYYYY!

The tournament is always such a great time. The pressure-packed games with so much energy is a competitors dream. Our team is made up of competitors who will give it their all to play good baseball. We are going to play for ourselves, our teammates, and our school in hopes to bring a tournament championship back to UWM. The Horizon League is filled with great competition and I’ve been blessed and humbled to have faced a numerous amount of championship-caliber opponents. With that being said, we are the only ones who really control how far we go. We feel if we play our brand of baseball, especially the type of baseball we have played of late, there is no opponent who will be able to dethrone us. The dog pile is our ultimate goal and it’ll be the only time I’ll be content with 30 other guys on top of one another.

Win or lose this weekend, the players are extremely humbled by the overwhelming support you have all showed us along this season. We literally could not have asked for a better following. Whether it was San Diego, Little Rock, or Dayton, you all have found a way out of your busy schedules to put a little Panther baseball in your heart. All we hope is that you are proud of the way we have played throughout the year and have no regrets in any trip you have taken, as we reciprocate those feelings. Thank you so much and we look forward to seeing your shining faces this weekend in Chicago.

Go Panthers

Quick thoughts from Blow....

My mind is empty....I’m hoping to write a blog next week about our flight out to a Regional!

Yes, We are Alive and Well...

Senior Greg Blohowiak and redshirt freshman Michael Porcaro, members of the Milwaukee baseball team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website.

Blohowiak is back for his third season of blogging, while Porcaro gets his first go at it. Today is their 10th entry for the 2012 season.

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What up Panther Nation? Sorry we’ve been away for so long! School is winding down and with that comes a lot of papers, projects, exams, etc. But, we are back now!!

This past week went really well. It started with a nice win over Northwestern at Miller Park. What a sweet experience that was! It doesn’t matter how old you are, playing in a major league stadium is awesome. It’s even cooler being a Brewer fan. A lot of us found ourselves imitating Brewers on the field and in the dugout. Just clowning around, having some fun, because that’s what it’s all about. We felt like big leaguers for a day, which is pretty cool!

If you’re reading this, I’m assuming you followed along this weekend and know we swept Butler in a three-game series. The bats were on fire. 20-plus hits in the last two games of the series. Unreeeeebz (Cale Tassi voice). The come-from-behind win on Sunday was the most impressive in my opinion. We couldn’t get much going for the first five or six innings or so and we dug ourselves into a 5-0 hole early. But, Eric King did a phenomenal job coming in out of the bullpen and putting up zeroes for us. He allowed us to chip away at the lead before we busted it open.

It was just a great weekend all in all. Guys were having a lot of fun, pranks were being made all weekend, the bus was upbeat and happy. Obviously, winning helped but I really feel we are gelling right now and hitting our stride. It’s just an exciting time to be apart of Panther baseball. Strap on your seatbelts and enjoy these next two weeks with us!

It is now time to wrap up the player introductions. The two guys left are both catchers and both newcomers to the team this year.

This is junior Will Fadness. Sick flow bro. Willy is a JUCO transfer and is enjoying his first year at UWM. In case you guys were wondering, March isn’t called March Madness, it’s actually March FADness. Willy is a pretty laid back dude. He attended Eau Claire Memorial High School and went down to Arizona for junior college. He wound up back in the cold state of Wisconsin two years later. I’m sure he misses that 70-degree weather during the winter. Will came up in a baseball family. He has three brothers, and all four of them were named after baseball players. See, you learn something new every day. Oh, and last but not least, Will’s favorite movie is Bull Durham.

This is freshman Mitch Ghelfi, AKA Mac Miller (left photo), AKA John Mayer (right photo). Follow him on Twitter @Mitchyslick_. Mitch had to have hip surgery his senior year, so that earned him the nickname “hips.” When one of the catchers is needed to catch a bullpen, Mitch is known for pulling the “ah my hips are sore” card on the other catchers. I recently found out Mitch likes to dump food in the sink at his dorm, thinking it will just go down the drain. Most recently, he tried putting vegetable soup down the drain and all the veggies ended up in the sink. Maybe next time Mitch. I own Mitch in video games. I think one of our matchups in NHL ended up being 10-3 in favor of yours truly. Every once in a while, I keep the games close just so he doesn’t lose all of his confidence. Mitchy slick is a good dude though and a fun guy to have around.

Paco thoughts… I didn’t think I would like it, but Hunger Games was really good and I can’t wait to get the books now… 'Days Like These' by Jason Aldean is that jam… I think NHL hockey is underrated and NHL playoff hockey is even more underrated. If you haven’t been watching this years playoffs, I suggest you start.

That’s all I have, I’m tired…

Wright State Here We Come...

Senior Greg Blohowiak and redshirt freshman Michael Porcaro, members of the Milwaukee baseball team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website.

Blohowiak is back for his third season of blogging, while Porcaro gets his first go at it. Today is their ninth entry for the 2012 season.

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Well, that first half of the season sure did fly by. I know it’s a cliché, but time really does fly by. This is the only season this team will play together. With that being said, going forward I think it is important for us to cherish every moment and every opportunity we get to go to battle with each other. We have to continue to work hard and continue to improve ourselves individually and as a team each day.

This past week went well. We knew we were going to get tested mentally and physically by playing four games in four days. In our minds, we feel like we should have won all four, but instead we got three, which is good.

We currently sit tied for second in the Horizon League standings. This week we have an excellent opportunity to gain ground when we go and travel to Wright State. But first we have to finish our homestand against Wisconsin Lutheran. With a big conference series ahead, it can be very easy to overlook Wisconsin Lutheran. We have to make sure that doesn’t happen. We have to bring the same focus to the field that we would bring against any conference opponent. If we do that and take the game one pitch at a time, good things will happen.

Things are definitely starting to come together. The bats are waking up, the starting pitching continues to grind and keep us in ballgames, and the bullpen has been very steady. Like I said before, we just have to push ourselves every day so we can become the best team we can possibly be.

Alright, now time for some fun. More introductions.

STOP! HAMMERTIME!!! This is redshirt freshman outfielder Sam Hammer, AKA Jose Canseco. Whatever weight room you lift in, chances are Hammer has been in there. Hammer lives in the weight room. He enjoys flexing and looking at himself in the mirror after he’s done with a set of curls. Hammer subscribes to all the health and fitness magazines. Those keep him busy on the long bus rides. Who knows, one day you might see him on the cover of Men’s Health.





BARWEEEZLE (Eric King voice)! This is freshman outfielder Dan Barwick. Barweezy is redshirting this year. Danny is a chill dude who provides a lot of snacks on the bench. He comes prepared to the games. Barwick takes pride when he has to chart during the game. His charts are very neat and precise. He definitely is one of the best charters in the nation this year. While scrolling through his Facebook pictures, I learned that Dan likes to make funny faces/poses in photos. Or maybe they’re unintentional and that’s just him being Barweezy. I’ll let you guys be the judges.


This little guy right here on the left is freshman centerfielder Luke Meeteer. Sorry Luke, but it looks like your dad still has ya! Maybe Hammer can give you some tips on how to make your biceps bigger? Luke is right up there with Hammer when it comes to most time spent in the weight room. Luke came from Middleton High School where he also played football. Luke’s a fun guy to have around and we’re glad he’s a Panther.



