MILWAUKEE - Nearly every player in the 14-member senior class of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team contributed to a 7-4 victory over Oakland University in the regular-season finale Saturday at Henry Aaron Field.
 
The Panthers (35-18, 16-13 Horizon League) had to battle back from a two-run deficit against the Golden Grizzlies (10-38, 5-24 Horizon League) in the sixth inning and then tacked on from there, recording at least 35 victories in a season for just the third time in program history – with the postseason yet to be played.
 
"It was a great way to close it out on Senior Day," Milwaukee head coach Scott Doffek said. "The last half of the game, we had nothing but seniors out there. It was good to get those guys an opportunity – they have done such a great job of representing the University. As far as the game goes, it was different from the past two days. Oakland swung the bats really well and put some pressure on us. But we stayed with it and found ways to knock runs in late in the game. And then the bullpen did a nice job again."
 
Senior Derek Peake remained red-hot, leading the way with a 4-for-5 day that extended his hitting streak to 11 games – a stretch that has seen him post nine multi-hit outings and an outstanding .522 (24-for-46) clip at the plate.
 
Seniors Mike Porcaro (2-for-3, run, steal), Tell Taylor (2-for-4, run, RBI) and Ryan McShane (hit/RBI/run) all contributed to the victory. Senior Sam Koenig blasted his league-leading 14th home run to deep left in the first to get the scoring started on the day.
 
Milwaukee scored first, Oakland responded. It happened again when the Panthers got an RBI-single in the third. The Grizzlies kept attacking, plating three unanswered runs in taking a 4-2 lead on Zach Sterry's home run in the sixth.
 
UWM wasted little time answering. Back-to-back singles after one out put runners on and Taylor laced a double to the gap to make it 4-3. Senior Tyler Hermann then made his only hit of the day a vital one, cracking the first pitch down the right field line to tie the game at 4-4.
 
"Hermann is a good ballplayer," Doffek said. "He hit into some hard luck early in the year and it just beat him a little bit. He is capable of doing some really good things. I still think at some point here he will be a factor and today he was."
 
The Panthers plated the go-ahead run when Peake scored on a passed ball in the seventh and then added two more on McShane's off-to-the-races triple and a sac fly off the bat of yet another senior in Sam Hammer.
 
That made a winner out of sophomore Zach Brenner (1-0) who worked out a jam in the seventh with a pair of huge strikeouts. Junior Brian Keller got the started, leaving after allowing two runs in 5.0 innings of work.
 
Senior Gunnar Eastman worked a scoreless eighth inning and classmate Cody Peterson came on for the ninth inning and recorded his Horizon League-leading 11th save of the campaign.
 
"It just feels good to send the guys out in the right way," Doffek said. "And we told the guys 'Opening Day is Wednesday'. It's that simple. It doesn't matter what anybody has done at this point. But certainly, momentum and confidence are always good things."
 
The Horizon League Tournament and the league's automatic invitation to the NCAA Tournament awaits Wednesday at Oil City Stadium in Whiting, Ind., hosted by Valparaiso. With the sweep of the Grizzlies and Wright State's sweep of Valparaiso, the Panthers ended up moving from fourth to third place over the final series.
 
As a result, they will have a single-game elimination contest against these same Grizzlies to open play, set for a start time of 4 p.m.
 
The losing teams on Wednesday (Valparaiso played Youngstown State at noon) will be eliminated from the tournament, with the winners advancing to the double-elimination portion of the tournament. Following Day 1, the field will be reset, with the highest-remaining seed taking on Wright State and the lowest-remaining seed meeting UIC.