FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Albanese, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Media Relations

SOMERS, Wis. (May 3, 2016)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside baseball team begins the final week of the regular season with a non-league clash against in-state foe University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Wednesday before clashing with Great Lakes Valley Conference rival McKendree University over the weekend at Oberbruner Field.
 
The Rangers and Division I Panthers will play a single nine-inning contest on Wednesday at Hank Aaron Field in Milwaukee. First pitch is slated for 3 p.m. UW-Parkside opens its final GLVC series on Saturday with a doubleheader against the Bearcats beginning at noon. The Rangers and Bearcats conclude the regular season on Sunday with another twinbill starting at 12 p.m. Live stats will be available for all five games at parksiderangers.com.
 
About the Rangers: Inclement weather forced UW-Parkside's (9-29, 4-18 GLVC) series against East Division rival Bellarmine University to be reduced to just a single doubleheader with the teams earning a split on Monday at Augie Schmidt Field.
 
The visiting Knights scored all of its runs in the opening three innings, collecting a 6-0 win in the opener before a late rally gave the Rangers the 2-1 win in game two. Trent Muscat belted a two-RBI single in the top of the seventh while Tyler Jandron tossed another gem, fanning six batters for his third consecutive complete game victory.
 
Kyohei Makita is the Rangers' top hitter, heading into the final week with a .354 batting average and a .462 slugging percentage. The Southwestern Oregon Community College transfer additionally has a team-high 25 runs scored while collecting 13 RBIs. Zach Thompson owns a .320 average at the plate with a team-best 19 RBIs and 15 stolen bases. Kyle Schulz has been a regular in the lineup since GLVC play began, owning a .305 mark.
 
On the mound, Tyler Jandron owns a 2.21 earned run average, pitching a team-high 57 innings with 70 strikeouts and four complete games. Mario Samuel has tossed 54 innings on the bump with 39 punchouts and two complete game efforts.
 
About the Panthers: UW-Milwaukee (20-20, 9-8 Horizon League) heads into tonight's tilt with Chicago State University having won four of its last five games. The Panthers piled on the runs during that stretch, outscoring the opposition by a 34-9 margin.
 
Included in that stretch was a 15-6 drilling of intracity opponent Milwaukee School of Engineering on April 28 while taking two of three in its most recent Horizon League series against Northern Kentucky University. UWM tallied 6-0 and 8-0 shutout wins to open the series before getting blanked 3-0 on Sunday to cap off the weekend slate.
 
Luke Meeteer is the Panthers top hitter, sporting a .378 average with 18 extra base hits and 16 stolen bases. Daulton Varsho owns a .365 average with a team-high 33 RBIs and the only other player with at least 20-plate appearances to hit above .300.
 
On the mound, Brian Keller is the workhorse, pitching 75 1/3 innings with 75 strikeouts and a 3.11 earned run average while Adam Reuss has made 11 starts and pitching 63 2/3 innings.
 
About the Bearcats: McKendree (14-30, 6-18 GLVC) heads into Wednesday's clash with the University of Missouri-Saint Louis having dropped nine of its last 10 games. The Bearcats lone victory during that stretch was a 1-0 decision over Lewis University on April 29 at Hypes Field, netting the game's lone run in the bottom of the fourth.
 
Keith Rogers and Grant Anderson lead the Bearcats at the plate, both owning identical .348 batting averages. Rogers has 24 RBIs and 12 extra base knocks while Anderson has a team-best 25 RBIs with 17 extra base hits and nine home runs.
 
Ryan Cates has seen the most action on the bump for the Bearcats, logging 53 1/3 innings in the hill with 37 strikeouts. Nick Yung carries a team-high 39 strikeouts while Matt Henning has a 3-2 mark on the mound with four saves on the year.
 