Drewpyyyyyyy!! This is junior outfielder/catcher Drew Pearson, the final member of the Mustard House. Don’t let the nerd look fool ya, Drew is respected on the streets. He’s a ruff ryder. Drew has one of the best personalities on the team. He likes to have a good time and make jokes. But when it’s game time, it’s all business. Drew is notorious for pinch-hit home runs. I think he has three, maybe four, in his career here. Back in his Racine Hitters days, one scout said he hit a ball 500-plus feet. Why he wasn’t on the cover of Sports Illustrated instead of Bryce Harper is beyond me. Drew is also one of the biggest Packer fans on the team, and probably the biggest Aaron Rodgers fan. To this day, Drew still argues with the guys that he could rush for 100 yards behind Alabama’s offensive line against an SEC team.

Only a few more introductions left. I’ll finish those next week.

It’s time for my man Blow to do the typing…

Paco thoughts… Congrats to Bubba Watson on getting that green jacket… that shot on the second playoff hole was unreal… It’s really weird seeing Prince in a Tiger uniform… For those of you who think Brauny is going to have a down year, you’re crazy… Go Bucks! #fearthedeer #bucksplayoffpush


Time sure does fly by. I’m almost 23 years old (birthday at the end of this month) and I hardly remember 10 years of it. I feel as if it was only yesterday that we were running hills at St. Mary’s before school even started. To think we are already four Horizon League series’ into this year is crazy. To think even more about how we’re two or three hits away from having one loss in the league is even more telling. But hey, that's baseball I guess.

Last week was good for us. Stritch gave us a good game and we won a Horizon League series, our weekend goal. I know the feeling is that we should have swept Butler, but for the second-straight weekend that feeling goes unfulfilled. We attained our goals however, and if we continue to win series, we will be in a good spot in the league.

This upcoming weekend versus Wright State is really going to test us. Having swept us last year in our only three meetings, we have a chip on our shoulder and are seeking revenge. Not only do we want revenge we kind of need it. Wright State is riding on an ever-present high at the plate (50+ runs in the last 3 games) and it's our job to bring them back down to reality.

If anyone is capable of doing that it is us, and we are more than happy to take on that challenge. The games this weekend are available for live stream on the Horizon League Network. HERE IS THE SCHEDULE AND LINKS. For those of you who are unable to make it this weekend you should definitely check that out!

Now for the highly anticipated, nationally-syndicated, portion of our blog, the introductions. This week I’ll introduce a couple freshmen, Dillion Engle and Jake Tuttle.

First off this is Dillon “Eagle” Engle. (@3fourDEagle). He was born in raised in Atlanta (if I remember correctly) and actually moved to West “Dirty” Allis not too long ago where he went to school at Nathan Hale. I’m sure he is not very happy with the picture I have chosen, however, this captures his manliness the most.

Believe it or not, just like Semmelhack, he is good at not taking embarrassing pictures (as you’ll see Tuttle is bad at) or not posting them on social media outlets. He has a few tattoos and may be accused of being addicted to getting them, as many tattoo-getters are. If you are roaming campus you are more than likely going to see Dillon donning some sort of flat-brim hat with his Dr. Dre Beats blaring music for all to hear. I’m not sure if he has as many hats at our very own Mark Strey however, the variety of hats I have seen Dillon in suggest that he has a stockpile somewhere. Dillon is a very obedient person, whereas if you ask him to do something he will for sure do it. He is a sponge of sorts and is soaking up anything and everything the coaching staff and older guys has to say and we are very appreciative of his receptiveness this year. With that being said, we firmly believe that if MySpace ever makes a comeback it will begin with Dillon at the forefront, mirror picture and all.

The guy on the right in this now famous picture is Jake Tuttle, aka Jake “Pain Train” Tuttle. (@kingtut_13) Tuttle is quite the character and from the get go he has been some sort of a wildcard. The first ever email that he sent me had the most astounding comments in it (screen shot below) and coming from this guy is quite the statement.

Ever since that day, we have been trying to get that same fire out of him. Jake loves being a younger guy on the team as you will see him at practice sprinting around gathering up balls and bases for us to use in our PFP’s. He is somewhat of a ladies man as well, as his charm is like Victoria's Secret to girls. I just did a double-take at this picture and I couldn’t help but laugh, its classic. (and we’ve all been guilty of taking pictures, showered in pink, embracing the closest of our friends). Jake is a very happy person and you can see it with every step he takes. In all seriousness he does really enjoy coming to practice everyday and playing the game that he grew up loving. We enjoy having him around and is always a breath of fresh air when he unleashes the pain train. (ITS COMING...WOO! WOO!)





Quick thoughts from Blow....

Everyone should take table tennis class with Linda Leaf....Ryan Braun hits the ball hard in literally every at-bat and its scary....good luck to the Bucks as they push for the playoffs...but I am in the minority that believes that they should leave Milwaukee and we should bring in an NHL team....my cellphone carrier is getting the iPhone!!!!!....Good luck to all of our fellow student athletes this spring as they fight for championships as well! The SAAC association here at UWM is doing great things for the community, I urge all student athletes to join! Have a great Wednesday! Go Panthers!

So THIS is What it Feels Like to Not Sleep in a Hotel...

Senior Greg Blohowiak and redshirt freshman Michael Porcaro, members of the Milwaukee baseball team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website.

Blohowiak is back for his third season of blogging, while Porcaro gets his first go at it. Today is their eighth entry for the 2012 season.

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The Hank was rockin’ this weekend! It sure was nice to play in front of Panther Nation for the first time this year! Thanks to everyone who came out and battled the cold weather with us. Your presence was felt!

After last weekend's disappointing performance, it was a great feeling to bounce back and take a series from a rival in UIC. Game one couldn’t have been more frustrating. Eric Semmelhack was fantastic all game. He tied the school record with 13 strikeouts and gave up just two hits in 8.0 innings. We had just one strikeout and six hits. But, the one thing we forgot to do was score runs. I feel terrible for Semmel because he pitched his butt off and we couldn’t give him any run support. He did not deserve to take that loss. That loss is on the hitters, without a doubt.

Fortunately, the bats did come around in the next two games. Cale Tassi was excellent once again in game two and the bullpen came up big in game three. The last two games of the series just show what we are capable of doing when we put it all together. I’m not saying we played our best ball, I’m just saying we did well in all three phases of the game and that resulted in some nice wins. We pitched well, had timely hitting, and played solid defense. That resulted in a 7-1 win and a 7-3 win.

We have another big week ahead of us. Four games in four days starting Wednesday vs. Cardinal Stritch followed by a three game series with Butler. All games start at 3 p.m. except for Saturday’s game which begins at 1 p.m. Hope to see Panther Nation there!

It is now time for me to continue introducing the team. This week we move to some of the outfielders.

This is me, back in high school, tagging out Jon Capasso trying to steal second. As you can see from the picture, Jon was upset with the call. Shout out to my brother for the throw down. Jon is a junior and a member of the Mustard House. He’s from Racine, Wis., AKA “The Cilla” where he attended Horlick High School. He was high school teammates with current UWM Panther Drew Pearson. The combination of those two in the middle of the order was compared to the likes of Braun and Fielder. Getting Jon out was a tough task for opposing pitchers, to say the least. According to one Racine area scout, Jon only hit into 10 outs his senior year. Not only could he hit, he could pitch too. Many people don’t know but his side arm delivery helped him throw a perfect game his senior year against rival Park.

