The month of April closes with a tight race developing at the top of the Horizon League standings, as just one game currently separates first place from third place. The Milwaukee baseball team will continue its conference run at home this weekend, welcoming Northern Kentucky for a three-game set.

Up first is a Tuesday tilt under the lights at Iowa, taking on the Hawkeyes in a 6:05 p.m. start. That game will have numerous options available to follow along, with an audio broadcast, live stats and a BTN Plus stream (subscription needed) all available as links on the MKE schedule page.

All outings on the weekend will feature live stats and live audio, with Jared Cohen on the call on the Black & Gold Network. Check with the MKE website schedule for any changes due to weather and/or field conditions.
 
The 2019 campaign marks the 55th season of baseball at MKE. It is also the 49th season of varsity play (the program was played at the club level from 1982-1986) and the 29th in the Panthers NCAA Division I era.

SERIES HISTORY
The Panthers are a dead-even 10-10 all-time against the Hawkeyes, with Iowa pulling even in the series by virtue of wins in the past three matchups (including 12-4 in 2018). The Panthers last win in the series was a 4-3 victory in 2015, coming against an Iowa squad that was ranked No. 15 at the time.

MKE holds a 14-7 advantage in the series with the Norse, including a 5-2 mark in 2018 and all three earlier this spring on the road. All 21 games in the series have been played since NKU joined the Horizon League.

LOOKING AT THE OPPONENTS
Iowa moved to 23-15 on the season after posting its third series win over a ranked opponent and fourth straight series win overall last weekend in Iowa City, taking two of three games from No. 30 Nebraska. The Hawkeyes currently sit in fourth place in the Big Ten and are coming off a 33-20 mark a season ago. Austin Martin (.323/23R/24 RBI) and Izaya Fullard (.290/24R/19 RBI) lead the offense.

Northern Kentucky struggled through a 1-12 start to 2019 but has played better of late, starting the week at 10-28 overall. Included in that ledger is an 8-10 mark in Horizon League play, most recently picking up a 2-1 series win over Youngstown State. They also play at Butler Tuesday. Head coach Todd Asalon is in his 19th season at NKU and has accumulated over 500 career wins, with his team going 14-39 overall a season ago, finishing 9-21 in conference games. Will Haueter leads the squad in average (.307), runs (21) and hits (43). Griffin Doerschling leads the way with 8 home runs and 27 RBI. The team ERA starts the week at 7.80 overall.

THE WEEK THAT WAS
Milwaukee had a very good week, earning a Tuesday victory in extra innings before taking two of three from Wright State on the weekend. The offense finished at .291 collectively, led by a .429 (6-for-14) effort by Devin Rybacki, scoring four runs and driving in three. Trevor Schwecke stayed hot at .375 (6-for-16) and Matt Quartel was right behind at .357 (5-for-14), closing out a memorable comeback with a three-run walkoff home run in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader.

NINTH-INNING DRAMATICS
Falling behind by three runs in the top of the eighth inning is never a good situation, but the Panthers gave everyone something to smile about in game two of a doubleheader against Wright State April 20. The rally started in the ninth with a sac fly from Nate DeYoung and ended one batter later when Matt Quartel sent an 0-1 pitch deep over the right field fence for a three-run home run to make Milwaukee a winner at 7-6 after being down to its final out of the day.

The last time MKE even approached such a late comeback victory was May 9, 2015, coincidentally also against the Raiders. Down 4-2 in the ninth, Daulton Varsho hit a walkoff three-run shot with the Panthers down to their final out, cracking a 3-1 pitch off the scoreboard to complete the 5-4 thriller.

NOT YOUR AVERAGE JOE
Joe Vyskocil continues to make his case for breakout player of the spring, highlighted when he was named Horizon League Player of the Week March 25 after batting .500 (8-for-16) over the four-game stretch, including 7-for-13 (.538) in three league games. He had at least two hits in each game of that weekend series, driving in a pair in both game one and game two before adding a fifth RBI on Sunday. Vyskocil has already eclipsed his season-high for home runs with six, which is already two more than the four career bombs he had from 2016-18 combined. He has also established career-bests for runs scored (26/was 10) and hits (42/22) from his season total from a year ago. He starts the week ranked seventh in the Horizon League with a .344 batting average.

