DAYTON, Ohio – The Milwaukee baseball team advanced to the Horizon League Tournament Championship for the eighth time in program history Friday night, topping No. 1 seed Wright State in a 10-9 thriller to punch its ticket to the title game.
Awaiting the Panthers (35-20-1) is UIC (28-21), the No. 2 seed in the event who has required just two wins to reach Championship Saturday from the winner's bracket after topping MKE Thursday, as well as WSU Friday (in extra innings). Milwaukee will be looking to reverse the Flames recent hot stretch in the series, with UIC having claimed wins in five of six contests in 2019 as well as victories in 11 of the past 12.
Jack Thelen has led the offense against the Flames in 2019, batting .417 (5-for-12/3 RBI).
Oakland Scanlan (.353/6-for-17) and
Trevor Schwecke (.318/7-for-22) have also fared well.
The Panthers have had great overall success in Horizon League Tournament history, winning league titles in 2010, 2002, 2001 and 1999 to go along with runner-up finishes in 2015, 2008 and 2005. A season ago, they went 2-2, topping Northern Kentucky in the opener and Youngstown State to stay alive before being eliminated in the semifinals by UIC.
The team is 3-1 this week, avoiding elimination in all three victories. They are led at the plate by the hot-hitting
Tyler Bordner, who is batting .600 (12-for-20) in the postseason, knocking in 10 runs and scoring seven others in the past four games. He is slugging 1.000, adding a double and home run to go along with a pair of triples.
That continues a recent tear at the plate for Bordner, who is batting .438 (28-for-64) in the month of May (15 games), driving in 24 runs while scoring 18 more. He is slugging .750 in the stretch – helped along by four home runs – and has recorded a .486 on-base percentage in the same span.
Joe Vyskocil is batting at a .438 clip (7-for-16) in the postseason, scoring seven runs and driving in four more.
Devin Rybacki (.313),
Mike Ferri (.300) and
Matt Quartel (.300) give MKE a total of five regulars at .300 or better for the tournament.
The Panthers are now 47-37 all-time in the Horizon League Tournament, which includes an 8-12 mark head-to-head against the Flames. The last time Milwaukee topped UIC twice in the same day occurred on March 9, 2011.
The team went 4-1 to win it all in the 2010 postseason, topping Wright State twice in the championship and Valparaiso twice on the way to the title to head to the NCAA Tournament. In 1999, MKE bounced back from a game-one loss to win four-straight contests and advance to the NCAA Regional. For the back-to-back titles in 2001 and 2002, Milwaukee went a perfect 4-0 in the tournament each season. The first and last of the four crowns came as a No. 2 seed, while the middle pair were as the No. 1.
If the Panthers top the Flames at 11 a.m. CST, it will set up a winner-take-all championship scheduled for 3 p.m. CST immediately following the first game.