Look at this stud, haha. This is Derek Peake, a sophomore centerfielder. Peake idolizes Mark Wahlberg. He once ordered a collection of Mark Wahlberg posters off of ebay so he could put them up on his wall. Before he goes to bed he likes to watch the "Good Vibrations" music video by Marky Mark and The Funky Bunch. Peake likes to relive his glory days at Catholic Memorial High School (MEMORIAL!!!) where he was a standout cornerback/kicker on the football team and a state champion in basketball. He almost decided to play football in college but at the last minute chose to take his talents to UWM to play baseball. Hit him up on twitter @peake_a_leake7

This is sophomore Ryan Solberg. Sweet haircut, eh? Ryan was a 5-star athlete coming out of Waukesha West High School. He was a standout in volleyball, basketball and baseball. He enjoys spending his free time in the Klotsche Center practicing dunking. If you are looking for Solberg five minutes before the game, chances are he is probably at the concession stand getting food. The kid loves to eat. If we have to rush from class to practice, Solberg always makes sure he has time to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for the road. He is a big consumer of cereal. I’ve never seen one person consume so much cereal. He literally goes through a box a day. It’s impressive.

If you looked up "swag" in the dictionary, this picture would be right next to it. At least that’s what senior Mark Strey would tell you. Strey guy has an alter ego named Rambo, arguably his primary ego. If I could describe Rambo, I would describe him as someone whose 'swag button' is broke and can’t be turned off. Rambo unveiled himself at the end of the year last year with his swagged out quotes in huddles and pregame antics. Swagger is his lifestyle. Mark, on the other hand, is a laid back guy who enjoys long walks on the beach and seafood dinners with his girlfriend Elizabeth. You can find Mark in a different New Era hat and a different pair of Oakley sunglasses every day. I guess some of Rambo’s swagger rubs off on Mark.

Ahh man these intros are too fun. Shout out to Tell Taylor for the help on writing a few of these. Next week I’ll introduce the rest of the outfielders.

Paco Thoughts… Opening Day for the Brewers is Friday! I like the way the team looks, wouldn’t be surprised to see them win the division again… Matt Cain is not worth the extension he received… The dude doesn’t even have a .500 career record… Unbelievable. This weekend I realized I don’t like the sight of blood, especially if it’s my own.

I’m done. Here’s Blow…


The Hank was for sure rockin’ this past weekend. It certainly helps when we play some quality baseball for the fans to cheer for. We appreciate the support from all of you from the Panther Lounge to the standing room on the fences. Thank you for the support from our fellow student athletes as well as other students, led by the ever enthusiastic Jayoh.

With that being said we played fairly well this weekend, well enough to earn a sweep, however, baseball just doesn’t work that way. The way our team hit the ball in the second and third games of the series is a very pleasant sign of things to come hopefully. Guys are looking much more comfortable at the plate which is the only way to really approach hitting. We all are very optimistic that our darker days of team baseball are behind us as we have a renewed sense of ourselves on the field.

This week is a challenge, both physically and mentally. Four games in four days sounds like a little league tournament. Being able to take care of our bodies as well as our mindset is important during this week. Butler is a very good team, who always plays us tough, and we have a great opportunity to force ourselves in the upper third of the conference. We cannot overlook Stritch either, this game gives us a good opportunity to continue playing good team baseball. Most of you won’t read this until we are a game or two into this weekend either, hopefully we are undefeated as well.

Gonna jump into some introductions right now, this week the pitchers will be starters Eric Semmelhack and Mike Schneider.

Eric is really good at either not taking embarrassing pictures OR making sure they are not put up on Facebook because this is the weirdest one I could find, disappointing right? I’m not quite sure what’s going on in this picture. Eric is questioning the Powerade Zeros’ motives while Mitch Ghelfi is modeling stellar sunglasses. Oh yea, and Justin Jaquish is just hanging around looking like a predator with a neck beard. Eric has been around for three years and has given the Panthers a good number of quality starts. He is a pretty good pitcher but where he really excels is subtle humor. Every week he finds a different reason to quit the team (jokingly of course). Whether it be from not wanting to field double-play balls or not wanting to do dry drills for an hour.

This is all in good fun as he and pitching coach Cory Bigler have a good rapport in that sense. I remember in the winter this year he handed in a “2 weeks notice” which was accepted fruitfully, ha. Eric is an Oak Creek alum, who I am taught to hate because some of my family attended Franklin. He is a great fisherman who occasionally finds a way to get his line caught underneath the boat. (a little inside? probably). We enjoy having Semmel around and we look forward to where his future takes him.

The guy to the left here is Mike Schneider, co-owner or Schneider National. Actually he’s not, but I can guarantee that he was asked that by almost everyone when he first got here last year. He is a West De Pere alumni, which you can kind of see their colors (orange and black) on his body. Being from the same area as him (Green Bay) I’ve had the pleasure of riding back with him during some weekends, no radio of course. I learned a lot about him, most notably that he is a deer assassin. From what I remember he is a real aficionado with a bow. Coming from a non-hunting background, I was intrigued by all his hunting stories, even the parts about the “gutting” of them.

This picture captures Mike in a nutshell. Very happy with a lot of school spirit, with a side of crazy. His crazy side comes out on the diamond for sure, he has a high motor on the mound and when its go time, its go time. His competitiveness on the mound is very apparent and awesome, as his changeup strikes yet another batter out he faces third waiting for the ball expecting the same after the next batter. As a starter you are entitled a few things, one of them being you are able to do your workouts at home, in De Pere. There was a bit of miscommunication and he found himself doing a workout in De Pere this season while we were all wondering where he was during practice. Worries of him being in an accident ever present, it was found out later that he was given the OK to workout at home (his home in Milwaukee as assumed, however it was actually De Pere) and we have ran with it ever since.

That's it for this week of intros, next week I’m not sure who I’ll introduce but as always I’ll do my best to introduce them in the correct fashion.

Quick thoughts from Blow

The inquiries about shoutouts form the parents is quite overwhelming, but I promise to all of you you will be presented on this blog. I am going to dedicate a whole entire post just to the wonderful family and friends.....The Hunger Games is a great movie and an even better book...for what it’s worth I recommend reading and seeing it, and then the next two books of the trilogy..Brewers are going to be a 90+ win team this year, take that to the bank....If the Packers sign Dave Tollefson they could easily go undefeated, I’m not a big fan of Anthony Hargrove but he will be formidable as well....Don’t worry Zills, that picture I have is definitely going to get showcased very very soon....some of these reality TV shows are outrageous...I’m done for now...see ya next week!

Keep Moving On ...

Senior Greg Blohowiak and redshirt freshman Michael Porcaro, members of the Milwaukee baseball team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website.

Blohowiak is back for his third season of blogging, while Porcaro gets his first go at it. Today is their seventh entry for the 2012 season.

