DAYTON, Ohio – The Milwaukee baseball team nearly pulled off a comeback in the first game of the doubleheader against conference foe Wright State, but came up just short in the last inning falling 6-5 and then upended in the second game 10-2 Friday from Nischwitz Stadium.
In the opening game of the series, Milwaukee (6-14, 2-3) outhit the Raiders (13-7, 4-1) 12-8, but were unable to complete the comeback in the top of the ninth inning.
"I really liked the way we swung the bats in this game," said head coach
Scott Doffek. "The guys competed well in the box against a good arm. We had a couple concentration plays that hurt us and that ended up being the difference."
Three runs in the first four innings gave Wright State an early lead, but the Panthers finally got on the score board in the top of the seventh scoring two.
After coming within one run, Wright State answered right back with two runs shifting the momentum back to the Raiders.
Austin Schulfer got the leadoff hitter to fly out to right field, but then gave up two hits and two walks before exiting. The senior ended the day with a 6.2, six hits, five runs, three earned, one strikeout pitching stat line.
The second Raider run crossed the plate after a Panthers' error before reliever
Clayton Uselman came in and struck out the next batter for the final out.
Tyler Bordner began the comeback rally with a free pass and scored on a throwing error by the Raider's shortstop after
Matt Quartel doubled to left center.
Joe Vyskocil doubled to right in the next at bat, scoring Quartel getting the Panthers within one run once again trailing 5-4.
Milwaukee took a chance on a fielder's choice to score the tying run, but the Raider's third baseman fielded the ball and made the throw to home, tagging out pinch runner
Joey Scaffidi at the plate.
Wright State tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth, but the Panthers put the pressure on in their last at-bats. With the top of the order up,
Trevor Schwecke began the inning with a double to left field, and
Colin Kreiter and
Ben Chally followed suit after a hit by pinch and bunt-single to load the bases with zero outs.
With bases loaded and holding just a two run lead, Milwaukee forced Wright State to a pitching change. The pitching change paid off for the Raiders as reliever Derek Hendrixson got the Panthers to ground out into a 6-4-3 double play in the next at-bat, followed by another ground out leaving the Panthers just short of a comeback.
Any offensive momentum going into the second game for the Panthers was drowned out by seven runs in the first two innings by Wright State.
"It's tough when you give up seven runs in the first two innings of the game," noted Doffek. "It was encouraging to see a couple guys come out of the bullpen and do a nice job, but we need to come out Sunday and find a way to play clean baseball."
Another three runs were scored by the Raiders in the bottom of the sixth and extend to what would be the final score of the game 10-2.
Tyler Bordner hit his second homerun of the season accounting for one of the runs in game two.
On the day,
Trevor Schwecke lead the team going 4-for-9, while
Matt Quartel and
Devin Rybacki chipped in with three hits each on the day.
With inclement weather expected Saturday, the final game of the series is set for 1 p.m. central on Sunday, March 25.
