MILWAUKEE, Wis. - The Milwaukee baseball team wraps up a 10-game homestand with Iowa before returning to the road this weekend at Youngstown State.
The Panthers and Hawkeyes will square off for the first time since 2019 on Tuesday. First pitch from Franklin Field will be at 4:00 pm and will feature an ESPN+ broadcast with
Scott Warras on the call.
MKE will then head to Youngstown, Ohio for a Horizon League matchup with Youngstown State. The Penguins and Panthers will play Thursday at 4:00 pm CT followed by a 2:00 pm CT game on Friday. The series will wrap up on Saturday at 11:00 am.
All updates and live coverage links for this week can be found on MKEPanthers.com.
SCOUTING THE HAWKEYES
Iowa currently sits at 16-12 overall after dropping a series against Illinois last weekend.
The Hawkeyes were pegged to finish third in the Big Ten Conference in a vote of the league's 13 head coaches. Iowa had three players - Dylan Nedved, Peyton Williams, and Adam Mazur - named to the Big Ten Preseason Honors list.
Pitching has been a strong point for Iowa as the Hawkeyes check in with a 3.57 team ERA which is second in the Big Ten and 20th in the nation.
Keaton Anthony leads Iowa with a .340 batting average, totaling 19 extra base hits, 25 RBI, and 21 runs scored in 28 starts.
SCOUTING THE PENGUINS
Youngstown State has had a tough start to April, losing six in a row and seven of eight contests since the month began. The Penguins sit at 10-22 overall and 3-6 in Horizon League action after getting swept by Northern Kentucky last weekend.
YSU's pitching started off strong but ranks last in the Horizon League since conference play began. The Penguins own a 7.44 ERA in nine Horizon League matchups. Matt Brosky leads YSU with a 3.54 ERA and 54 strikeouts in 48.1 innings pitched.
Offensively, Braeden O'Shaughnessy is the only batter hitting at least .300. The junior has drive in 22 runs and scored 18 more for the Penguins.
SERIES HISTORY
Milwaukee is 10-11 all-time against Iowa but have not topped the Hawkeyes since 2015. The last time the two met was 2019 with Iowa edging MKE 5-4 in 12 innings at Duane Banks Field in Iowa City.
The Panthers have controlled the all-time matchup with Youngstown State with a 66-39 record against the Penguins. YSU won five of the eight regular season matchups in 2021 but MKE got the final word with a 9-6 triumph in the Horizon League Tournament on May 27.
IT'S ABOUT TIME
Tuesday's game against Iowa marks the first time in 21 contests that the two will meet outside of Iowa City, but that isn't the only milestone for this contest.
Milwaukee has played 105 total games against Big Ten competition at not one of them has been on the Panthers' home field. MKE has five home games against the Northwestern but four of them took place at Miller Park and the last matchup was at Kapco Park in 2019.
To take that one step further, Milwaukee has never had a home game on its own field against a Power 5 school in 200 games.
Now that the Panthers play their home games at Franklin Field, one of the premier stadiums in the Midwest, that is bound to change.
BULLISH BULLPEN
The Panthers' bullpen put together some solid numbers last week, giving Milwaukee plenty of chances. In five games, the bullpen totaled 22 innings pitched and allowed just seven earned runs, a ERA of 2.86.
Keagon Kaufmann was very strong as he made two appearances. The freshman struck out four and walked just one batter in 3.0 hitless innings.
Adam LaRock was also solid has he totaled 3.0 innings pitched with five strikeouts and just two hits allowed.
Riley Frey picked up his first save out of the bullpen on Tuesday, needing just eight pitches to get three outs in a 3-2 victory.
On Sunday,
Eliot Turnquist was lights out. He matched a career-high with 4.0 innings pitched and struck out a career-high seven batters. The redshirt junior lowered his season ERA to 4.02. Outside of a tough outing at Arizona, Turnquist has 16 strikeouts in 12.2 innings with a 1.48 ERA.
PERFECT ON THE PATHS
Milwaukee added nine stolen bases last week and remains perfect on the season, going 43-for-43 this year.
The 43 consecutive successful stolen base attempts is believed to be a program record for the Panthers.
The Panthers stole all over the base paths in the season's opening series, going 17-for-17 in Alabama. In game three of the series, the Panthers were a perfect 11-for-11 in stolen bases. The 11 swipes set a new program record, topping the previous mark of 10 which was set against Butler on April 10, 2010.
MKE had seven stolen bases in the third inning of that game, one shy of an NCAA record which was last reached in 1993. It marks the most stolen bases in an inning since April 9, 2014 when Jacksonville had seven against Stetson.
Milwaukee currently ranks second in the Horizon League and 32nd in NCAA Division I with 1.79 stolen bases per game. The Panthers 34 total stolen bases puts them 76th in the nation.
Luke Seidel leads the league with 13 stolen bases while
Aaron Chapman ranks fourth with 10.