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Baseball is such a tough game. It truly is a game of failure. I mean, a guy who fails seven out of 10 times is considered a good baseball player. No other sport is like that. The players and teams that refuse to give in to failure are the ones who are great. We’ve faced a lot of adversity so far this year and have put ourselves in a tough situation after this weekend. But, no way is this team going to back down from a challenge and give in - I can guarantee you that.

We are two weeks into conference play. There’s a lot of baseball left to be played. It’s important for us to continue to work hard and stick to the plan. It isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon. The goal is to get better every day and when game time comes, it’s our job to execute plays and play harder than the other team. I think the key in sports; especially baseball because it’s so mental, is to stay positive. A lot easier said than done but it is crucial.

With that being said it’s time to start focusing on this coming up weekend. Home opener at THE HANK!!!!!!! I encourage all of you to come out and support us as we take on UIC. Big series for us and we appreciate all the support you guys give us.

It’s time for some more introductions. This week I’m going to introduce the corner infielders.

Yup, that’s sophomore third baseman Sam Koenig. The Sauk Prairie native is a big fan of Culvers as you can see. Sammy lives in the training room. I’m pretty sure he rented out a room and sleeps there overnight. He should be a certified trainer by now with how much time he spends in there. He is definitely one of the worst at "Draw Something". His drawings are on the level of 2nd-graders. Merrrr.

What up Al?! This is Alex Erdmann, a redshirt junior. Al is a third baseman and a reliever this year in the bullpen. As you can see from the picture, Al can rock pretty much anything. Is that shirt from the 1980’s? Does that shirt even come in men's? I’ve had the pleasure of rooming with Al on the road the last two weekends. He got me addicted to playing "Sporcle" on the Internet. We even created a quiz where you try to name every player on our roster.

CLICK HERE and see if you can do it!

It was Al’s idea to create the quiz, he’s such a genius!

This is senior first baseman/catcher Paul Hoenecke enjoying a nice hot dog. Pauly is one-of-a-kind. He likes to be the instigator in getting guys riled up with his “You won’t, you won’t!” “Say something back, say something back” comments. Pauly is a great guy. He hits balls really far and gets good grades in the classroom. He’s always in class. It’s kind of unfortunate because he can never teach the little kids how to drop bombs on Monday and Wednesday nights. Hey Pauly can you do camp tonight? Paul responds, “Naaa, I got class.” Such a good student!

I know what you’re thinking. You think that’s MC Hammer in a UWM uniform. Nope, that’s just senior first baseman Phil Striggow. Phil doesn’t have a Facebook so this is the best photo I could find. 'Big Rig Strig' as we call him, spends a lot of time out on the farm back home on his Big Green tractor. That explains why he is “farmer strong”. Big Rig is a simple man. He enjoys hitting baseballs far, listening to country music and talking/skyping with his girlfriend on the phone. I saw him online looking at rings the other day. Wedding announcement could be coming soon!

Next week I’ll move on to some of the outfielders.

I’m going to head out and let Blow take over…

Hope to see ya’ll out at the Hank this weekend!

Paco Thoughts… Brewers Baseball is less than a week away, how exciting… Noodles & Company followed by Cold Stone is a great combo… Dibble dabble is the greatest pool game ever. Shout out to our trainer Will for making the play of the year when he belly-flopped across the pool to get the straw… He definitely got robbed when he didn’t make SportCenters Top 10 plays… Tim Tebow will be the starter for the Jets by week 6… Heard it hear first!

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Hey there everybody! What an emotionally and physically draining past week. Here’s to recharging the batteries and being completely fresh for this HUGE series versus UIC at home. This upcoming series is actually the one I circled at the unveiling of our schedule. They are our bitter rivals and we are extremely amped up for the weekend. I’d expect to see a renewed focus and competitiveness against them, as most rivals will bring that out. It's going to be a fierce series and I hope you all take time out of your busy schedules and make your way to “The Hank” to take in a game or three.

“Adversity has ever been considered the state in which a man most easily becomes acquainted with himself.” - Samuel Johnson

That quote above carries weight in each and every one of us. This quote is especially true when it comes to the game we play. We always talk about adversity and overcoming it and how that overcoming adversity is one of our teams strengths. Adversity brings out character and I think that our teams character is something you can be proud of thus far. Playing a ton of games on the road to start the year, battling bus rides and long travel days, and not necessarily playing the best of late are all examples of some adversity we’re facing.

Nonetheless, our team has found a way to stay together and believe it or not, get closer as a team along the way. Our character is something that we pride ourselves on, how we handle ourselves and treat one another. Strong character will breed success and overcoming adversity breeds character. I am proud of the team thus far as we continue to pull for one another and grind day-in and day-out to put forth our best performance on the field. Thanks for supporting us thus far and we look forward to seeing all your bright faces as the season progresses.

This past week or so has taught us alot about ourselves and we have taken note, all we can do is do that and move forward. There is no use in carrying that baggage forward and as far as I’m concerned, this Friday is the start to a new season, one pitch at a time.

All seriousness aside, here we go with some more introductions. This week I’ll focus on two more of the relievers, redshirt junior Jake Long and sophomore Gunnar Eastman.

It's pretty hard to find a picture that completely exemplifies someones personality such as Jake's, but this picture does it very well. Jake loves to have fun, no matter what. He will always be the first one down by the pool on roadtrips to play dibble-dabble (best pool game ever invented) or he’ll be on the bus having his fun with his crush Alex Erdmann.

Jake is probably the biggest gamer (video games) on our team, and with that being said, he is probably the best at those games. Just ask Jimmy or Spurley about his NHL game and they’ll tell you. He is a redshirt junior who has had terrible luck when it comes to injury. He is the ultimate teammate who just shows up and gets his work done, such a great mentality especially considering his injury history. He is the younger brother of Ben Long, an alumni of Panther Baseball, and they both share the same fun-loving, hard-working mentality.

I still don’t know where he stands though with me, because he told me freshmen year that he hated me following a heated game of 'Call of Duty', but I guess that speaks to his competitiveness. Just a warning though, if you are down by the pool with him, or just at practice or on the bus, you always have to watch your back as you can surely expect a gentle push, poke, tickle (in Erdmann's case) or punch.

Gunnar “Gunshow” Eastman, as shown on the right in the picture, is a true hick at heart. Coming from the tough streets of Green Bay (920 represent), he had to find a way to differentiate himself, and I think dressing like this regularly helped shed his “ghetto, thug” reputation, although he would still list either Lil Wayne or Eminem as his favorite artists.

Gunnar is a unique cut, as he was completely silent his freshmen year. It was a miracle if you got him to speak up about anything and coming into this year our whole team was hit with a wall of Gunnar. He is one of the more outspoken members of the team and on a regular basis you can bet you’ll hear his “oohhhhh duuddeeee, sweetttt duuuddeeee” sarcastic rhetoric. He is apart of the Cramer house (not the famous Mustard House) with the dude on his left and Cale Tassi. On his free nights he likes to cuddle up in his bed and watch a good chick flick with his best friend Josh Uhen. He is a third-tier grill master but is a first-tier consumer of food. His favorite, and I mean FAVORITE, meal to make is Hormel chili with cream cheese in a casserole. He is a man with a mystery and we are all trying to discover this mystery.

