MILWAUKEE, Wis. - With a playoff spot on the line, the Milwaukee baseball team hits the road to wrap up the regular season. The Panthers will play a four-game series at Youngstown State as they try to solidify their position in the Horizon League Tournament.
 
The series will begin on Friday at 4:00 pm CT followed by a 12:00 pm CT doubleheader on Saturday. At 11:00 am CT on Sunday, the teams will conclude the regular season.
 
All four games will feature live stats and live audio with all links available on MKEPanthers.com.
 
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
Youngstown State is riding a four-game winning streak after sweeping Bellarmine in a three-game series over the weekend. The Penguins scored 27 runs in three games against the Knights to improve to 29-21 overall.
 
YSU ranks third in the league in both team batting and pitching. Offensively, Dominick Bucko leads the way hitting .350 with 18 extra-base hits, 46 runs batted in, and 38 runs scored. Jeff Wehler also provides plenty of pop with nine doubles, four triples, and eight home runs.
 
On the mound, Collin Floyd is in the mix for pitcher of the year as he ranks in the Horizon League top five in ERA (1st, 2.19), opposing batting average (2nd, .196), innings pitched (1st, 90.1), strikeouts (1st, 98), and wins (1st, 8). The senior has six complete games in 13 starts. Jon Snyder has also put together a solid 2021 with a 2.85 ERA and 5-2 record in 13 appearances.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Milwaukee has dominated the all-time series with Youngstown State, owning a 64-36 all-time advantage. The two split the series earlier this season with Milwaukee taking games three and four.
 
Dating back to 2018, the Panthers have won 14 of 18 matchups against the Penguins.
 
WRAPPING UP THE WEEKEND
Despite losing the first two games of the series against Northern Kentucky, Milwaukee bounced back to split the series with a doubleheader sweep on Sunday. The Panthers out-hit the Norse all four games including totaling 23 hits and 17 runs in the two contests on Sunday.
 
EYES ON THE POSTSEASON
The top four teams in the Horizon League advance to the postseason tournament which begins on Thursday, May 7. Wright State will host the tournament at Nischwitz Stadium.
 
With four games remaining, Milwaukee holds the No. 4 seed in the standings, one in a half games ahead of Northern Kentucky. MKE wraps up the regular season with Youngstown State, the current No. 3 seed, while NKU will battle current No. 2 seed UIC.
 
Wright State sits comfortably in the No. 1 spot with a 28-4 Horizon League. UIC has a three and a half game lead on YSU for the No. 2 seed.
 
A GRAND MILESTONE
Over the weekend, the Panthers picked up their 1,000th victory as a program to become just the third team in Milwaukee history to accomplish that feat. The MKE men's basketball team was the first and currently sits at 1,386 victories. Women's volleyball was next and has 1,100 victories under its belt.
 
HE'S HEATING UP
It was yet another strong offensive weekend for senior Joe Vyskocil who is heating up at the right time for the Panthers.
 
Through April 31, Vyskocil had been struggling with a .136 batting average (9-for-66) and nine RBI in 20 games. Since May 1, he's turned it on, going 17-for-38 (.447) with nine RBI and eight runs scored in 12 contests. Vyskocil has seven multi-hit games during that stretch including three three-hit performances.
 
With the recent burst, Vyskocil has raised his batting average by over 100 points and sits at .250 in 32 games this year.
 
CAPITALIZING ON THE OPPORTUNITY
Matt McCarty has been a staple out of the bullpen for Milwaukee this year and on Sunday, he did something a Panthers' pitcher hasn't done since 2014. The redshirt junior earned both wins in the Sunday sweep of Northern Kentucky.
 
In the first game of the day, McCarty relieved Mike Edwards, and struck out two in 1.1 scoreless innings. MKE took the lead in the bottom of the sixth and AJ Blubaugh shut it down in the seventh to give McCarty the win. In the nightcap, McCarty entered in the fourth with a 5-3 lead. He kept NKU at bay allowing three hits and two earned runs in 3.2 innings for his second victory of the day.
 
