After Wisconsin-Milwaukee center fielder Marcellus Dawson robbed Northwestern’s David Gresky of a home run in the first inning, the Panthers dugout was in high spirits.

Already ahead of the Wildcats 2-0, the Panthers hoped to build on their first inning success at the plate against NU starter Dan Pohlman while keeping the Cats off the scoreboard.

Neither of the two happened.

Pohlman shut out the Panthers (20-16) for the next five innings, and NU (19-16, 10-8 Big Ten) scored 13 unanswered runs. The Cats survived a late Wisconsin-Milwaukee rally to win 13-10 at Rocky Miller Park on Tuesday.

“I don’t think I pitched that bad,” Pohlman said. “I definitely settled down once we got to the second inning.”

NU coach Paul Stevens was more enthusiastic about his performance.

“He threw ungodly out there,” Stevens said. “It’s the best I’ve seen out of Danny all year.”

Pohlman was more modest.

“That’s a bit of an exaggeration,” he said.

The senior allowed only four hits and struck out three in six innings of work. Pohlman earned his second win of the season, and Jon Mikrut picked up his fourth save.

With the rain starting to pour and the Panthers gaining steam, Mikrut came in with one out in the top of the ninth and one run already in. He downed the final two batters to pull the plug on a Wisconsin-Milwaukee comeback attempt that included a six-run eighth at the expense of pitcher Evan Blesoff.

“I was a tad concerned when they started to come back,” Stevens said. “But we had some guys that needed to get in some work.”

But NU was able to muster enough offense to counter the Wisconsin-Milwaukee outburst.

After Gresky was robbed in the first inning, the junior hit a two-run home run — his seventh of the year — in the Cats’ six-run fourth inning. The center fielder finished 2-for-4 on the day with a double and four RBIs.

“I was pissed off when (Dawson) made that play in the first, but that home run made up for it a little bit,” Gresky said. “It would have been nice to have two, though.”

Freshman Anthony Wycklendt continued his offensive hot streak, hitting his fourth home run of the year on a three-run shot over the left field fence in the fourth inning. The third baseman is batting .394 and has 16 RBI in 33 at-bats.

“Wycklendt is gonna be a fixture on this team one day, ” Stevens said. “He’s just a big, strong, strapping young man and the ball just explodes off his bat.”

The Cats put on an offensive display in the game, despite resting regular starters Mark Ori, Eric Roeder and Ken Padgett.

But senior Brandon Ackley picked up some of the slack, going 3-for-4 with a double.

Catcher Pat McMahon was impressive in Padgett’s absence, collecting three base hits and scoring three runs.

“We really swung the bats well today, ” Stevens said. “We gave some other guys a chance and they didn’t disappoint us.”

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Jasper chen/the daily northwestern

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WIS-MIL 10

NU 13

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Jasper Chen/the daily northwestern

Shortstop Jon Mikrut (above) takes a pitch in last week’s loss to Valparaiso. Evan Blesoff pitched againdt Valpo and in Tuesday’s 13-10 win. Blesoff struggled coming out of the bullpen, but NU held off the Panthers’ late rally.

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“He threw ungodly out there. It’s the best I’ve seen out of Danny all year.”

Paul Stevens,

NU coach, on pitcher Dan Pohlman’s performance Tuesday