I told you he was a thug. Unbelievable Gunnar.


I don’t have much time for thoughts so I just have two.....Soap Operas are something my parents pride themselves on..their trivia savvy for them is unreal....Dibble Dabble...clear drinking straw...cut it in three equal pieces...throw one of the pieces in the pool...try to find it...good luck.. Hi Cale hahaha

League Play Begins - We're all 0-0

Senior Greg Blohowiak and redshirt freshman Michael Porcaro, members of the Milwaukee baseball team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website.

Blohowiak is back for his third season of blogging, while Porcaro gets his first go at it. Today is their sixth entry for the 2012 season.

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It was nice to open conference play with a couple wins and a series victory. Although we let a game get away and couldn’t finish the sweep, we accomplished the weekend goal of winning the series.

Once again the pitching was fantastic this weekend. They continue to keep us in ball games and put us in great position to win. The bats definitely showed signs of how good we can be as an offense. Especially in game two when we had three guys go yard. We had some big 2-out RBI hits, something we haven’t got much of this year. So it is good to see the bats coming around. We just need to continue to work hard and make every at-bat competitive.

Like Blow said last week, it’s hard to keep you guys entertained every week. Most of you reading this probably know all about the games this past weekend so it would be pretty boring to get a play-by-play of the games all over again. With that being said, it is my turn to introduce some of the guys on the team. This week I’m going to introduce the middle infielders. The guys I spend most of my practice time with.



This is the veteran of the group, Jimmy Lundstrom, AKA Jimbo Slice. Jimmy is a fifth-year senior and a second baseman. Jimbo went to Madison College before taking his talents here to UWM. In the off-season you can find Jimmy doing work at the basketball games running stats. Jimmy is one of two guys on the team from the state of Illinois and unfortunately that makes him a Bears fan.



This right here is junior Nick Lingvay. He is a man of many nicknames. Ling-a-ding, Ling, Linger, Lenny, whichever one you choose he will respond. Ling spends a lot of time in the classroom. That is because he is taking on the daunting task of being an engineering major. Ling is a member of the “Mustard House” with Jordan Guth, Drew Pearson and Jon Capasso. If you ever need help with your math homework, hit up Linger, he is a numbers whiz.



You see that guy screaming his lungs out with the mullet? That’s sophomore Tell Taylor. Tell is known for his unique ability to imitate Domingo Ayala (he is no semi-pro at it). He is also known for the ability to grow out a mullet, as you can see in the picture. His mullet is considered one of the best in the Midwest and is up there with the best of them in the nation. I know Panther Nation is wondering when we will be seeing this mullet again. Well, I have great news (Mike Poll voice). Tell is currently in the process of growing out his mullet and we should be seeing it in about month.



And finally to round out the middle infield here we have Trevor Theissen. He sure looks good in pink doesn’t he? Trev is a freshman this year and can play both shortstop and second base. Trevor is an avid tweeter. You can follow him @ttheissen. He is from Franklin and when he has time he enjoys making the short trip home to visit his girlfriend.

It was fun introducing the middle infield to you guys, next week we will continue the introductions as well as sharing some thoughts from the Valpo series. This week is all baseball as we get a week off from school due to spring break.

Paco Thoughts… Chipotle has the slight edge over Qdoba in my opinion… It seriously feels like summer in Wisconsin with this weather… My bracket got busted real quick (thanks Mizzou)… Congratulations to Emily McClellan of our swim team for a great season and her performance at the NCAA Championships… Fear The Deer!!!

Here’s Blow…

I can definitely start my portion of the blog out by saying I will not miss traveling to Youngstown, OH. Ever since I started playing here I never really heard good things about the surrounding areas. Our stay in Warren, OH (city close to Youngstown) was quite entertaining. The hotel was vintage, seriously, having been built around 1880 and utilized as a hotel (Park Hotel) in 1895. I'm convinced that the hotel has not seen any upgrades other than technological advances between the 117 years between when it opened and when we stayed there. It was an experience, to say the least, with plenty of scenes to be had from the convention there to the water quality warning. Thanks Youngstown for your hospitality over the years, however I’ve seen better days.

Conference play is always intense. No matter who you are playing, in the Horizon League or in baseball for that matter, you cannot let up at anytime during the game. That was our problem in game three of the series. I feel as though we kind of let out a sigh of relief and got complacent and before we knew it we were in a dog fight.

Unfortunately, they put together a few hits and ended up winning the game. It was such a sour taste in our mouths following that loss, however, we mustn’t forget that we achieved our goal of winning series. In our minds though we should never lose to that Youngstown team, and I’m not saying that to be disrespectful towards them but to give you a gauge on how high our expectations are as a team. Winning series’ are the main objective each and every weekend and if we do that we will walk away with a Horizon League championship.

Since it is spring break I’m going to take a little bit off my blogging and get strait to introductions of some of the pitchers. This week the two lucky fellas are seniors Kaleb Engelke and Kyle Spurley, who are also suspected of being bromantically involved.



This guy right here seen surrounded by pumpkins and with his girlfriend Molly in hand is Kyle Spurley (@kspurley1). He is a transfer from MATC who was held out of his transfer year with a torn ACL. Since this unfortunate accident, pitchers have not been trusted to so much as look at a basketball. Although he doesn’t necessarily look like the guy in this picture I assure you that man is hiding underneath his mop of a hairdo and his extremely large muscles. He is known for causing ruckus and getting people “riled” up on long bus trips. One time he was confused for a megaphone-wielding construction worker, but little did we know he talks that loud. The only way to mum his loud voice is to make sure he is around his girlfriend Molly.



I don’t even really know where to start with his guy. Kaleb Engelke (@theREALgulk), a senior, is one of a kind, not to mention his dad has the most outrageous hat/hair combo. His body temperature reaches as high as 102 degrees normally. When that happens his cooling off method is to just simply take his shirt off. It is a rarity to see him with a shirt on, so if you see him around campus make sure you snap a picture of him as it is comparable to picturing an eagle.

To answer all the questions you are posing, no. No, his two front teeth are not “blacked out” they are actually missing. Unfortunately, he found something that was harder than teeth to fall onto. Some of the best times are when he pops out his retainer with the two teeth on them to mess with people. He is truly a character and will make your life better by just being in it. Not to get all emotional but it is great to be surround by people from all walks of life, puts things in perspective. Who wouldn’t wanna wake up next to this smiling face? I can think of two people who would, and one involves a slipknot jersey.



Lastly, to continue the tradition of introductions, I’ll introduce a diehard Panther baseball fan as well as an alumni. This man here pictured with our very own Nick “Linger, Lenny, Ling-a-ding” Lingvay is no one other than Kyle Mayer (@KThomas38). He was actually on the team a few years ago as a pitcher. He lives in the very famous “Mustard House” and is a frequent follower of the blog. He is very supportive of his housemates as well as Panther baseball as a whole. You can see him ripping around campus on his moped or on the balcony of the “Mustard House”. We miss his antics as a team and are always looking forward to seeing him around. We appreciate the support and look forward to seeing him out at the Hank for our games, even though he is a proud supporter of the Vikings, I can bite tongue and let that slide for a few months.

Quick thoughts from Blow....