QUICK ADJUSTMENT
Trevor Schwecke has certainly found his rhythm at the plate. After recording three hits and a .130 average over the first two weekends of 2019, Schwecke appears locked in. Since then, he has batted .427 (47-for-110), driving in an impressive 30 runs in just 27 games. His three RBI at Purdue March 12 helped the Panthers snap the Boilermakers 13-game home winning streak in a 6-1 victory. He did see his hitting streak end recently at 11 games, but he has still hit safely in 28 of his last 30 contests. He was named Co-Horizon League Batter of the Week April 15 after batting .647 (11-for-17) in four games, scoring an amazing 10 runs. He slugged .882 and was on base at a .727 clip in that span.

FORTY IS THE NEW TWENTY
The Panthers put on an offensive showcase against Youngstown State April 13, finishing game one of the doubleheader with an impressive 22 runs and 23 hits. That marked the 23rd time in school history that the team recorded 20-or-more runs in a single game and the first since tagging these same Penguins for 22 in March of 2016. The total of 22 also officially ties for the 10th-most in a single contest. When paired with the 18 runs scored the day prior (in an 18-6 win), the 40 runs in back-to-back games is the most since a 44-run windfall against Concordia Wisconsin (W, 25-2) and Wisconsin Lutheran (W, 19-0) back in early April of 2000, which is also the school record. The only other time MKE has plated 40-plus runs in back-to-back games is the 43 tallied against CUW (W, 17-6/W, 26-7) in a twinbill in April of 1999.

CONGRATS ON THE NEW TOP SPOT
With a 6-3 victory over Illinois State March 26, Scott Doffek now sits alone atop the Milwaukee baseball career victory list. He passed Jerry Augustine, who held the record of 347 wins in his time at Milwaukee from 1995-2006 (347-297-1/.539). Doffek entered the 2019 season at 335 victories after joining some rare company in 2017 when the Panthers topped Youngstown State in late April, giving Doffek career victory No. 300 as the Milwaukee head coach. He was just the second coach in program history - dating all the way back to 1957 - to reach that level.

1. Doffek (2007-present): 357 and counting
2. Augustine (1996-2006): 347
3. Jim Burian (1982-1990): 143
4. Bill Ritter (1957-1970): 122

MORE LIKE MAC-IN-"TOP"
With his victory over Lakeland April 2, redshirt senior Alex McIntosh put his name into the program record book ... for now. That decision gives him the 10th win of his career, enough to qualify for the all-time winning percentage category. He took it a notch higher after picking up the 'W' against Wright State April 19, which also marked his eighth win in a row dating back to May of 2015.
He currently sits atop a very prestigious list.
-McIntosh (2015-19): 11-2 W/L, .846 career winning percentage
-Ben Stanczyk (2002-04): 13-3, .813
-Quintin Oldenburg (1998-2002): 26-7, .788
-Three players: .667

The school record for consecutive victories is 10, set by Brian Keller during the 2016 campaign. McIntosh is now tied for the second-most at eight with Quintin Oldenburg, which he recorded back in 2000.

LONG BALL GETS CONTAGIOUS
Milwaukee found its power stroke against Oakland April 6, clubbing seven home runs in the 15-1 victory. Amazingly enough, the team spread the wealth, with seven different players taking a slow stroll around the basepaths - including Jack Thelen's first collegiate round-tripper. That established a new mark for a Horizon League contest, topping the six shared by two prior teams.

It also marks the first time Milwaukee smashed that many long balls since recording seven against Concordia back in April of 1999. The school record remains the nine the team powered out against IPFW on April 6, 2005.