FINDING A HOME AT MKE
Aaron Chapman was held off the base paths for the first time all season on Sunday, snapping a reached base safely streak of 23 games. Despite being held in check against his former team, Purdue Fort Wayne, Chapman still had a strong week, hitting .294 with his second home run of the year.
Chapman has reached base in 23 of 24 games this season and has at least one hit in 22 of 24 contests.
The sophomore leads the team and ranks second in the Horizon League with a .375 batting average. Chapman is also 10th in on base percentage (.419), fourth in hits (36), ninth in RBI (22), and fourth in stolen bases (10).
SEIDEL SWINGIN'
Luke Seidel had another solid week for Milwaukee, leading the team with a .389 in the five games. The junior had two doubles and a triple as he drove in two runs and scored four more.
Additionally, Seidel was a perfect 4-for-4 in stolen bases to move him to 13-for-13 on the season which tops the Horizon League.
Seidel has multiple hits in four of the last seven games and has reached base safely in 11 straight contests. He has improved his season average to .302 which ranks second on the team.
FRESHMAN PHENOM
Logan Schulfer earned his second start of the season on Tuesday and did not disappoint. The freshman tossed four innings against Valparaiso and allowed just one earned run.
Schulfer's pitch count ran a little high as he issued three walks, but he battled through and left with MKE on top 3-2.
He followed that performance with an inning of relief on Sunday and was untouchable. Schulfer needed just 12 pitches to strike out the side against Purdue Fort Wayne.
RETURN TO AMFAM FIELD
The Panthers have a long-standing tradition of playing at the Brewers' Major League park, which was renamed from Miller Park to American Family Field on January 1, 2021, and return to the field this year.
Milwaukee will host MSOE at American Family Field on Wednesday, April 27 at 6:00 pm.
With the exception of the last two seasons due to a canceled schedule and reconfigured COVID-19 schedule, the Panthers have played on the Brewers' home field every year since 2002. Milwaukee is 18-11 in its games at American Family Field.
RACKING UP THE RUNS
Milwaukee opened league play with a bang on Friday, totaling 12 runs on 13 hits to top UIC 12-5.
The victory marked the Panthers' third in the last four Horizon League openers.
It also marked the fourth time this season that MKE has posted a double-digit run total. Last year, it took the Panthers 23 games to reach at least 10 runs that many times. Milwaukee finished with at least 10 runs on 10 occasions in 2021.
PULLING IN WEEKLY AWARDS
The Panthers have earned some Horizon League recognition this season with three different players collecting weekly awards.
Mitchell Buban got it started for the Panthers as he was named Horizon League Batter of the Week on February 22 thanks to an impressive start to the year in Alabama. Buban finished the weekend 7-for-14 (.500) at the plate with a home run and five RBI. He reached base a total of 10 times, recording with a slash line of .500/.588/.714. The Kenosha, Wis. native also scored five runs and was a perfect 4-for-4 in stolen bases.
On March 9,
Nick Gilhaus collected a Pitcher of the Week honor, leading the Panthers to a 2-0 win at BYU. Gilhaus struck out five and scattered just four hits in 6.0 scoreless innings.
One week later,
Riley Frey earned the award. Frey was lights out against Dayton, tossing 6.2 innings of scoreless baseball. He struck out eight and allowed just three hits to lead MKE to a 6-2 win against the Flyers.
LOOKING AT THE LEAGUE
The 2022 Horizon League Preseason Baseball Coaches' poll was released on Thursday and with 30 poll points, the Panthers were predicted to finish third. MKE trailed defending regular season and tournament champions Wright State (42) and UIC (34).
Youngstown State was selected fourth in the preseason poll with 24 poll points while Northern Kentucky (15), Oakland (13), and Purdue Fort Wayne (9) rounded out the poll.
D1 BASEBALL TOP PROSPECTS
In D1Baseball.com's Horizon League preview,a trio of Panthers' pitchers were recognized as top prospects.
AJ Blubaugh was listed as a top prospect for 2022 while
Riley Frey made the list for 20212 and newcomer
Logan Schulfer was named an impact freshman. The nationally recognized publication also predicted Frey as Horizon League Pitcher of the Year.
CATCH ALL THE ACTION
The Milwaukee Athletic department announced that it will broadcast 14 select home baseball games this spring on ESPN+. Additionally, all 24 of the Panthers home games will feature either live audio or video.
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 $6.99 a month (or $69.99 per year) and cancel at any time. Launched in April of 2018, ESPN+ is an integrated part of a completely redesigned ESPN App.
For road games, visit MKEPanthers.com for live coverage links.
WHAT'S ON DECK
Milwaukee returns to Franklin Field on Tuesday, April 19 to host Illinois State at 4:00 pm. The Panthers then take on MSOE on Wednesday before doubleheaders against UIC and Youngstown State next weekend. All updates and live coverage links can be found on MKEPanthers.com.