Love the weather....50,000 population to a 20,000 population is not a good thing Warren....I hope the people involved in the motorcycle/SUV accident we saw on our way to dinner one night are ok...The Bucks are fun to watch....Tim Tebow will NOT be a Packer, shut it Shefter....you too Bayless...Spring Break was much needed..please follow me on twitter @gbloho15 haha....Congrats to Tennis on a victorious match in Florida, I’m sure they’re enjoying the weather down there as well...Luke Meeteer is a boss and he knows why....The Walking Dead is a great show...I recommend it, however that show also shapes hatred towards a few characters on the show...Breaking Bad and Mad Men are a must as well! See yaaaa next week! #GOPANTHERS #BEATVALPO

The Joys of 13-hour Bus Rides...

Senior Greg Blohowiak and redshirt freshman Michael Porcaro, members of the Milwaukee baseball team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website.

Blohowiak is back for his third season of blogging, while Porcaro gets his first go at it. Today is their fifth entry for the 2012 season.

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What’s happening Panther Nation???

After flying out to our games two of the last three weekends, it was back to the good ole’ Lamers bus! It was a long 13-hour bus ride down to Little Rock.

Being the smart guys we are, we made sure to bring plenty to keep us busy. Ipods, iPads and laptops were all crucial to helping us make it through the trip. Our unofficial team mascot, Chad Pole, made his first trip of his career. It was a blast having him on the bus. I know we all enjoyed him, especially Josh Uhen (see picture). I think we went through three movies on the way there and a lot of us caught up on some Z’s. I think I personally spent about half of the trip sleeping, although sleeping on a bus has got to be one of the toughest things to do! So uncomfortable!

We arrived in Little Rock a little past midnight. The next morning we enjoyed a delicious breakfast at the International House of Pancakes, AKA IHOP. After a little downtime at the hotel, we headed to the field for game one of our series against Arkansas Little-Rock.

Gary Hogan Field (possible relation to Hulk Hogan?) was very nice. The artificial turf came up big and allowed us to play on time despite Little Rock getting a lot of rain during the week.

Not much to say about the first two games. Poor execution, lack of intent and no energy. We did not play good baseball at all.

But we ended up bouncing back in game three. Our bats arguably had their best game of the year. Mike Schneider once again gave us a great start and our bullpen was solid. Our defense was even flashing the leather! Drew Pearson got the start out in right and made two web gems with the Pruss 2000 (it’s what he calls his glove). Shout out to Jerry Pruss for supporting UWM baseball and being a loyal reader of the Diamond Chronicles!

Because of the expected rainfall on Sunday we ended up playing a doubleheader on Saturday. We ended up leaving Little Rock on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. The hour we lost due to daylight savings time was killer, but we gained it back on the bus! I think about 30 minutes into the trip back our whole bus was asleep. Except for the driver of course!!!!

This week of practice is crucial as we prepare for the conference opener at Youngstown State. Thankfully, the weather is beautiful and we’ll get some defensive work outside.

I’m sure I missed out on a lot of important details from our weekend but my guy Blow will fill you in. It’s mid-terms this week, so I gotta run and get some work done! Cya next week Nation!

Paco Thoughts… Little Rock has the narrowest roads in the world… Big shout out to the candy man from Fayetteville for making the trip to Little Rock and supplying us with gum and taking great photos! Welcome back to the bus Zills… Welcome to the Bucks Monta!!! Colts should of kept Manning… Let the Madness begin! My Final 4: Kentucky, Mizzou, Ohio State, North Carolina… Hit me up on Twitter @MdotPaco1


Chasing Pavement AKA Displacing Pavement

Phew. That was a sigh of relief. I really didn’t know how my body was going to handle long bus rides coming into the year and right now I’d say I fared pretty well. I want to extend a welcome to our SID Chris Zills as well for his first appearance with the baseball team, even though he donned the women's basketball warmup pants with his name on them the whole weekend, it's okay, they looked good.

[Editor's note: It was NOT the whole weekend.]

As many writers of blogs can tell you, it is hard to keep an audience engaged week in and week out. The successful ones are those who can do that. This blog is no exception. I wish there were extremely exciting things to share with you all each road trip, but truth is, there isn’t. The two games we lost were as Paco mentioned, not baseball. The last game of the series showed our grit as a team as we played from ahead most of the game.

I was out there for my third inning and on the 2-out, 2-strike count, the guy flat out beat me and hit the seams off the ball, scoring the tying run in the ninth. While upset with myself for allowing the tying run to score and losing Schneider's first win of the season, I was not upset after the game. We won the game yes but the way we did it after I came out was awesome to watch. Kaleb Engelke came in after me with a guy on second and made the hitter he faced look foolish to get the out. When we got up to bat it was as if Poseidon gave us his trident and nodded. With that we unleashed the bats and scored six runs, relieving all the pent up frustration from weekends before of offensive deficiency.

Like I’ve been saying this whole time, our team will never quit. Our resolve and willingness to succeed is unmatched and it will show. When we play at home in front of more than just the parents we’ll show you, game in and out, how much we care with our hustle, competitiveness, and yes, with some of our reactions. Not condoning negative reactions or poor body language following a poor result, sometimes it really is the “next 10 steps” you use to clear the mechanism. All you golf aficionados will understand the “next 10 steps” rule, as I definitely am guilty of with my fair share of duffed shots and slices.

I guess what my point is is that the style we play will definitely allow the onlookers to see our emotions, with the negative ones hopefully being spaced out as far as possible. We are coming up on our first home games and I am attempting to give those of you who have yet to see us play get a sense of the team.

With that being said I want to switch the direction of this blog and start to introduce our team. We’re going to include a multitude of teammates pictures into the blog each week so you guys can feel closer to them when they’re out there pitching or hitting. We’ll usually do that in groups, with the first group being the bullpen.

The guy pictured here is Eric King. He was included last week with a full family picture, which was magnificent and was probably the reason his parents made the trip to Arkansas this past weekend. He is a redshirt freshman and is a caretaker to the team mascot, Chad Pole. This picture probably is the best one you can get him to take as his girlfriend Jessica doesn’t allow him to take many pictures without her permission.


I'm not quite sure how old he is in this picture but it is pretty spot on as to his looks right now. This is Jordan Guth and he is a junior pitcher who prides himself on flat brim hats and cutting hair. He is the team barber for sure. He resides at the “Mustard House” along with Drew Pearson, Jon Capasso, and also Jerry Pruss (Pruss2000) and is involved in a “who's house is better” competition with the other Cramer house. We are not sure whose truly is better but the friendly debate is always fun.

Since this is the first week of it, I’ll leave it at two players. Next week, along with our blog about Youngstown, Paco will showcase some hitters (middle infielders) and I’ll showcase some pitchers (bullpen). We are also planning on having guest bloggers as well as some video links we’ll post in here so we can keep your attention!

UALR was fun but this weekend starts a journey to win a conference regular season title! Lets get after it!

Quick thoughts from Blow..

