PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. - The Milwaukee baseball team dropped a pair of games Sunday in the Snowbird Baseball Classic, falling to Canisius and Ohio State at Charlotte Regional Park.
 
The Panthers (1-3) lost a tight one to the Golden Griffins (2-2) in the opener by a final score of 3-2. In their final contest, they took a 2-0 lead before the game turned around into a 13-3 victory by the Buckeyes (3-1).
 
"The contest against Canisius was a good game," head coach Scott Doffek said. "Matt Vanek gave us a quality start, but we were just unable to come up with that big hit when we needed it."
 
In the morning affair, the Panthers led Canisius by a score of 2-0 but were unable to push any more offense across the plate. The game was scoreless for the first 2½ innings, changing in the bottom of the third on a long ball. With one runner on base, Trevor Schwecke got into one for his first collegiate home run, staking Milwaukee to a 2-0 lead.
 
The Golden Griffins got back to even in the fourth on a two-run single by Conner Morrow.
 
"They scored two runs on a chopper over Ben's [Chally at 3B] head to score, which is unfortunate," Doffek said. "If you look at how those guys got on (both batters walked), that's the thing that killed us today and most of the weekend."
 
It stayed that way until the top of the eighth. With two outs and nobody on base, the Griffs were able to record back-to-back hits, with a double and then a single plating what turned out to be the decisive run.
 
The Panthers got the tying run on base in the ninth, but could not find a way to extend the game.
 
Oakland Scanlon (2-for-3) and Mike Ferri (2-for-4) each had a pair of hits to lead the offense.
 
Matt Vanek fared pretty well in his first collegiate start, striking out six batter in his 6.0 innings of work, including the side in the second. He gave up just two hits and two runs, but did walk five.
 
In the second game against Ohio State, it was Milwaukee that struck first, and did so in the first inning. Schwecke doubled and eventually scored on a wild pitch. Tyler Bordner followed with an RBI-single and the Panthers were off and running.
 
The Buckeyes responded, however, and did so with what turned out to be 13 unanswered runs. Three in the top of the second gave them the lead. The UWM pitching staff did not help itself, allowing nine walks on the day. OSU tallied four more in the fourth and kept adding on from there.
 
Zach Nogalski singled and came around to score in the eighth to round out the scoring for Milwaukee. Ben Chally had two of the six hits recorded by the offense.
 
It is back to Florida for the team, taking on Bethune-Cookman in a three-game set. Game one of the series is set for Friday at 5 p.m. CST.