NORMAL, Ill. - The Milwaukee baseball team scored three runs in the top of the ninth inning to steal a 4-3 victory over Illinois State Saturday afternoon at Duffy Bass Field.
 
The Panthers (6-11) opened the ninth with three straight hits against the Redbirds (7-11), tied the game on a passed ball and plated the eventual winning run on a bunt by Cole Heili.
 
Cal Haley (1-0) made his 2016 debut an impressive one, retiring six of the seven batters he faced, allowing just a two-out bunt single in the eighth to pick up the victory.
 
Jake Sommers took care of the rest, closing out the ninth inning with three strikeouts in a row on 18 pitches to secure the win and record his second save of the year.
 
"We got another quality start from Jay Peters today which was great to see," Milwaukee head coach Scott Doffek said. "Their kid really pitched well, he really gave us problems all day but we finally got to him in the ninth inning. Great job by Cal Haley as well, who has been out with an arm injury. To come in and put up two huge zeros was great to see and Jake was outstanding in the ninth."
 
Peters got the start and pitched the first six innings, allowing three runs on six hits. He walked one and struck out three.
 
Down 3-1 and facing their final at bat, Daulton Varsho led off with a triple to get things started. Luke Meeteer singled to drive in Varsho and, following an infield hit from Jeremy Wright and an error, UWM had runners on second and third with nobody out.
 
A passed ball then tied the game and put the go-ahead run 90 feet away. Heili, the home-run hero from Friday's game, bunted the first pitch he saw to plate pinch-runner Chris Kelly and make it 4-3. Sommers then gave the Redbirds no chance in the ninth.
 
Meeteer finished 2-for-4 and scored twice. Heili was 2-for-3 and added three stolen bases. Wright also had a pair of hits for the Panthers.
 
The Panthers got on the board first, but took the possibility of a really big inning out of the equation when the lone run scored on a double play ball following back-to-back singles to lead off the frame.
 
The Redbirds made it a new game in the third on a sac fly and took a 3-1 lead in the fourth with a pair of runs. Peters did well to limit the rally in the frame, posting back-to-back strikeouts after Illinois State had scored twice and had runners on second and third with just one out.
 
Milwaukee closes out the weekend looking for the sweep Sunday. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.