Mike Goetz would rather hit .310 and have 25 RBI’s than hit .150 and be an everyday player for a World Series champion in the MLB ... A pitcher, who will remain nameless at this point, threw a pitch to the equivalent of 1/5 of the cost of wings on temple run (100 mph) ... pretty exciting ... UALR has some sketchy places backed up by some even sketchier stories from their players ... the roads are indeed too narrow and the slope of such streets are unacceptable. Our Lamers exchanged some paint and metal for some pavement on multiple occasions this past weekend ... One of the most avid followers of our team, who is a non-parent, is probably Jordan “JAYOH” Oster, roommate of pitcher Josh Uhen. He is actively showing his support via twitter, facebook, in our everyday lives, as well as on the blog. A conversation I overheard today actually was about how he shared in the disgust of how slow the GameTracker is. (with Cale Tassi’s gf Megan “Megabyte” Norby) His heart is certainly in the right place and on a few occasions he was a few minutes away from emailing the whole student population about the baseball program ... He is the first one to exploit the “comments” portion of the blog this year and I urge you all to comment as we’d like to get some sort of feedback ... We appreciate all the support he gives us and it is refreshing knowing there are people out there that have our back ... thanks Jayoh. (we know he is not the only one either, and I assure you, none of our friends, or family members are safe as far as the blog goes) (winky smiley face)

No wonder he is a proud supporter, he has baseball flowing through his veins. (that's him pictured tagging out a foe). Rumor has it he threw 81 his sophomore year of HS but it was downhill after that. Thanks for the support brother! We appreciate it!

Did Anyone see Tony Gwynn?!?

Senior Greg Blohowiak and redshirt freshman Michael Porcaro, members of the Milwaukee baseball team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website.

Blohowiak is back for his third season of blogging, while Porcaro gets his first go at it. Today is their fourth entry for the 2012 season.

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What’s happening #PantherNation?? Pretty depressing writing this in the California sunshine, knowing we will be heading back to eight inches of snow later on tonight.

We headed out to Cali on Wednesday. Some guys were lucky and flew straight to San Diego, while others had a layover in Kansas City. Fortunately, I flew straight through and arrived in beautiful San Diego at about 5:45 Cali time.

We grabbed our bags, hopped on the bus and headed to the Sheraton Inn. For the second consecutive week, our hotel was very nice. The Sheraton even had Starbucks coffee in each room, which a lot of the guys enjoyed. As soon as we dropped our bags off at the hotel, we immediately took our empty stomachs to Wendy’s and enjoyed a nice dinner.

The guys who were on the layover didn’t arrive to the hotel until about 9:00 Cali time. That night, we all went to bed relatively early because we had an 11:00 a.m. game the next morning vs. San Francisco. Jon Capasso clutched up for the second consecutive week when he hit a walk-off 3-RBI double in the bottom of the ninth to win the game for us.

Our next game wasn’t until 7 p.m. on Friday night, so we had a lot of time to explore San Diego. A lot of guys and their families went to downtown San Diego Thursday night. On Friday, some of us went down to the ocean and also took a tour of the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier. That night we took on the San Diego State Aztecs.

After getting off to a slow start in the first couple of innings, Cale Tassi settled down and threw another nice game. Our bats were alive all game. We were facing a hard throwing righty, but our at-bats were competitive and aggressive all night. We took a lead going into the eighth inning, but we hit a speed bump and ended up losing 7-4. It was a tough loss because we felt like we played a really good game. We just didn’t close it out.

The next day versus Cal Poly, we came out flat and couldn’t bounce back after being down 4-0. That night, some guys enjoyed their last opportunity to experience San Diego while others had to work on homework. Doing homework on a road trip is not fun, but then again when is homework fun?

We wrapped up the weekend with a game against San Diego the next morning. Mike Schneider threw an absolute gem. He was dicing. But in the seventh, San Diego’s first baseman took a pitch up in the zone over the fence to give them the lead. Mike threw a great game and made just one mistake. Unfortunately, we didn’t give him the run support he deserved.

We let a few games get away this weekend, but we also learned a lot. The starting pitching was great again and our bats showed some positive signs. Now it’s time to put it all together.

I’m going to wrap this up and dish it to Blow so I can do some more homework. Thanks for the support this weekend nation!

Paco Thoughts ... Shout out to Flip for the food and making the trip this weekend ... Shout out to the kid in the San Diego airport who tipped Mike Goetz for playing his guitar ... San Diego weather is unreal ... Congrats to Kyle Spurley and his Tar Heels for beating Duke this weekend (it hurts to type that).

That’s all I got, here’s Blow...



First things first, check out the picture above, isn’t that just studly? If you guys don’t know who that is, its my fellow blogger, Mike Porcaro.

This California trip was pretty breathtaking, especially for someone (myself) who has never been to that part of California. I am convinced that there is no where else in the United States that can showcase that kind of weather on a daily basis. Feeling the heat from the sun in San Diego was unmatched, playing in that sun versus some high-quality opponents is indescribable.

We had a great weekend, even though our record didn’t reflect that. Every facet of our team was tested this weekend from starting pitching, small ball, defense, to bullpen pitching. We had situations where we had to make clutch pitches where we flourished. Situations where we had to get clutch hits and make clutch plays that we also succeeded at. We have a lot to hold our heads high going into next weekend at UALR but that doesn’t make the losses any easier to swallow.

Losing has got to be the worst feeling someone can feel. Such an empty feeling and to anyone competitive a feeling that is never welcomed. I can guarantee you that our team is ultra-competitive and this past weekend is weighing heavily into our practices and workouts this week. We were not satisfied with winning one game and being “in” every other one versus these west coast teams, we want to win every game. We expect to put forth an immense amount of effort and hopefully that translates into a win.

California was a great opportunity to play against opponents we can expect to face in a regional. Gaining valuable experience against these opponents is imperative for us moving forward. We know what it takes to win those games, and more importantly, we have what it takes.

We had a lot of fun in California, from roaming the mall, to playing some dibble dabble in the pool. The weather was amazing, it was great playing in the weather, and it was an overall nice weekend. The only thing missing was the result we wanted, but if we continue getting better day by day we will see the results we desire without pressing the issue, but by just being us.

Quick thoughts by Blow
Our starting pitching has been lights out to begin the year, Eric Semmelhack, Cale Tassi, Mike Schneider, and Justin Jaquish will have us in every single game this year ... check out this article about Cale ... speaks volumes of his character.

CLICK HERE

Congrats to the Seniors on the Men’s and Womens Basketball teams on their careers here at UWM! I can’t wait for retired Volleyball player Kerri Schuh to snap photos of our squad during our games at The Hank ... I'm expecting at least 800 photos each game! The Fresno State Softball team is kind of ridiculous ... not a bad thing but they said they really never watched softball while in high school ... like ... I knew who Taryrne Mowatt was and they didn’t? Cray .... our team has definite #CaliSwag and it starts with Kyle “Sasha Vujacic” Spurley ... ahhh off to Arkansas we go! Everyone please remember to Gametrack it or whatever is necessary to see us play!

Last thought: Tom King is a boss ... I hear nothing but good things about the father of RS Freshmen Eric King .. like just look at this picture (below) (Eric in the middle row middle and Tom at the top right). What a beautiful family!



See ya’ll next week!

Coulda, woulda, shoulda ...

Senior Greg Blohowiak and redshirt freshman Michael Porcaro, members of the Milwaukee baseball team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website.

