The UW- Milwaukee club baseball team traveled south to Plant City, Florida for a five game series last week finishing with a record of 3-2. The Panthers were able to finish above .500 by capping off wins against the University of Northern Iowa (14-3), Kentucky (7-1) and Iowa (9-5). The Panthers only two losses came against Ohio State D II (3-5) and Iowa State (7-8). With an experienced line-up, Senior/president/player, Brennan Johnson, expects the early success to continue throughout the season.

” I expect a lot of good things this year from the team.  This is the strongest that we have been of the four years I have been on it,” Johnson said.  “The majority of the team are now upperclassmen and most of them have been on the team for 3-4 years which really helps.  We have a lot of depth all around the field and our pitching staff is extremely strong.  We have five true starting pitchers as well as multiple relievers that I have confidence in.”

Senior Cole Krueger is one of the many returning Panthers this season.
Senior Cole Krueger is one of the many returning Panthers this season.

The Panthers complimented the pitching staff nicely as they collected 60 hits in their five games played. Leading the Panther offense was new-comer, Ryan Rouse, who hit .778 while collecting 2 RBIs. Senior short-stop and Hortonville alumni, Andrew Wolf, wasn’t too far behind Rouse batting .625 with 3 RBIs while earning the Player of the Week for the Great Lakes-West Conference.

 

Senior pitcher, Joe Bianchi, followed up Wolfs honors by winning  Pitcher of the Week for the Great Lakes-West conference. Bianchi posted a 0.00 ERA in 7 innings pitched with a WHIP of 0.57.

Johnson believes Milwaukee should finish at the top of the conference but will have to beat UW-Madison that finished in first place in the conference and reached the National Championship just a year ago.

“I believe this team should finish 1st in the Great Lakes-West this year.  Our biggest competition will be Madison, but we knew that coming in,” Johnson said. However, we beat them 2 out of 3 games last year and have always done well against them so I think we can take the conference.”

If four-year players such as Bianchi and Wolf can stay consistent throughout the year, Milwaukee has a chance to earn its’ first conference title since 2011. With the veterans on the team leading the way, Johnson mentioned his excitement for first-year player Ryan Rouse not only as a hitter but also as a pitcher and said he should be on the bump for plenty of starts this season. Along with Rouse, the team has added depth in position players including; Mike Raeder, Kevin Klipstein, Nathan Kipfer, and Dustin Brah.

“They all hit the ball well, but Mike and Nathan did especially well and combined for 9-17 at the plate including multiple extra base hits,” Johnson said.

Milwaukee will play next in a three-game series v.s. Northwestern the weekend of April 3-4 before facing Madison in a three-game series the following weekend.

 

 

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