MILWAUKEE - Senior Mike Porcaro came through with the walkoff game-winning RBI in the ninth inning to hand the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team a 7-6 victory over Valparaiso University Friday afternoon at Henry Aaron Field.
 
The Panthers (13-9, 4-6 Horizon League) led early before the Crusaders (10-15, 6-4 Horizon League) eventually pulled ahead. UWM rallied again to take a ninth-inning advantage before the game was tied, setting the stage for the game-ending heroics.
                                                                                             
"It still comes down to one run, it just seems like that's the way it's going to be every single game," Panther head coach Scott Doffek said. "It's really great to be on this side of it – we've been on the other side way too many times."
 
Milwaukee pounded out 16 hits on the day, led by huge outings from senior Sam Koenig and junior Luke Meeteer. Koenig, the nation's second-leading hitter coming into the series, went 4-for-5 with his sixth home run, driving in three and scoring twice. He finished a triple short of the cycle, with the four hits equaling his career high.
 
Meeteer also collected four hits (4-for-5) in addition to swiping his league-leading 16^th stolen base of the season.
 
"It was great to see Luke get rewarded," Doffek said. "He's been scuffling a little bit. Yesterday he swung the bat really well but did not get rewarded. But the thing about Luke is he plays hard every single day, which is so fun to see. And Sam, he's just been locked in pretty much the whole season. That was just another day for him it seems."
 
Senior Derek Peake and junior Mitch Ghelfi each went 2-for-4. Nolan Loden paced the Crusaders with two hits, including a three-run home run.
 
Tied at 6-6, the bottom of the ninth started with Meeteer beating out a chopper to shortstop for an infield single. Following a force out, Koenig's single to right put runners on the corners. Ghelfi was intentionally walked to set the stage for Porcaro. After fouling off a pair of suicide squeeze attempts, he dumped a single in to center field to give the Panthers the victory.
 
Milwaukee seemingly took control of the contest in the third, breaking open the scoreless game with four runs. Meeteer doubled in a run, a sac fly scored another and then Koenig blasted his sixth of the year to left center.
 
It stayed that way until the fifth. Valpo broke out for five runs, but did it on the strength of just two hits, helped along by a hit batter and four walks in the frame.
 
The Panthers wasted little time retaking the lead in the bottom of the frame. Senior Ryan McShane doubled to bring Koenig to the plate. He nearly had his seventh home run of the season, sending a blast to straightway center field and off the 390 sign, missing a dinger by two feet. Ghelfi then changed places with Koenig on the third two-bagger in a row.
 
Also of note was a phenomenal play made by senior leftfielder Sam Hammer, who made a full-out diving catch after a long run to left center to rob the Valparaiso leadoff hitter of extra bases in the eighth inning when UWM was clinging to a one-run advantage.
 
Sophomore Adam Reuss started but pitched just 4.1 innings. He struck out five but also walked four. Freshman Austin Schulfer played a big role out of the bullpen, working a scoreless sixth-seventh-eighth before being taken out in the ninth. He allowed just two hits in his outing.
 
"That was huge," Doffek said. "Our bullpen was really taxed and we needed somebody to step up and he did that. He gave us those three innings where the game could have gone either way and he gave us a chance to win."
 
The victory went to senior Gunnar Eastman (1-0), who closed out the top of the ninth inning. Luke Vanlanen (1-2) suffered the loss. Dalton Lundeen struggled through 7.0 innings, allowing six earned runs and 13 hits, but did strike out 10.
 
The final game of the series is set for Saturday at 1 p.m.