MILWAUKEE, Wis. - The Milwaukee baseball team wraps up its 16-game homestand this weekend as Oakland comes to town for a four-game series.
The Panthers and Golden Grizzlies will meet at 4:00 pm on Friday and play two on Saturday with a 12:00 pm doubleheader. The series will wrap up on Sunday at 12:00 pm.
Saturday's doubleheader will feature an ESPN3 with
Scott Warras providing play-by-play. Live stats will be available for all four games with links on
MKEPanthers.com.
Fans can purchase single game tickets online for only $7 on
MKEPanthers.com. General admission tickets can be bought in pods of two to four tickets and seating will be physically distanced.
The 2021 campaign marks the 57th season of baseball at MKE. It is also the 51st season of varsity play (the program was played at the club level from 1982-1986) and the 31st in the Panthers NCAA Division I era.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Since facing Milwaukee in a four-game series in early April, the Golden Grizzlies ran into some scheduling changes due to COVID-19 protocols. Oakland was forced to pause team activities in accordance with the University and Horizon League protocols leading to a cancellation of home series against Valparaiso (April 9-11) and Wright State (April 16-18).
The Golden Grizzlies returned to action on April 23 at Youngstown State but dropped all four games of the series and now sit at 9-22 overall and 3-17 in Horizon League play.
Oakland has struggled on the mound, ranking sixth in the league in earned run average at 6.68.
Offensively, Cam Post has been a leader for the Golden Grizzlies, hitting .333 in 29 starts with 16 runs scored and 20 driven in. Tyler Trovinger and Lorenzo Elion have also been consistent parts of the Oakland offense, each with a batting average of .320 or better.
SERIES HISTORY
After winning three of four against Oakland earlier this season, Milwaukee improved to 25-14 all-time against the Golden Grizzlies. The Panthers own a 14-3 record at home against the foes from Michigan, however, this will mark the first meeting at Franklin Field.
The most recent meeting was a 14-13 triumph for Milwaukee thanks to
Marcus Cline, who it a bases-clearing double in the eighth inning. Oakland got one back on a solo home run in the bottom half of the inning, but the game was called due to darkness.
The Panthers' offense lit it up in Michigan, hitting .346 with over 10 runs per game in the series win over Oakland in early April.
WRAPPING UP THE WEEKEND
Milwaukee struggled offensively over the weekend, hitting just .172 with five total runs in four losses to UIC. The Flames left with a 0.53 ERA and used just six pitchers in the series sweep.
The Panthers did have some bright spots on the mound with
Matt McCarty and
Riley Frey putting together solid outings, but Milwaukee could not get bats going for any run support.
DARE YOU TO RUN
Jack Kraus threw out two more runners in the UIC series and continues to prove he's one of the best defensive catchers in the league.
The junior has now caught 10 runners attempting to steal which leads the Horizon League.
Additionally, Kraus is one of just two players in the league to have at least 100 putouts and zero errors.
Joe Vyskocil is the other (149 putouts). In fact, Kraus has 210 putouts and 23 assists without an error this season, by far the most chances of anyone without an error in the Horizon League.
NO SMALL FREY
Rinse and repeat for freshman
Riley Frey. In game one of the series against UIC, Frey tossed six innings, scattering eight hits and allowing two earned runs.
That marks the fourth straight start going at least 5.0 innings and two earned runs allowed or less. The freshman has only allowed more than two earned runs on one occasion.
Frey currently ranks fourth in the Horizon League in earned run average (2.74), 10th in opposing batting average (.251), seventh in innings pitched (49.1), and 11th in strikeouts (47).
His 47 strikeouts are currently tied for first all-time among Milwaukee freshman, matching Mike Schneider's 2011 mark. His 8.6 strikeouts per nine innings pitched is tied for fourth all-time for Panthers' freshman.
MONEY MCCARTY
Matt McCarty earned his first start this season on Sunday and had success against a hot-hitting UIC team. The redshirt junior tossed 5.2 innings allowing just one earned run and striking out four while walking none.
The junior has pitched 22.1 innings this season and is fourth on the team in ERA (3.63) of pitchers with at least 5.0 innings pitched.
SHUTTING THE DOOR
Despite not having a save situation this weekend against UIC,
AJ Blubaugh entered out of the pen on Sunday and was solid for the Panthers.
Blubaugh came on in the seventh with bases loaded and zero outs. Despite giving up a hit to open his appearance, Blubaugh settled down and pitched two complete innings with one charged earned run.
The freshman owns a 1.65 ERA with 23 strikeouts in 16.1 innings pitched as the anchor of the bullpen. With six saves, Blubaugh is tied for the Horizon League lead and ranks 27th in NCAA Division I.