Blohowiak is back for his third season of blogging, while Porcaro gets his first go at it. Today is their third entry for the 2012 season.

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Minnesota Wild’n Out

The great thing about playing baseball is the quick turnaround and how it forces you to have a short memory. Three games in two days; four games in three days; so be it. Heading off to Minnesota on Thursday to play a four-game set in the Metrodome versus the Golden Gophers is a welcome challenge, especially after the sour taste the ECU weekend left in our mouths. Practice all week was intense and it prepared us both mentally and physically for the four games in three days.

I cannot continue this blog without mentioning the all too-usual stop at a Chinese buffet on our way to Minneapolis. What great food those places have to offer, not to mention the soft-serve ice cream machines that pump out four gallons of ice cream for our team alone (maybe 1 gallon just for Kaleb “Gulk” Engelke, to drop on the floor as we’re leaving).

There is nothing better than coming out of the bathroom to Gulk, toothless and all, staring in awe at the clump of chocolate/vanilla mixed ice cream on the ground at his feet, along with several others, Coach Bigler was tickled pink with amusement.

All in all, the trip there was, blahh, a few movies and some card games consumed the six hours of travel. We arrived at our AMAZING hotel, The Reniassance Inn (fully functioning hotel with an in-house ice rink and waterpark), and quickly took cover in our rooms examining the cozy beds, or cots (as Paco is very accustomed to, being strapped into his standing up in the early part of the night), and wasted the night away exploring the hotel as well as kickin’ it with teammates or family members who made the trip. To sum up the excitement of seeing friends and family members in Minneapolis I give you Pitcher Cale Tassi’s take on it. (It's ok, he won Pitcher of the Week, but who knew most of his family has a different last name..?



Seeing all the parents there this weekend, including my own (Bartman and Debra), was a breath of fresh air, as well as a reminder of the amazing support system this team has. The players are extremely appreciative of all the support, both fanatically and financially (in the form of dinners and snacks during the game) that the parents offered. Seeing all the familiar faces so far from home is indeed liberating and it is something that we will never forget. I hope that the support is maintained throughout the year, whenever plausible, as we want to share a special experience with all supporters and hope to create some new supporters throughout. Thanks again all who came to the Metrodome, we appreciate it dearly! Paco and I also appreciate the positive feedback from some parents about the blog, whether it be our 7th grade writing level (right Mr. Capasso?) or the behind the scenes perspective we provide.

I don’t have much to say about the games, as I hope those who are reading this also were either at the games or watched via GameTracker (or listened). If nothing else hopefully you all read the game capsules and saw that we split the series 2-2. Ask anyone who was there, other than the Gopher followers, and they would say we easily had the opportunity to sweep the series.

Our pitching and defense has been outstanding thus far and the big hit was eluding us, and once that happened you could see a switch being turned on. Jon Capasso found a way to get that big, if not HUGE, hit in game three to propel us to victory and after that, you could sense a calmness - as if a big sigh of relief was let out from all on the team.

Hitting is contagious and I think you saw a taste of what we’re capable of in the batter's box. The Gopher pitching is pretty good too, with a lot of arm strength and ability, our hitters did a great job grinding it out and not giving in. All in all we split 2-2.

I think I am going to cut off my portion and hand it off to Mike “Paco” Porcaro to try to fill in any gaps that I am missing, and I’m sure I’m missing a lot.

Quick thoughts from Blow....

We really missed sophomores Tell Taylor and Derek Peake on this trip as they are both fighting injuries ... we hope to have them back as soon as possible ... UPDATE on Peake too - he had surgery on his finger and will be out for about 3 weeks ... prayers for a quick recovery! THANKS again to the friends and family, and even some Panther alumni who came by! Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis has Water Street beat any day of the year ... that street is just jam-packed full of people all day every day ... soo many interesting shops and clubs ... very upscale though ... every time a plane would fly over the Metrodome, I was afraid the roof was going to collapse ... I HATE the ViQUEENS ... The skyways that basically connect the whole city are amazing! Milwaukee needs them ... dearly! Ricks...Shoutout to the fellow Panthers who did amazing this weekend, whether it was winning championships or just matches, great job Men's/Women's Swimming and Diving, Men's/Women's Indoor Track and Field, as well as Tennis, Women's Basketball, and Men's Basketball! Good luck during your spring seasons Women's Soccer and Volleyball! I'm sure your coaches are having a great time getting the competitive flames going during the spring ... I know for sure Volleyball Head Coach Susie Johnson, who is awesome, is ... she is always looking ready to jump on the court at any time and I'm sure she still has it in her to keep up with her players!

There is soo much more I want to touch upon ... but I’ll stop ... here’s Paco (pictured)!

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Man, does it feel good to type this with a couple of wins under our belt. I’m extremely happy with the way our team battled back after dropping the first two games of the series. It sure was nice gaining some momentum as we head to San Diego this week.

Like Blow said, seeing all of the parents and family there was really refreshing. It was nice to look up in the stands and see those familiar faces. Panther Nation sure does travel well!

We arrived at The Reniassance Inn at around 10:30 Thursday night. This hotel was so nice!! They treated us like professionals. When we arrived they had water and popcorn set aside for our team. They even had cozy cots set aside in the rooms so the third person didn’t have to sleep on the floor. With the first game not until 6:35 Friday night some of us didn’t know what to do with so much down time. To pass the time on Friday, I ate Subway not once, but twice, and surfed the web while watching Ryan Braun tear up his press conference. Brauny’s Free!!!!

A lot of us got to enjoy some nice dinners with our families after the games. On Friday night, The Old Spaghetti Factory was a hot spot for dinner. Saturday night, my family and I went out with the Capasso and Pearson families to JD Hoyt’s while other guys enjoyed some burritos at Qdoba. One of the best things on the road is getting to enjoy some good restaurant food. Sure does beat the ham sandwiches I make at home.

Sunday’s game was big. We needed a win to get the split. Preparation began early in the morning with breakfast as most of us enjoyed a nice buffet downstairs in the hotel. We headed to the Metrodome at 10:45 ready to hunt some Gophers. Right when we got there freshman Justin Jaquish, AKA Quish, was informed that he would be making his first career start that day. Quish rose to the occasion, throwing into the sixth inning allowing just one run on five hits while striking out five. He settled in nicely after the first inning and looked like a seasoned veteran as the game went on. Great job Quish!!

Luke Meeteer, also a freshman, did a great job this weekend playing in centerfield and in the lead off role. He tracked down nearly every ball hit his way with his blazing speed. Big shout out to Mitch Ghelfi, another freshman, who won the brother battle in game 4 when he singled off his brother, Drew Ghelfi, who pitches for the Gophers.

All in all, it was a good weekend and now we get to take our talents to San Diego. Our pitching and defense has been awesome so far and hopefully the warm San Diego weather will heat up our bats! We got the monkey off our back this weekend getting the first win out of the way so now it’s time to go bananas!

Paco Thoughts ... Aaron Rodgers defending Brauny on Twitter was awesome! Our athletics program is pretty good ... FOUR Conference Championships this weekend!! Congrats track and swimming!! Good luck to the Men’s basketball team as they prepare for the conference tournament!

Cali, here we come!!!!!!!!!!!