The two wins in one day was the first for a Milwaukee pitcher since Tyler Thicke picked up a pair of victories on April 5, 2014. Thicke needed just 34 total pitches in 1.2 combined innings as he was credited for two wins against Oakland.
 
BLANKING OUT OF THE BULLPEN
Despite not having a save opportunity in nearly a month, AJ Blubaugh stepped in on Sunday and did not miss a beat. The freshman locked up his seventh save of the season as he a groundout and a pair of flyouts in the seventh inning of Sunday's game one.
 
The seven saves puts him second in the Horizon League and 37th among NCAA Division I pitchers.
 
Blubaugh has pitched 22.0 innings this year and owns an ERA of 1.23 which leads the league for relievers who have pitched more than 11 innings. The freshman has 29 strikeouts to just seven walks this year.
 
He has already broken the Milwaukee freshmen saves record which was held by Jake Sommers (2016) 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. Blubaugh is also averaging 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings which would be a new Panthers' freshmen record.
 
NO SMALL FREY
Northern Kentucky was the first opponent to finally get to Riley Frey for more than three earned runs. Despite a tough outing last weekend, Frey remains one of the top pitchers in the league.
 
The freshman currently ranks sixth in the Horizon League with a 3.38 ERA. He is also fourth in innings pitched (66.2) and 11th in strikeouts (59). He is the only true freshman starter with an ERA better than 6.23.
 
Frey has eight outings with at least 5.0 innings pitched and two earned runs or less.
 
His 59 strikeouts already set a new Milwaukee record, topping Mike Schneider's mark of 47 from 2011. Frey also ranks second all-time among Panthers' freshmen in innings pitched (66.2), and fourth in strikeout to walk ratio (2.4).
 
MONEY MAHONEY
Jack Mahoney finished with a no decision on Saturday but has continued to turn it on as of late. The junior struck out seven in 6.0 innings while allowing just five hits and one earned run.
 
Mahoney now has six straight outings with at least 5.0 innings pitched allowing four earned runs or less. He has struck out 42 in those six outings including a career-high 11 against Oakland on May 1.
 
Mahoney is averaging 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings which ranks fifth in the Horizon League and 87th in NCAA Division I.
 
For his career, Mahoney has 149 strikeouts in 128.2 innings pitched, a strikeout per nine inning ratio of 10.5 which would be a new program record just ahead of Jason Crawford's (1999-2001) 10.3.
 
SULTAN OF SLAMS
In the Panthers 21-3 win over Oakland, Milwaukee clubbed two grand slams marking what is believed to be the first time MKE has hit multiple grand slams in a game in program history. Mike Ferri went deep in the first inning to put the Panthers up 4-0 and Zach Nogalski emptied the bases in the fourth for a 12-1 lead.
 
Milwaukee now has four grand slams this season, matching what is believed to be a program record from 2006. In addition to Ferri and Nogalski, Nate DeYoung and Jack Kraus also have grand slams for the Panthers.
 
In total, the Panthers have had overall success this season with the bases loaded. Milwaukee is hitting 15-for-37 (.405) when all bases are occupied.
 
POURING IT ON
The 21 runs scored and 18 hits versus Oakland were both season-highs for the Panthers. It also marked the first time Milwaukee eclipsed 20 runs since scoring 22 in a 22-2 win over Youngstown State on April 13, 2019.
 
The Panthers had at least 18 hits on five different occasions in the 2019 season including a season-best 23 in the win over the Penguins in the same game.
 
Milwaukee now has 24 20-run games in program history. The most the Panthers ever scored was 28 on April 18, 1993.
 
MAGIC NUMBER
Six runs appears to be the number for the Panthers. When Milwaukee scores at least six, it is 13-1. Much of that credit is due to the pitching staff as well.
 
MKE ranks fourth in the Horizon League with a team ERA of 5.57. The Panthers have held the opponent to five runs or less on 27 occasions this season.
 
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.
 
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
If the Panthers can lock up the No. 4 seed for the Horizon League Tournament, they will face No. 1 Wright State at 10:00 am CT on Thursday, May 27. Live coverage links can be found on MKEPanthers.com.