Panthers off to 1-3 start to 2017 season

By Paul Lecker

Sports Reporter

PHOENIX — Two Marshfield High School graduates got a chance to face the big boys Friday as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team played an exhibition game against the Milwaukee Brewers as the Brewers’ spring training opened in Arizona.

Junior Daulton Varsho, a 2014 graduate of Marshfield High School, and freshman Trevor Schwecke, a 2016 grad, both played for UW-Milwaukee in the 11-0 loss.

Varsho started at catcher and went 0-for-3, flying out twice and hitting into a double play. Schwecke entered the game in the fifth inning as a defensive replacement at third base and struck out in his only at-bat.

Eight Brewers’ pitchers limited UWM to two hits in the shutout.

UW-Milwaukee opened its 2017 schedule last weekend in Beaumont, Texas, losing three of four.

The Panthers split a pair of games with Illinois, losing 10-2 on Feb. 17 and winning 4-2 on Feb. 18, and lost twice to Lamar in games Feb. 18-19.

Varsho started all four games at catcher, going 3-for-15, which included a home run in the win against Illinois.

Schwecke saw action in one game, finishing 0-for-1 at the plate as a pinch hitter in the loss to Illinois.

UW-Milwaukee flew to Florida to play three games against Eastern Michigan at Winter Haven, including a doubleheader Sunday and another game on Monday. The Panthers will play a four-game, three-day series at Evansville on March 3-5.

(Hub City Times Sports Reporter Paul Lecker is also the publisher of MarshfieldAreaSports.com.)