GETTING OFFENSIVE
Milwaukee is currently second in the Horizon League with its .297 batting average as a team (WSU leads just ahead at .301). One look at the individual leaders shows a big chunk of Panthers on the Top 10 list as well. Trevor Schwecke continues his climb up the list, starting the week second at .376 - with an impressive .420 mark in league play. Tyler Border recently returned from injury, but enjoyed his first 4-hit day as a Panther at BYU March 7 and started the week sixth with his .357 average. Joe Vyskocil (.344) is seventh and has a team-best six home runs, while Devin Rybacki is ninth (.336) with 49 hits and 39 runs scored, and recently enjoyed a 14-game hitting streak.

LEAGUE PREMIERES
Milwaukee is now 15-11 all-time in affiliated conference openers since becoming an NCAA Division I team. Head coach Scott Doffek has posted an 8-5 ledger in his 12 openers, including an 11-10 win at Wright State this season and a 12-4 victory over Youngstown State in 2018.

AN OPENING STATEMENT
The Panthers made the trip to the D9 Sunshine State Classic an impressive one, topping Marshall, Big East foe Villanova and ACC opponent Pittsburgh. It marked just the second 3-0 start in program history since becoming an NCAA Division I program in the 1990 season. The other came against Maine (all three games) to open the 2015 campaign, so the Panthers hope it's a good sign - the team won a school-record 39 times that year. The only other time MKE even began 2-0 was in 1995 when the Panthers topped Youngstown State (16-6) and Bowling Green (6-5). Despite dropping the series at Arizona, the 6-3 start through nine games was the best since the same mark in 1995, a year in which the team posted a 7-3 ledger through 10 games (for best start through 10).

As a northern team that cannot practice outdoors before the start of the season, it is no surprise that Milwaukee does not have a great record in openers. It is now 6-23 in such contests at the Division I level. The 2019 version marked Scott Doffek's 13th opener as head coach.

HERE I COME TO SAVE THE DAY!
Senior Jake Sommers recorded two saves in the series against Jackson State, but the unique part of it was that they both came on the same day, pitching a final shutdown inning in both the 3-1 and 2-0 victories Feb. 24. That marks a first for an MKE reliever since Craig Meier achieved the feat April 28, 2009 against Northern Illinois. It's also just the second time in the past 15 years it's been done, with Rob Brockel also picking up saves against Youngstown State and UIC in back-to-back games of the Horizon League Tournament back in May of 2005.

WHO NEEDS SPRING WHEN WINTER LOOKS LIKE THIS?
Nick Winter made quite the 2019 debut against Jackson State Feb. 24. The Panthers were resuming a ballgame from the prior day, leading 3-1 in the third inning. Winter took to the mound and responded with six straight outs - needing just 28 pitches to get through the appearance. He put up an impressive four K's - including the side in the fourth - getting two looking and two swinging.

RING 'EM UP
Jared Reklaitis struck out 9 batters in the season opener against Marshall, picking up the win with 7.0 innings of work. The nine K's is the most-ever for a starter in a season opener since MKE began NCAA DI play.

Reklaitis just missed the earliest date for a 10-K outing as well. If he would have rung up one more, he would have set the record by a wide margin - the current earliest date for 10-or-more K's is March 5, when Brian Keller had 10 against Arkansas State in 2016.

HOW MANY?!?
Milwaukee played 34 games in a row on the road to open the 2018 season (prior to its home opener April 26), becoming the final NCAA Division I team to accomplish the "feat" (North Dakota State was also in the running for the title, but did play April 25). Needless to say, it was a rough spring and all bets were off, as the 2018 campaign officially went down as the "toughest" in regards to both the total amount of road games played prior and the latest date for a home opener in program history.

2018: 34 regular-season games on road prior to first home game
2016: 31
2008: 30
2017: 29
2013: 29
2001: 26

2018: April 26 marked latest home opener
2013: April 24
2016: April 20
2008: April 15
2017: April 13

The trek in 2019 is scheduled for "just" 22 games (it ended officially at 21). The Panthers did, however, still travel almost 13,000 miles over the course of the first six-plus weeks of this season via plane or bus, visiting seven different states (Florida, Mississippi, Arizona, Utah, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky) before they played their scheduled home opener April 29 against UIC.