Offensive Fireworks: UW-Parkside's 23-9 throttling of Robert Morris University-Springfield on April 22 was the largest offensive output for the Rangers in over a decade. It was Parkside's first contest scoring more than 20 runs since doing so on April 2, 2010 and was the most runs scored since the 2005 Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship winning Rangers piled on 25 runs at the expense of Cardinal Stritch University on April 19, 2005.
 
One-hitter Rewind: Tyler Jandron's performance on April 24 against the University of Illinois Springfield was the Rangers' first one-hitter since fellow southpaw Mario Samuel accomplished the feat back on March 31, 2014. In that game, UW-Parkside prevailed 7-0 as Jandron tallied nine strikeouts in seven innings of work. Samuel's one-hitter featured three punchouts to lift UW-Parkside past host University of Indianapolis 2-0 at Greyhound Park.

GLVC Awards: Tyler Jandron was named the GLVC Pitcher of the Week on April 18, becoming the first Ranger to claim the award since fellow southpaw Mario Samuel captured the accolade on April 1, 2014. Jandron netted the honor after striking out five and allowing just two hits in a complete game shutout of then No. 19 University of Indianapolis. It was the Negaunee, Michigan native's second shutout of his career, also doing so on March 21, 2015 against Rockhurst University.
 
19s: When it comes to playing nationally-ranked teams, 19 appears to be the number for UW-Parkside in 2016. The Rangers faced then No. 19 Missouri Southern State University on Mar. 21 and Mar. 23 before facing No. 19 University of Indianapolis last weekend at Oberbruner Field.
 
On Wisconsin: UW-Parkside's 9-0 win over in-state foe Northland College on April 1 continued the program's dominance against the rest of the Badger State. Since 2011, the Rangers are 5-1 against in-state opponents with the lone setback coming in 2014 at the hands of Division I University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. During the six year stretch, the Green and White have collected victories over Northland, Cardinal Stritch University, Carroll University, and Edgewood College.
 
Tour de Kenosha: UW-Parkside has utilized three different venues in Kenosha over the past three seasons. Of the 34 home games played, 21 were contest on-campus at Oberbruner Field. 11 more have been played down the road at the artificial turf of Augie Schmidt Field while a pair of contests was played at Simmons Field, home of the Northwoods League's Kenosha Kingfish.
 
Streaks: Jake Kolasinski opened the 2016 season with an eight-game hitting streak, an accomplishment that has since surpassed by Kyohei Makita who tallied a nine-game streak, including reaching base safely in 10 straight games. Makita additionally leads the team in multiple hit games with 14 in 2016 while Troy Bittenbender and Zach Thompson have done so on nine occasions.
 
GLVC Reshuffle: 2016 will have a slightly different look to GLVC play with interdivisional games eliminated from the league calendar. Teams will now play seven four-game sets against the rest of their division with the top four teams from each division meeting for the GLVC Tournament from May 12th to 15th in Westview, Indiana. 
 
Out of the (North)Woods: Last summer four Rangers appeared in the Northwoods League, one of the top collegiate summer leagues in the nation. Josh Serio was a league All-Star playing for the eventual champion Kenosha Kingfish while fellow pitcher Mario Samuel also spent time with the local squad. Tyler Jandron spent some time with the Wausau-based Wisconsin Woodchucks with Jake Kolasinski opening the season with the Lakeshore Chinooks based out of Mequon, Wisconsin. For 2016, Serio resigned with the defending champion Kingfish.
 
Coos Bay Connection: Head Coach Daniel Esposito spent four seasons as the head coach at Southwestern Oregon Community College in Coos Bay and his stint with the Lakers continues to pay dividends with three student-athletes and one assistant coach having spent time with the SWOCC baseball program. Montana natives Riley Phillips and Cody Rolshoven along with Tokyo native Kyohei Makita all spent time with SWOCC prior to donning the Green and White along with assistant coach Gonzalo Gonzalez Jr. who was a player under Esposito at both SWOCC and Pittsburg State University in Kansas.