CHICAGO, Ill. - Brian Keller pitched eight strong innings and Daulton Varsho went 3-for-4 with a home run to lead the Milwaukee baseball team to a 7-2 victory over UIC Friday evening at Curtis Granderson Stadium.
 
The Panthers (14-14, 6-2 Horizon League) used a three-run seventh inning to build a 7-0 lead before the Flames (13-19, 5-4 Horizon League) even got on the scoreboard.
 
"That was a good team win tonight," Milwaukee head coach Scott Doffek said. "Brian Keller was outstanding again, using all of his pitches. We got some big hits in the middle of the game and we got a lot of production from the middle of the lineup."
 
Keller (5-3) was impressive again, extending his scoreless inning streak to 16.2 before allowing a two-out run in the eighth inning. He finished the day with six strikeouts and no walks allowed, scattering nine hits in allowing just one run. He has now won five of his past six starts on the year.
 
Luke Meeteer broke up a scoreless game with a home run in the fourth and the lead was doubled to 2-0 on an RBI single to center field by Cole Heili.
 
Doubles by Heili and Nick Unes in the sixth made it 4-0 and gave Milwaukee control of the evening.
 
Varsho finished with a game-high three hits, including a two-run home run in the seventh. He also scored three runs. Heili finished 2-for-4 with two runs driven in and Unes also had a multi-hit effort with two. Meeteer's home run was his fourth of the year.
 
"Unes swung the bat really well tonight, which was great to see," Doffek said. "He has had a ton of hard luck so far this season, so it was great to see him get rewarded. Varsho caught a great game and swung it really well also. We had good balance up and down the lineup."
 
Cal Haley allowed a hit and a run in closing out the ninth. The Panthers got to Connor Ryan (2-1), who came into the game with an ERA of 1.67 to rank second in the Horizon League. He allowed four runs in 6.0 innings.
 
Keller was never really threatened, cruising through the third, fourth and fifth innings in facing just one over the minimum when he hit a batter. UIC never had a batter reach third base until they finally broke up the shutout bid in the eighth.
 
Game two of the series is tomorrow at 2:05 p.m.