The following is the list of teams with more road games to start the 2019 season than the Panthers' 21: Western Michigan (31), North Dakota State (26), Eastern Michigan (23), Central Michigan (22), Lafayette (22) and Toledo (22).

PRESEASON NATIONAL RECOGNITION
Various publications and websites came out with their annual college baseball previews and players from the Milwaukee roster have earned a handful of mentions. Baseball America picks the Panthers for third place and lists Trevor Schwecke as the No. 4 entry on BA's "Top Prospect List" in the conference.

The Perfect Game website also lists Milwaukee No. 3, and it's Schwecke again as a member of their Preseason All-Conference Team, where he is described by the site as a "good overall athlete with speed". He is joined on the squad by Tyler Bordner ("offensive-minded catcher with pop") and Jared Reklaitis ("FB/SL 1-2 punch leads to K's").

PRESEASON POLL
Milwaukee was picked to finish third in the 2019 Horizon League preseason baseball poll, just two points out of the runner-up spot.

The 2018 regular season and tournament champions Wright State gained the most votes and all six first-place votes for the top spot with 36 total points. 2017's tournament and regular season champion UIC was tabbed second, followed by Milwaukee, Youngstown State, Oakland and Northern Kentucky.
 
2019 Horizon League Baseball Preseason Poll
1. Wright State (6 first-place votes) 36
2. UIC 28
3. Milwaukee 26
4. Youngstown State 15
5. Oakland 12
6. Northern Kentucky 9

ROCKET RYBACKI
Devin Rybacki enjoyed a breakthrough season a year ago after returning from injury in mid-March, ending the campaign with a team-best .336 average to earn Horizon League Second-Team All-League honors. He hit safely in 26 of the final 31 games of the season, raising his average over 200 points while batting .373 (44-for-118) in the stretch. He ended the year fifth in conference in batting average, while also hitting at a .384 clip in Horizon League play. He also added his first MKE home run against Northern Kentucky May 4.

IT'S SPELLED REKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKLAITIS
Jared Reklaitis made his first start of the 2018 season a memorable one, allowing just one hit and no runs in 5.0 innings against Sacramento State March 4. Although he had to work around six walks, he also recorded a then career-high eight strikeouts, including the fourth inning where he struck out the side following a leadoff triple. He was just getting started.

Just after earning a spot in the weekend rotation, Reklaitis picked up victories in back-to-back starts against YSU March 18 (8 K's) and Wright State March 25 (season-high 7.0 IP) before tallying a career-best 10 strikeouts against Oakland March 31. It marked the first 10+ K game for a Panther last season and just the 33rd in program history. He claimed his third win of the season at Northern Kentucky April 8.

He closed the season with the biggest gem of them all, earning a spot on the Horizon League All-Tournament Team and a spot on Collegiate Baseball's National Players of the Week for his performance against Youngstown State during the Horizon League Tournament May 24. Reklaitis tied the school record and set a tournament record when he struck out 15 batters in a complete-game effort with his team facing elimination, allowing one unearned run

FOR KREI-YING OUT LOUD
Newcomer Colin Kreiter put together an impressive MKE debut season a year ago, finishing second on the team in batting (.320) while knocking in 31 runs. He put together the longest hitting streak of any Panther last season (11 games from March 4-23 where he raised his average from .263 to .313). He also had a 10-game hitting streak come to an end May 17 that saw him bat a sizzling .441 (15-for-34) that took him up to seventh in the Horizon League in batting. He also ranked second in HBP, fifth in triples, seventh in hits and 10th in doubles in the conference.

BACK-TO-BACK JACKS
Colin Kreiter had quite the day against Oakland May 18 last season. More specifically, he had quite the inning. In finishing 4-for-5 with 5 RBI and 3 runs scored, Kreiter accomplished something NEVER done before in school history. In the 11-run seventh inning, Kreiter became the first player to hit two home runs in the SAME inning in school history, recording the 60th multi-home run game all-time in the process. His 5 RBI in one inning were just one off the school record as well. Jesse Hart had 6 RBI in that 9th-inning outburst against Wright State in 2008, driving in two with a double before piling it on with a grand slam.

