DAYTON, Ohio - Late-inning heroics by Wright State University spoiled another great effort by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team, falling 3-2 in walkoff fashion in the last of the ninth inning Saturday afternoon at Nischwitz Stadium.
 
The Panthers (10-6, 2-3 Horizon League) trailed the Raiders (14-6, 5-0 Horizon League) early for the second straight day, but scored once in the fifth and again in the seventh inning to take a 2-1 lead in the game. But, they could not close it out and pinch-hitter Matt Morrow's ground-rule double ended it with one out in the ninth, plating an unearned run for the win.
 
"Just another tough result," UWM head coach Scott Doffek said. "Pav did a nice job today and gave a good start. We had multiple chances to come up with a big hit and again it eluded us. Hopefully tomorrow we can come out and play all three phases of the game at a high level."
 
Junior Luke Meeteer and sophomore Eric Solberg each came through with big two-out RBI's in the game. UWM tallied seven hits by seven different players, with senior Mike Porcaro scoring both runs.
 
Senior Joe Pavlovich got the start and pitched well. He went the first seven innings, allowing two earned runs in walking one and striking out two. Sophomore Zach Brenner pitched a scoreless eighth.
 
"I thought early on we swung the bats well, but hit into a lot of hard outs," Doffek said. "We grinded all day and played hard. It's unfortunate to waste this pitching effort that we have been getting."
 
In the ninth, a leadoff single started the rally. He advanced to second on an error and then scored on Morrow's double, which landed on the warning track in center with the outfielders playing in for a possible play at the plate with one out.
 
Ryan Fucci's home run to deep left opened the scoring in the second inning and it stayed that way up until the fifth. Porcaro was hit by a pitch and was still at second with two away. Solberg then tied the game on a double to left center.
 
The Panthers got another two-out hit in the seventh to go ahead. Porcaro walked and was sacrificed to second. After a pop up and a walk, Meeteer fought off a 2-2 pitch into right field to give Milwaukee the 2-1 advantage.
 
UWM had the leadoff batter aboard with base hits to start the eighth and the ninth innings, but could not find a way to score another run.
 
The teams wrap up the series Sunday with a first pitch of 11 a.m. CST.