VALPARAISO, Ind. - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team struck for five runs in the first three innings on its way to an 8-6 victory over Valparaiso University Sunday at Emory Bauer Field.
 
The Panthers (28-16, 12-11 Horizon League) claimed the series win over the Crusaders (18-24, 13-10 Horizon League), getting another strong starting pitching performance from sophomore Justin Langley.
 
Langley (5-1) picked up the victory despite walking four batters. He struck out seven and allowed a pair of earned runs, throwing 120 pitches over 5.0 innings.
 
"We came out swinging the bats early and put up some runs," Milwaukee head coach Scott Doffek. "It was not an easy day to pitch. Langley got into some trouble, but made some huge pitches to keep Valpo in check. I thought their pitcher did a great job of settling down and pitching well from the third inning on. We tacked on a couple late with Varsho's home run and the bullpen did the rest. It's always good to go on the road and win a league series."
 
Junior Luke Meeteer led a 12-hit barrage, tying his season-high with four hits while also stealing his league-leading 30^th stolen base of the year.
 
Freshman Daulton Varsho's two-run bomb in the top of the ninth gave UWM some breathing room, pushing the lead from one run to three at 8-5, with senior Cody Peterson closing it out for his Horizon-League best ninth save.
 
Junior Mitch Ghelfi doubled in a pair of runs in the first and Milwaukee was off and running. The Panthers added two more in the second on RBI-singles from Meeteer and senior Derek Peake and pushed the advantage to 5-1 in the third on junior Nick Unes' single to center.
 
From there, Valpo pushed back. The Crusaders plated single runs in the fourth and sixth and drew within a run on Giovanni Garbella's home run in the seventh inning at 6-5.
 
The bullpen was up to the task late. Senior Gunnar Eastman threw a 1-2-3 eighth and Peterson worked around a pair of hits to close it out in the ninth.
 
Peake went 2-for-3 and scored twice and Unes also had two hits, scored once and knocked in a run. Senior Mike Porcaro continues his chase of 200 career hits, adding two more today to up his career total to 194.
 
Up next, the first full week of May opens with a home game Tuesday, welcoming MSOE to Henry Aaron Field Tuesday for a 3 p.m. start.