Now or never.
No tomorrow.
Do or die.
That's the situation facing both the remaining teams in the 2010 Horizon League Baseball Championship, as #2 Milwaukee was able to stave off elimination Saturday afternoon in defeating #1 Wright State, 14-7. The 14 runs scored by the Panthers were more than double the amount they had tallied in their three previous games in this tournament—combined.
Milwaukee's change in offensive fortunes was sparked by a 3rd inning 3-run homer by Dan Buchholz. From there the Panthers tattooed pitch after pitch, on their way to 20 hits. Earlier in the day I spoke with Milwaukee Head Coach Scott Doffek, about his team winning despite their struggles at the plate. He seemed a bit uneasy discussing it, but was confident his guys would turn it around. His confidence was obviously rewarded, and he was much more comfortable talking about his offense following the performance against Wright State.
On the flip side, the Raiders could have easily folded when they trailed by 10 runs after six innings. Instead, they fought, and tacked on five runs in the game's final three innings. For Head Coach Rob Cooper, it was no surprise, and even though they weren't looking for a moral victory today, they may have built some momentum of their own heading into Sunday's final game.
It's important to note that both of these teams have recently been in this exact same situation. In 2008, Milwaukee forced an extra final game by defeating the UIC Flames. When they returned for the next day's game, however, they were no match for the Flames, losing 16-3. Meanwhile, last year Wright State faltered in their first attempt to capture the 2009 Horizon League championship, also losing to UIC. But they recovered and outlasted the Flames in their subsequent Sunday match-up, defeating UIC in a thrilling 6-2 affair that took 12 innings to decide.
Coach Doffek remembers his team's situation in 2008 all too well, and sees it shaping up similarly this time around—but he's certainly not conceding anything. He was also willing to shed some light on who may be headed to the mound Sunday against Wright State.
On the topic of tomorrow's game, Coach Cooper was quick to point out the unpredictability of any baseball game. For that reason, he's going to have each of his players on high alert. And that—literally—means everyone... especially his pitchers.
Sunday will mark the third time these teams have met in the 2010 Horizon League Baseball Championship. They dueled to a 1-0 final on Friday night, and exploded for a 14-7 decision on Saturday. So what will Sunday hold? No one knows for sure, but you can watch it all unfold live on HLN!
Tags: All Teams - Baseball · Horizon League - Baseball
