MILWAUKEE, Wis. - The Milwaukee baseball team preps for its final week of the regular season as the Panthers welcome Wright State to Franklin Field for a three-game series beginning on Thursday, May 19.
 
First pitch on Thursday is set for 6:00 pm. Game two will take place on Friday at 6:00 pm and will feature Dog Day for the second straight season. Fans are invited to bring their furry friends to the ballpark. Each fan and dog must have a ticket to enter.
 
On Saturday, the Panthers will celebrate Senior Day and Alumni Day. First pitch is set for 2:00 pm. Milwaukee will also celebrate its official change in home ballparks, moving from Henry Aaron Field to Franklin Field. The official change will be commemorated with "The Hank to The Frank" t-shirts for the first 500 fans. The Panthers will celebrate six seniors in Mitchell Buban, Mike Edwards, Conner Goodman, Adam LaRock, Jack Mahoney, and Zach Nogalski.
 
All three games will be featured on ESPN+ with Scott Warras on the call. Any updates and live coverage links for this week can be found on MKEPanthers.com.
 
SCOUTING THE RAIDERS
Defending Horizon League Champion Wright State earned a pair of splits over the weekend against Purdue Fort Wayne and Milwaukee and sit atop the Horizon League standings with an 18-8 record.
 
The Raiders are third in the league with a .273 batting average but lead the way with a .465 slugging percentage thanks to 174 extra-base hits. WSU has belted 66 home runs which tops the league and ranks 53rd in NCAA Division I. Alex Sayre paces the Raiders with a .351 batting average while Gehrig Anglin has 12 doubles and 15 home runs with a .275 average.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Milwaukee and Wright State have had a storied rivalry with the Raiders having a 74-62 all-time series advantage. The two split the doubleheader on Sunday with the Panthers holding WSU to just two hits in a 1-0 victory at Nischwitz Stadium.
 
WORK TO DO FOR THE TOURNEY
With just three games left in the Horizon League regular season slate, the Panthers will need some wins and some help to reach the tournament.
 
MKE is 8-16 in Horizon League action and need to catch Northern Kentucky or Youngstown State who both sit at 10-15.
 
If Milwaukee goes 3-0, it would jump NKU or YSU if either team goes 0-3 or 1-2. If the Panthers win two of three, MKE would need either NKU or YSU to get swept. If the Panthers fail to win two, Milwaukee would finish seventh and miss the postseason for the first time since 1995 when it joined the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (later named the Horizon League in 2002).
 
Northern Kentucky hosts Oakland (16-10) while Youngstown State hosts UIC (13-9) this week.
 
NEAR NO-NO
Jack Mahoney and AJ Blubaugh were lights out on Sunday as the two combined for a two-hit shutout to lead the Panthers to a 1-0 win over Wright State.
 
Mahoney tossed six scoreless innings allowing just two hits while striking out seven before Blubaugh entered in the seventh to pick up his sixth save.
 
For his performance, Mahoney was named Horizon League Pitcher of the Week for the first time in his career. The award marked the fourth weekly honor for the Panthers this year and first since March 15. He became the third different Milwaukee pitcher to collect the award.
 
HOERTER IS HUMMIN'
Ryan Hoerter entered game two on Friday out of the bullpen and shouldered the load, tossing seven strong. The redshirt junior struck out five and allowed just two earned runs against the Mastodons.
 
Since April 9, Hoerter has been solid out of the bullpen with just four earned runs allowed in 18.0 innings pitched. He owns a 2.00 ERA in those seven appearances with 15 strikeouts and a 1-0 record.
 
Outside of a fluke outing against Northern Kentucky, Hoerter holds a 3.84 ERA in 11 appearances.
 
LIGHTS OUT IN THE 'PEN
AJ Blubaugh continued his impressive streak out of the bullpen, adding another scoreless frame to his total and pushing his scoreless innings streak to 8.2 innings.
 
He's been near perfect out of the bullpen with zero runs allowed in 10 innings of work. Blubaugh has struck out 15 batters, allowed just three hits, and earned six saves.
 
Overall, Blubaugh leads the Horizon League with a 2.76 ERA. The sophomore has 47 strikeouts in 49.0 innings pitched and is holding opponents to a .202 batting average.
 
On a national level, Blubaugh is 46th in NCAA Division I with 6.61 hits allowed per nine innings and 29th with a 0.98 WHIP.
 
EXTRA BASE MACHINE
Ty Olejnik racked up the extra-base hits last week, going 7-for-14 with four doubles and a home run. The redshirt sophomore drove in three runs and scored three more to lead the Panthers.
 
Olejnik opened the week with a double against Northwestern on Tuesday before raking in the Purdue Fort Wayne doubleheader. Against the Mastodons, Olejnik went 5-for-7 with two doubles and a homer. He capped the week with another double against Wright State on Sunday.
 
Thanks to a .500 batting average last week, Olejnik raised his season average nearly 50 points from .217 to .265. He is second on the team with 10 doubles.
 
SUCCESS ON THE BASE PATHS
The Panthers have had success on the base paths this season, leading the Horizon League with a 89.2 stolen base percentage. Milwaukee has 58 swipes to its credit, third most in the league.
 
MKE opened the year 43-for-43 on stolen base attempts before someone finally caught the Panthers. 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.
 
Individually, Luke Seidel and Aaron Chapman lead the way for Milwaukee, ranking third and fourth in the Horizon League with 15 and 14 stolen bases, respectively.
 
ETCHED INTO THE RECORD BOOK
A starter since arriving on campus, senior Mitchell Buban has found his way into the Milwaukee record book.
 
Buban currently ranks third all-time with 214 games played, trailing Luke Meeteer (2012-16) and Doug Dekoning (2008-11) with 222 games apiece.
 
The shortstop also ranks second in program history with 54 hit by pitch for his career, trailing Clay Schwartz (1994-97) who recorded 68 which was a NCAA record upon his graduation.
 
THE MAGIC 8 BALL
With a 17-4 victory over Youngstown State on April 24, the Panthers improved to 10-0 when scoring at least eight runs this season. When MKE fails to reach that number, the Panthers are just 4-20.
 
In fact, in the last 13 years, Milwaukee is 165-18-1 when putting up at least eight runs. The Panthers are 23-0 in the last three years with at least eight runs on the board.
 
PULLING IN WEEKLY AWARDS
The Panthers have earned some Horizon League recognition this season with four 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.
 
Most recently, Jack Mahoney was named Pitcher of the Week behind a shutout performance against Wright State where he struck out seven and allowed just two hits.
 
LOOKING AT THE LEAGUE
The 2022 Horizon League Preseason Baseball Coaches' poll was released on February 17 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
If the Panthers can catch either Northern Kentucky or Youngstown State, Milwaukee will head to the Horizon League Tournament which begins on May 25. All updates and live coverage links can be found on MKEPanthers.com.