HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, KY – In a game that totaled 27 runs and 35 hits, the Milwaukee baseball team came out on top 15-12 in game one of the series over Northern Kentucky Friday afternoon from the Bill Aker Baseball Complex.
 
Crooked numbers put up by the Panthers (10-8, 2-2) in the sixth and eighth innings is what ultimately defeated Northern Kentucky (4-14, 3-1) in a game which pitchers struggled, but the bats were hot. Despite the big innings from the Panthers, the Norse chipped away at the lead scoring in the last four innings and would even bring up the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the ninth before George Swedie got the final out to end the game.
 
"A win is a win," said head coach Scott Doffek. "We had good at-bats up and down the lineup all day, so I have to give our hitters a lot of credit. Scoring seven in the eighth was huge and we needed every bit of it with how NKU responded down the stretch."
 
The Norse jumped out to a 2-0 lead right off the bat in the bottom of the first, but MKE answered back in the top of the third thanks to a Devin Rybacki homerun and a fielding error from NKU's center fielder from Joe Vyskocil's single up the middle that plated Trevor Schwecke.
 
MKE took the lead in the fifth after a Vysckocil solo home run and never looked.
 
The hitting barrage from both teams then began in the top of the sixth and both teams never let their foot off the gas.
 
The Panthers batted around the lineup in the sixth – an inning that featured five runs on five hits. After scoring two runs, senior Tyler Bordner continued to swing a hot bat, singling to left center, scoring Trevor Schwecke and Mitchell Buban. Bordner finished with a team-high four hits and two RBI.
 
NKU tallied five runs in the sixth and seventh innings, but the Panthers responded back in a big way in the eighth with seven runs of their own.
 
Colin Kreiter and Mike Ferri hit in a run each to start the inning, but the big score came from one swing of the bat from Trevor Schwecke who hit a grand slam over the center field fence to put MKE up 15-7.
 
The Norse made the final two innings interesting, scoring three in the eighth and bringing the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth, but pitcher George Swedie came up with the final out to end the threat and the game.
 
Panthers' Jared Reklaitis got the W to improve to 3-3 on the season, pitching six innings with six strikeouts.
 
Milwaukee and Northern Kentucky return to action Saturday afternoon with the first pitch slated for 12 p.m. (CT) from the Bill Aker Baseball Complex.