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!