Dekoning And Caldwell Head Out East For Summer Baseball

Doug Dekoning and Nate Caldwell of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team are playing for the Riverhead Tomcats this summer, one of six teams in Hamptons Collegiate Baseball.

The HCB is a summer baseball league located in the Hamptons in New York. It is a six-team division of the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League. Dekoning - a First Team All-Horizon League selection in 2009 and pictured at left - and Caldwell started play in early June and will continue through mid-August. The team is currently 8-6 overall.

Both were featured in an on-line article about players traveling long distances to play for the Tomcats this summer. Read it HERE.

The league website can be seen HERE.

One More Former Panther In The Coaching Ranks

This spring we noted that former Panther volleyball standout Trudy Vande Berg was now an assistant coach at Iowa State after a excellent stint on the staff at Duke. The Panthers and Cyclones will face off again this season.

Well, since that time, another former Panther has landed on the UWM schedule. Leanne Felsing has signed on as a graduate assistant at South Dakota, which will play in the Panther Invitational this season. The head coach at USD is Matt Houk, a former Panther volleyball assistant and a baseball standout for the Panthers.

Leanne's USD bio is here, while her UWM bio is here.

World University Games Update

Team USA is in Belgrade, Serbia, warming up for the World University Games, which officially get underway later this week.

The squad, which includes UWM's Rob Jeter as an assistant coach, has split two exhibition games to date. Team USA beat Canada, 85-81, on Saturday, before falling to Serbia, 98-82, Sunday.

In the loss, the US was outscored, 51-32, in the second half. The Serbs also shot 46 free throws in the game, making 38. It should be noted that all three referees were from Serbia.

Team USA finishes the warm-up tourney vs. Russia today, and then plays its first game in the World University Games Friday vs. Finland.

You can follow the team through the USA Basketball website here. While there is no true in-game coverage for these warm-up games, you can sign up for in-game updates via Twitter.

The World University Games website is here.

Edwards Shines In Australian Debut

Contrary to the story I posted on uwmpanthers.com May 15, Traci Edwards, in fact, made her professional debut this past Saturday (May 30).

Her Caboolture Suns posted a 67-57 win over the Brisbane Capitals to move to 4-1 on the season.

As for Traci, it was a performance typical of her days in a Panther uniform: 30 points, 8 rebounds and 12-for-12 from the free throw line. She also hit on 9-of-16 from the field in 33 minutes.

At 4-1, the Suns sit in second place in the Queensland Basketball League (QBL), having won their last four contests.

There was anticipation of her arrival, as the local press was touting her as a "secret weapon" before the team's first game with her on board.

Live Blog: Baseball vs. UIC

Good morning and welcome back to the Pipe Yard for the third day of action for UWM in the Horizon League Tournament.

Another day and another elimination game for the Panthers, this time against UIC, a team that won 3 of 5 from Milwaukee during the regular season. The Flames, the top seed in the tournament, led 6-1 against Wright State last night after six innings, only to see the Raiders storm back for the 7-6 victory. The winner of this game will play them for the tournament championship.

Added perk today, as the Horizon League Network is here for the rest of the event.
David Wilson, the play-by-play voice of Cleveland State, is here to take you through the day.
The HLN is a free service, but you will need to sign up for it. The link is HERE.

Join us for the live blog HERE.
Once again, send any questions you have to me at czills@uwm.edu.

Due to some player health issues with the Flames, the line-ups were a little bit late in arriving...

Four every day starters for UIC are NOT in the line-up. Brandon Harwell (regular 1B) and Jason Ganek (normal 3B) are out, at the hospital with the flu. Nathan Orf, after going 5-for-5 last night and killing the Panthers during the regular season is out with a pulled hamstring. And, Chris Rutta, the normal RF, is out with a concussion after a diving attempt Thursday where he crashed into the fence...

UWM will take to the field like this:
Cole Kraft (SS), Shaun Wegner (C), Josh Groves (DH), Dan Buchholz (1B), Tim Patzman (LF), Shawn Wozniak (RF), Doug Dekoning (CF), Paul Hoenecke (3B) and Andy Gerhartz (2B).

On the mound for the big game, junior Nate Caldwell, making his 6th start of the year.

UIC counters with:
Tony Altavilla (2B0, Andy Leonard (3B), Jake Carr (DH), Brett Schaefer (1B), Rafael Garcia (SS), John Rosinski (LF), Steven Humble (C), Ty Rubio (RF) and Steve McGuiggan (CF).

On the mound, Michael Heesch, 4-0 with a 4.05 ERA.

For UWM game notes, click HERE.
For updated UWM stats, click HERE.
For UIC game notes, HERE.
For UIC updated stats, HERE.
For Gametracker, click HERE after first pitch.

Live Blog: Baseball vs. Cleveland State

Welcome back to Pipe Yard Stadium...
UWM faces one more elimination game this afternoon and will face Cleveland State, getting underway at 2 p.m. CST. The Vikings knocked off Valparaiso in their first game of the tournament before getting roughed up by UIC last night.

The UWM lineup is:
Cole Kraft (SS), Shaun Wegner (C), Josh Groves (DH), Dan Buchholz (1B), Tim Patzman (LF), Shawn Wozniak (RF), DOug Dekoning (CF), Paul Hoenecke (3B) and Andy Gerhartz (2B).

On the mound for the big game, freshman Kyle Schmidt.
He is 3-4 with a 5.01 ERA in 12 games, and this will be his 11th start.

Join us for the live blog HERE and send any questions my way at czills@uwm.edu.

Cleveland State counters with:
Brad Buell (2B), Travis Miller (CF), Ryan Franks (LF), Josh Hungerman (DH), Alex Johnson (RF), Tyler Winn (1B), Jon Foco (3B), Kyle Shaffer (C) and Tom Carter (SS).

On the mound, Nate Dick, who is 4-1 in 9 games this year with a 3.49 ERA.
Nice numbers. This will be just his 5th start of the year.

For UWM game notes, click HERE.
For CSU's notes, click HERE.
For Gametracker, click HERE after first pitch.

Live Blog: Baseball vs. Valparaiso

Good morning and welcome back to the Pipe Yard for today's Horizon League Tournament action. After yesterday's "debacle", UWM will have it's work cut out for it, as we will now need to win 5 straight games to claim the tourney crown.

Game 1 in that line will be against Valparaiso, a team that took 2 of 3 from Milwaukee during the regular season. The Crusaders lost to Cleveland State in the opener, and then got past Butler yesterday to get to this point...

Join us for the live blog HERE.

If you have any questions today, send them my way at czills@uwm.edu...

We are about 35 minutes from first pitch and the line-ups are in.
Milwaukee is:
Cole Kraft (SS), Shaun Wegner (C), Josh Groves (DH), Dan Buchholz (1B), Tim Patzman (LF), Shawn Wozniak (RF), Doug Dekoning (CF), Paul Hoenecke (3B) and Andy Gerhartz (2B).

On the mound, RHP Brad Lusti, who is 4-4 with a 5.04 ERA through 12 starts in 2009.

Valparasio counters with:
Dan DeBruin (RF), Steven Scoby (LF), Matt Lenski (C), Josh Wallace (3B), Ryan O'Gara (1B), David Klein (DH), Andrew Quinnette (2B), Kyle Gaedele (CF) and Damon McCormick (SS).

On the mound, RHP John Snelton, 3-3 in 10 games with 6 starts.

For UWM game notes, click HERE.
For Valpo notes, click HERE.
For the Gametracker link, click HERE after first pitch.
Valpo also has a live broadcast, click HERE for that...