JUNIOR JAM
A pair of infielders put together solid sophomore seasons a year ago and look to make another jump this season. Trevor Schwecke repeated as a Second-Team All-Horizon League honoree after a spectacular campaign in which he reset career highs in every category. Schwecke batted .318 on the year as one of just two Panthers to start all 54 games, leading the team with 39 runs batted in (8th in Horizon League), 217 at bats (4th), 69 hits (4th), 43 runs scored (6th) and 19 stolen bases (4th). His batting average was eighth-best in the Horizon League and included a .343 clip with runners in scoring position.

Classmate Mike Ferri played his way into being a regular starter in 2018 and also topped most marks from his freshman season. At the end of the day, he set collegiate-bests in hits with 50 (was 20), doubles with 11 (3), runs with 19 (10), home runs with 3 (0), RBI with 15 (10) and stolen bases with 8 (4). His .299 average finished fourth on the team, which included a .319 clip in Horizon League play.

FAB FROSH
The Panthers got contributions from numerous freshman a season ago, with Zach Nogalski and Patrick Tomfohrde topping the list with Horizon League All-Freshman Team accolades. Nogalski earned his spot after batting .333 in 29 games (15 starts), hitting .352 off RHP. He recorded 21 hits and drove in 11 runs, while scoring 16 more and added a .400 OBP.

Tomfohrde posted a 3.13 ERA in a team-high 21 appearances out of the bullpen, going 2-2 overall, striking out 29 batters in 31.2 innings of work. He tied for 11th in conference with game total, posted a 2.70 ERA in Horizon League action and put his name in the freshmen record book: his ERA the fifth-best and appearance total third.

Mitchell Buban also quickly worked his way into the starting lineup as a freshman, finishing with 43 starts among his 46 games played. He batted .262 overall, recording 39 hits, scoring 26 runs and adding 11 RBI.

SOME WOULD CALL IT EPIC
The Panthers accomplished two impressive feats in their come-from-behind, 15-9 victory over Oakland May 18. First off, let's talk comeback. The team fell behind 5-0 before they even had the chance to bat and the deficit moved to 6-0 in the top of the second inning. Winning the contest gave Scott Doffek's team it's second-largest comeback under his watch.

TOP COMEBACKS IN SCOTT DOFFEK ERA
1. Trailed Chicago State, 10-1, fourth inning. Won 15-11 (4/15/15)
2. Trailed Oakland, 6-0, second inning, Won 15-9 (5/19/18)
2. Trailed Cleveland State, 6-0, third inning. Won 7-6 (4/11/08)
3. Trailed Youngstown State, 5-0, second inning. Won 6-5 (3/14/15)
4. Trailed Butler, 5-0, second inning. Won 13-5 (5/13/12)

Now let's talk offense. Milwaukee sent 15 batters to the plate in a fun-filled 11-run seventh inning, recording five hits while walking three times and getting hit by a pitch four times. In fact, the team put up five consecutive runs at one point with the bases loaded without swinging the bat when they went walk/HBP/HBP/HBP/walk. Trevor Schwecke had a pair of doubles in the frame with the highlight being the power display from Colin Kreiter.

The 11 runs marked the first inning of 10-or-more since plating 10 against Edgewood in a 23-2 win April 28, 2015. The last time MKE got to 11? That was the ninth inning against Wright State in a 20-3 Horizon League Tournament victory over Wright State May 22, 2008. The school record for those wondering? That would be the 14 runs in the fifth against WSU on April 15, 2000 (a 17-2 win).

IT'S MILLER TIME
Through a marketing agreement with the Milwaukee Brewers, the Panthers have played at Miller Park every season since 2002. The team has now posted a record of 17-11 in games at the major league park, following a 4-3, 10-inning defeat by Wright State in 2018. Milwaukee welcomes Oakland for the event this season, set for May 11.

ON TAP
The Panthers open the final month of the regular season on the road, traveling May 1 to Minnesota before heading to Chicago for a key three-game set against UIC on the weekend.