Tuesday, April 12, 2011

A Family Affair


There have been numerous occasions where brothers have played against each other in college sports, but when the family members play at different NCAA levels, the occurrence is definitely not as common...

Fans that came out to the Milwaukee baseball game against St. Norbert College Tuesday night at Henry Aaron Field got a chance to witness a family affair, all due to a scheduling quirk that worked out for the Schneider baseball brothers. UWM's Mike, a freshman, and SNC's David, a junior, found themselves on the mound as each team's starting pitcher.

After a cancellation early in the season took a game off Milwaukee's schedule, the Panthers added the contest against the Green Knights to the slate for this week. As luck would have it, after growing up playing baseball together, the brothers had the opportunity to battle it out against each other.

Things went Mike's way, with UWM winning, 11-0, but that didn't take anything away from the opportunity.

"I just took it like any other game," David said. "I mean, I know he's over there pitching, but I wanted to try and save the 'brother stuff' for after the game. I approached the same way as any other game, but it was tough. There were guys telling me 'oh, it's Schneider v. Schneider match-up' but I mean, I tried not to change anything."

"I didn't know what to think," Mike said. "It was hard in the dugout. You want your brother to succeed, but you want your team too as well. So, it was just that balance I had to figure out. But, when it came down to it, you play to win and save the brother stuff for later."