MILWAUKEE, Wis. – The Milwaukee baseball team combined for 23 runs and 32 hits in a doubleheader sweep over Northern Kentucky Friday afternoon from Henry Aaron Field. The Panthers edged out the Norse 9-8 in game one and rolled through the second game to win 15-2.
The Panthers (24-15, 12-7) got standout pitching from both of their starters with
Mike Edwards pitching 6.1 innings, while scattering six hits, three runs and struck out 11 Norse (10-31, 8-12) batters in game one, and
Elijah Goodman picking up the win in game two going seven innings, allowing just two runs and five strike outs.
"Both Edwards and Goodman gave us quality starts," said head coach
Scott Doffek. "Goodman was just outstanding for us in game two, and it was his best outing by far. It allowed our hitters to relax against a good arm, and we were able to chip away and put some big innings together for the victory."
After an early 1-0 lead in the first inning of the first game by Northern Kentucky, the Panthers answered back two runs on three hits. With
Mike Ferri aboard after getting hit by the pitch,
Trevor Schwecke knocked in his team leading 39
th RBI with a triple to right field. MKE took the lead in the next at-bat when
Joe Vyskocil doubled to left center for the 2-1 Panther advantage.
In innings two and three,
Mike Edwards sat the Norse batters in order, totaling five strikeouts in the two innings, and a combined seven strikeouts through three innings of play. Edwards would exit the game with a career-high 11 strikeouts through 6.1 IP in the no decision.
In the third, Milwaukee extended its lead 5-1 producing three runs on three hits. The big hit came from senior catcher
Tyler Bordner when he cranked a ball over the left field fence for a three-run shot.
Bordner came up clutch again in the bottom of the seventh with the game then tied at six, hitting his third home run of the season for the one run advantage. The Panthers added an insurance run in the when
Jack Thelen singled to left scoring
Colin Kreiter.
Milwaukee looked to close it out in the top of the ninth leading 8-7, but NKU's Griffin Doersching homered to center field to tie the ball game.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Panthers once again walked off with the win when
Mitchell Buban scored Kreiter on an RBI fielder's choice. NKU looked to extend the game into extra innings, but
Matt Quartel broke up Buban's double play ground ball causing the Norse shortstop an errant throw and score Kreiter.
"We had a lot of strikeouts, but we also had a lot of hits," said Doffek, "We did just enough with the bats at the right time and it was a good win to get out ahead."
In game two, the Panthers scored single runs in the first and fourth innings, but put up a crooked number in the fifth scoring five run on four hits and a Norse error to jump out a commanding 7-0 lead.
Northern Kentucky answered back with two runs in the sixth, but were unable to keep up with the high powered Panther offense who tallied eight more runs in the next three innings, including a six run eighth.
The Panther offense was led by
Tyler Bordner who had a 5-for-10 performance on the day with two home runs and five RBI.
Milwaukee and Northern Kentucky will try and squeeze in the final game of the series Saturday morning at 10 a.m. from Henry Aaron Field before the winter weather hits.
