HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky.  – Nate DeYoung belted two home runs and Riley Frey and AJ Blubaugh tag-teamed the pitching effort as the Milwaukee baseball team topped Northern Kentucky 6-5 on Friday afternoon.
 
"It was good to get out of here with a win," head coach Scott Doffek said. "Riley [Frey] did a great job of making some big pitches in some big spots. There were some strange things early that cost him a couple runs so it was a great job pitching through adversity."
 
Frey allowed just two earned runs across 5.0 innings as he struck out eight and walked one to earn his fourth victory of the season.
 
"Obviously, DeYoung had another great day and did most of the heavy lifting for the offense."
 
The Panthers (17-23, 6-12 HL) got on the board first thanks to a sacrifice fly from Aaron Chapman followed by a two-run shot from DeYoung for a 3-0 lead.
 
NKU (14-26, 7-12 HL) rallied to tie 3-3 in the second, but DeYoung struck again in the third. The junior belted another two-run homer, this one to straight away center field for a 5-3 lead.
 
Again, the Norse had an answer as they matched with two runs in the third, but the Panthers found the edge in the fifth.
 
Zach Nogalski walked to open the frame and after moving over on a Justin Hausser groundout and a wild pitch, he scored on a bunt from Mitchell Buban for a 6-5 lead.
 
Frey worked around a leadoff single in the fifth and Blubaugh entered in the sixth to close it out.
 
The sophomore forced three straight flyouts in the sixth and got a big groundout to pick up the save after NKU put the tying run on third base.
 
It marked DeYoung's second multi-homer game this season as he finished with two bombs and four RBI.
 
Luke Seidel reached base three times with a pair of walks while Mark Connelly ripped a double and reached on a walk scoring two runs.
 
Game two of the doubleheader was cancelled due to rain.
 
The Panthers will be back home on Sunday as they host Oakland in a 12:00 pm doubleheader on ESPN+. Live coverage links available on MKEPanthers.com.