FRANKLIN, Wis. – The Milwaukee baseball team was unable to turn a quick start into a victory Sunday afternoon at Franklin Field, dropping an 8-6 decision after Oakland rallied with a five-run seventh inning to go ahead and close it out from there.
The Panthers (16-23, 13-15 Horizon League) scored four runs in the first inning to jump ahead of the Golden Grizzlies (12-23, 6-18 Horizon League) for the second consecutive game. The lead held until the seventh, with OU plating five unearned runs to flip the script and pull out what looked like an improbable win.
That took some shine off the effort of starting pitcher
Matt McCarty, who worked into the sixth inning. He allowed three runs and did not walk a batter, helped along by a pair of strikeouts and three double plays turned behind him.
Ahead 5-2 after what looked to be an insurance tally when
Jack Cavanaugh blasted a home run in the bottom of the sixth, things went from bad to worse in the seventh, starting with the first batter reaching base on a wild pitch following a strikeout.
"First of all McCarty threw the ball great," head coach
Scott Doffek said. "Andy (Neu) comes in and does a good job – gets a strikeout to lead off the inning but it hits the plate and bounces to the backstop."
An error on a bunt, a possible double play that wasn't able to get turned, and a passed ball led to all five runs in the frame coming across unearned.
"It was a safety squeeze where we don't get anyone out," Doffek said. "That was two extra runners that they shouldn't have had. Then we get a fairly routine double-play ball that we didn't turn where there was contact past the base that they didn't call. And then you have to give their guys a lot of credit, getting big hits behind him."
The Panthers had the bats rolling out of the gates again today, with
Luke Seidel and
Marcus Cline starting the game with back-to-back singles. A hit batter loaded the bases and
Zach Nogalski made it 2-0 with one swing of the bat, knocking a single into left field. A walk would load the bases, forcing an early pitching change.
Cavanaugh took the first pitch from the new pitcher off his leg for an RBI and a double-play then brought in another to make it 4-0. Unfortunately, that would be it for MKE until the sixth inning.
"Their kid that came out of the bullpen in the first (Hayden Nierman threw 4.0 hitless frames) did a really good job of settling that game back down – it was about ready to be over," Doffek said. "But we got a little flat-footed in the box and they kept changing pitchers and they kept doing a good job."
Milwaukee added one in the eighth when Nogalski's sac fly plated Cline, who had tripled. In the ninth, the team was able to bring the tying run to the plate but were unable to score.
AJ Blubaugh pitched the final 3.0 innings, allowing two unearned runs, walking one, and adding three K's.
Cline (2-for-4, 2 runs scored) and Seidel (2-for-4) led the MKE offense, which totaled just seven hits on the day. Michael Stygles went 4-for-4 with two RBI to pace the Golden Grizzlies.
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.