He has already broken the Milwaukee freshman saves record which was held by
Jake Sommers (2) and Josh Justman (1995) with two each. The program record for saves in a season is 15 which was set in 2002 by Matt Freisleben.
SENSATIONAL SOPHOMORE
Luke Seidel continues to pace the way for Milwaukee, leading the Panthers with a .321 batting average. The sophomore is third in the league with nine doubles and tied for fifth with nine stolen bases.
Seidel also leads MKE in runs scored (21), slugging percentage (.473), and extra-base hits (12).
MAHONEY MOWIN' EM DOWN
Jack Mahoney added three more strikeouts to his total this season and now has 53 this year which ranks sixth in the Horizon League.
Mahoney is averaging 11.1 strikeouts per nine innings which puts him sixth in the league and 119th in the nation.
For his career, Mahoney has 125 strikeouts in 105 innings pitched, a strikeout per nine inning ratio of 10.2 which would rank second all-time in Panthers' history behind Jason Crawford's (1999-2001) 10.3.
WALKOFF WONDER
Jack Kraus' walkoff grand slam on April 11 was a rare feat but oddly enough, it is not the first time this year an NCAA Division I game has ended with a slam.
Alabama's Owen Diodati belted a walkoff grand slam on March 9 to top South Alabama 11-9 and Southern Mississippi's Reed Trimble emptied the bases to beat Louisiana Lafayette 6-3 in 11 innings on March 14.
GETTING THINGS STARTED
Milwaukee is now 15-12 all-time in affiliated conference openers since becoming an NCAA Division I team. Head coach
Scott Doffek has posted an 8-6 ledger in his 14 openers, including an 11-10 decision over Wright State in 2019 and a 12-4 victory over Youngstown State in 2018. The 2020 season was cancelled days prior to the 2020 conference opener.
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 season openers. It is now 6-25 in such contests at the Division I level after falling to Kentucky to open 2021. But, the team did post an impressive 10-0 victory over Maine to open the slate in 2015 and also topped Marshall, 5-3, to open the 2019 campaign. The Kentucky contest was
Scott Doffek's 15th opener as head coach.
CLOSING IN ON A GRAND MILESTONE
The Panthers start the season with 982 all-time victories in program history and will join a small list of teams in the department once they cross the 1,000-win plateau. MKE men's basketball was the first and opened the 2020-21 school year with 1,376 wins. Women's volleyball was next and upped its total to 1,092 after a successful fall campaign in 2019.
"GREEN" PANTHERS
The Milwaukee roster is light on experience and will be looking to grow as the season progresses. In fact, if you look at career numbers, it truly sheds light on the situation for the Panthers this spring. Career games played for the team is led by
Mike Ferri, who had appeared in 151 college games at the NCAA Division I level coming into play in 2021. He is one of just three on the roster over 100, joined by
Joe Vyskocil (131) and
Mitchell Buban (117). The biggest at bat total is Ferri's 523. On the mound, most games pitched belongs to
George Swedie with 55. Next up is
Jack Mahoney with 30. Most innings? That's
Mike Edwards, who is the only Panther to have enough seniority to have pitched in at least 100 innings (115.0).
PRESEASON POLL
Milwaukee was picked to finish fourth in the 2021 Horizon League preseason baseball poll. Wright State picked up all seven first place votes, earning 49 total poll points as the Raiders were picked first. UIC, the 2019 Horizon League Tournament Champion, earned 38 poll points as they were predicted second.
Youngstown State (34 poll points) was picked third while the Panthers earned 31 poll points for fourth. Purdue Fort Wayne (17), Oakland (14), and Northern Kentucky (13) rounded out the preseason poll.
THE BOYS OF (NOT QUITE) SUMMER
The Milwaukee Athletic department announced that it will broadcast select home baseball games this spring on ESPN+. Additionally, all 24 of the Panthers home games will feature either live audio or video for the first time. Milwaukee has never had the ability to broadcast baseball games on ESPN+, but with the move to Franklin Field for the 2021 season, that is now possible.
Scott Warras will handle all broadcasts for the Panthers.
ESPN+, which will host the Horizon League baseball championships, offers fans thousands of live events, on-demand content, and original programing not available on ESPN's linear TV or digital networks. Fans can subscribe to ESPN+ for just $5.99 a month (or $59.99 per year) and cancel at any time. Launched in April of 2018, ESPN+ is an integrated part of a completely redesigned ESPN App.
ON TAP
Milwaukee returns to the road for the first time in over a month as the Panthers head to league-leading Wright State on May 7-9. MKE will then host one final series at The Frank on May 14-16 against Northern Kentucky. Live coverage links for all games can be found on MKEPanthers.com.
