Afternoon Sports Brief - Brewers close out two game series with Astros tonight

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The Milwaukee Brewers will try to put the lid back on Houston’s struggling offense tonight, when they close out a two game series at the Astros’ home ballpark. Houston exploded for eight runs last night in their five run victory over the Brew Crew. It ended a string of nine games in which the Astros had scored three times or less. Ex-Brewer Carlos Lee belted his first homer since April 22nd and he’s 11-21 in his last five games. Lee, who played for the Brewers in 2005 and ’06, said he found something that keeps him in a good position to hit. Lee is 2-7 lifetime against tonight’s starter for Milwaukee, right hander Shaun Marcum. Lee has a nine game hitting streak against the Brewers, in which he has homered three times while batting .429. Corey Hart, who homered for the Brew Crew last night, is 7-15 lifetime against tonight’s starter for the Astros, left hander J A Happ. And Hart has a 12 game hitting streak against the Astros, batting .404 during that stretch with five homers.

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Saint Norbert College of De Pere stayed alive today in the NCAA Division III baseball tournament by blanking Concordia-Chicago 5-0 at the Whitewater Regional. Both teams lost their opening games yesterday, and today’s loser was sent home from the double elimination tourney. Saint Norbert decided the game in the second inning, when the Green Knights scored four runs on three hits, two walks, and a wild pitch which put them on the board. Concordia left 11 runners on base. Saint Norbert will play either Saint Scholastica or Aurora tomorrow in the loser’s bracket. This afternoon, UW-La Crosse is playing North Park, with the loser to be eliminated. Two games in the winner’s bracket will wrap up today’s action, as Whitewater takes on Saint Thomas and Saint Scholastica goes against Aurora.

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Brewers’ shortstop Alex Gonzalez had successful knee surgery today. Team physician William Raasch performed the operation to fix a torn ACL ligament in right knee. He injured the knee at San Francisco almost two weeks ago. Gonzalez is expected to need around six months of rehab and recovery. Meanwhile, Brewers’ center fielder Carlos Gomez will play his second minor league rehab game tonight for the Class “A” Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. He’s coming off a hamstring injury, and he went 0-3 with a run scored last night, when the Rattlers edged Burlington 5-4.

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Former University of Wisconsin Badgers’ golf coach Jim Schuman won his second straight Wisconsin PGA Match Play Championship today. Schuman defeated Foy Swenson of Oconomowoc 4-3 in the title match at Whistling Straits near Sheboygan. Schuman left the UW a year ago after eight seasons, to open a golf academy in Verona.

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Jerry Kelly of Madison shot a two under par 68 today in his first round at the PGA’s Byron Nelson Championship in Irving, Texas. Kelly, who missed the cut at The Players Championship a week ago, was tied for 12th place early this afternoon. Kelly is the only Wisconsin regular in this week’s tournament. Marc Leishman was the clubhouse leader at five under65.

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Steph Brunette of Saint Norbert College has been named the softball player of the year in the Midwest Conference North Division. Stephanie Rieuwpassa of Ripon College and Taylor Steinhilber of Carroll are the co pitchers of the year and all three were chosen to the all North Division team. Brunette, a junior shortstop, led the league with a .444 batting average and a .478 on base percentage. Rieuwpassa, a junior, had a league bests with a 1.45 ERA, 11 wins, and an opponents’ batting average of .187. Steinhilber also had 11 wins with a 1.83 ERA. Amy Gradecki of Carroll is the coach of the year, the first from the Waukesha school to win the honor since 2001. Her Pioneers won a league high 22 games, and came from one game of a league title. Four other Saint Norbert players made the all league first team Sam Gross, Brittany Narges, Morgan Buboltz, and Shannen Schmidt. Also on the squad are Amanda Strutz and Hannah Sanidas of Carroll, Beth Ebben of Ripon, and Shannon Murray of Lawrence. In the South Division, Lauren Bergstresser of Monmouth is the player of the year. Erin Rutledge of Illinois College is the pitcher of the year. And Mark Brayfield of Illinois College is the coach of the year.

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Carroll University of Waukesha has won the Midwest Conference men’s All Sports title for the past school year, and Saint Norbert took the women’s crown. This is the first time in seven years that both the men and women did not have a repeat winner. Each school gets points according to how high they finish in the conference standings for each sport. The Carroll men won their first All Sports title by taking first in golf and soccer, plus Top three finishes in swimming and indoor and outdoor track. Saint Norbert took the women’s crown for the year after getting at least a share of the conference titles in softball, basketball, volleyball, and soccer. The Green Knights also had Top three finishes in cross country, tennis, and indoor and outdoor track.

Tags: wisconsin sports, proam, sports, brewers