DAYTON, Ohio – Jack Mahoney pitched into the eighth inning and AJ Blubaugh struck out three in the ninth to help the Milwaukee baseball team secure a 9-6 victory over Youngstown State and advance to day two of the Horizon League Championship.
 
Mahoney could not be rattled on Thursday night and kept the game under control, totaling 124 pitches through 7.2 innings. The junior scattered 10 hits and struck out four in the outing.
 
"He threw the ball better than his numbers look," head coach Scott Doffek said. "We extended some innings with infield errors, but he came back and made some big pitches and worked into the eighth inning and then we got the ball to AJ [Blubaugh].
 
Blubaugh got the Penguins' leadoff man Jeff Wehler to groundout to end the eight before the early part of the YSU order had Milwaukee on the edge of its seat.
 
The first three Penguins reached behind two hits and a walk but Blubaugh settled down and struck out three consecutive batters on 11 pitches to end it and earn his eighth save of the year.
 
"He obviously has a good arm, but he also has the ability to relax in the moment and not make it bigger than it is," Doffek said. "They had some really good at-bats but then he just executed down the stretch and got those three punchouts."
 
In the second, the Panthers got to Horizon League Pitcher of the Year Colin Floyd for three runs to gain control.
 
"It was huge from a momentum standpoint to get the early runs because we haven't done much against him [Floyd]." Doffek stated. "We saw that we can actually do something against him if we execute and we did."
 
YSU responded and tied it with one in the third and two more in the fourth, but MKE had an answer.
 
In the sixth, Jack Kraus led off with a walk and after a foul out to the catcher, back-to-back singles from Zach Nogalski and Jack Cavanaugh loaded the bases.
 
Nate DeYoung followed with an RBI walk and Mike Ferri plated another with a single on a 1-0 pitch. Luke Seidel then put the ball in play to score DeYoung and another crossed after a YSU error to make it 7-3.
 
After an RBI single from Nogalski in the seventh made it 8-3, Mahoney got in some trouble in the bottom half. The first two batters reached and Dominick Bucko cleared the bases with a homer but Mahoney worked three straight outs to end the rally.
 
In the ninth, Ferri added one more insurance run with a sacrifice fly to center field before the excitement in the ninth.
 
The Panthers totaled 10 hits led by Nogalski, who finished 4-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored. Cavanaugh also had multiple hits, going 2-for-4 on the day.
 
Ferri drove in three runs, scoring Panthers on a fielder's choice, single, and sacrifice fly.
 
With the win, Milwaukee advances to day two of the Horizon League Championships. The Panthers will face the loser of tomorrow's early afternoon game featuring No. 1 Wright State and No. 2 UIC. Live coverage links can be found on MKEPanthers.com.