Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the Pipe Yard in sunny and warm Lorain, Ohio.
Today's postseason game between the Wright State Raiders and your UWM Panthers is set to start in about 30 minutes. An absolutely gorgeous day to be playing baseball. Milwaukee enters on a nice streak, playing well the final week of the regular season to earn the No. 2 seed in the event.
The Panthers have had great success in the Horizon League Tournament, winning league titles in 1999, 2001 and 2002. In 1999, UWM bounced back from a game one loss to win four-straight games and advance to the NCAA Regional. For the back-to-back titles in 2001 and 2002, Milwaukee went a perfect 4-0 in the tournament each season. The first of the three crowns came as a No. 2 seed, while the last two were as the No. 1. A year ago, Milwaukee finished runner-up to UIC, missing a return trip to the NCAA Regionals by one win. That marked the 2nd time in 4 years the team placed second.
Once again, if you are following along today and have any questions, feel free to send them my way at czills@uwm.edu.
Join us for the live blog HERE.
The line-ups are in:
The Panthers will be the home team and are:
Cole Kraft (SS), Doug Dekoning (CF), Josh Groves (DH), Dan Buchholz (C), Tim Patzman (LF), Shawn Wozniak (1B), Paul Hoenecke (3B), Johann Andes (RF) and Andy Gerhartz (2B).
On the mound - a bit of a surprise to me - is Andy Hetebrueg...
Andy is 3-3 with a 5.16 ERA this year in 11 starts...
This will be a rematch of the April 11 game: Hetebrueg had allowed no runs, allowed just two hits, had walked none and struck out seven through eight innings that day. WSU rallied late, plating seven runs in the final inning to chase Hetebrueg, before UWM held on for the 8-7 victory.
The Raiders are:
RJ Gundolff (SS), Aaron Field (2B), Jeff Mercer (1B), Casey McGrew (LF), Quentin Cate (3B), Ryan Ashe (CF), Kory Twede (RF), Jake Hibbard (DH) and Garrett Gray (C)
On the mound is Greg Robinson, 1-2 with a 5.57 ERA in 13 games.
This will just be his 4th start of the season , however...
For UWM notes, click HERE.
For WSU notes, click HERE.
For WSU's internet broadcast, featuring SID Greg Campbell, click HERE.
For the Gametracker link, click HERE once the contest gets undeway...
