MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee baseball team raises the curtain on the 2023 season this weekend as the Panthers take on the North Alabama Lions at Mike D. Lane Field in Florence, Alabama in a three-game set.

The Panthers return three honorees from last year's team, as senior outfielder Luke Seidel and junior pitcher Riley Frey each earned All-Horizon League Second Team accolades in 2022. Justin Hausser was also named to the All-Freshman team.

Seidel led the team with a .305 average a year ago with 51 hits, including 10 for extra bases. The Inverness, Illinois-native also led the team in stolen bases with 15 and walked 24 times for a .399 on-base percentage. Seidel had 31 runs scored and drove in 19 with a .782 OPS.

Frey led the team in innings a year ago twirling a team-high 79 frames and pitching to a 4.10 earned run average and a 1.42 WHIP. He totaled five wins and a save, while striking out 85 batters over his 13 starts/14 outings as  he held opponents to a .263 batting average.

Hausser had a .357 average while playing 30 of Milwaukee's 50 games a year ago, which included three doubles and a home run in his 25 hits as a rookie. Hausser had 12 RBIs and scored nine runs, while walking 11 times for an on-base percentage of .458.

Milwaukee's projected lineup for this weekend in Alabama will likely feature a veteran-heavy lineup including Aaron Chapman, who returns with a team-best 35 RBIs from a season ago. Other key senior pieces are catcher Jack Thelen (.248 AVG/19 RBIs), second baseman Mark Connelly (.311 AVG/17 RBIs), and Nate DeYoung (.255 AVG/30 RBIs).

Shortstop Marcus Cline (.285 AVG/15 RBIs), and outfielders Tommy Benson (.227 AVG/16 RBIs) and Ty Olejnik (.305 AVG/10 RBIs) along with Hausser round out the projected lineup for the Panthers to start the season.

Jake Novak and Quinton Morris each had 13 RBIs a year ago, with Novak hitting .228 over his 32 games and 22 starts and Morris picking up a .200 average in 34 games and 19 starts.

Alongside Frey anchoring the rotation, expect Eliot Turnquist to get more starts than appearances in comparison to his junior season. A year ago, Turnquist had three starts and nine appearnces and tossed 27 2/3 innings while striking out just over a batter an inning with 28 punchouts on the season. Turnquist ended the year with a 5.40 ERA.

Senior Ryan Hoerter had 33 innings over 13 outings as a junior with 27 strikeouts, while classmate Andy Neu had 16 strikeouts over his 17 1/3 innings in 16 visits to the mound.

Also picking up significant innings in 2022 were junior Nick Gilhaus, who had 30 strikeouts over his 37 2/3 innings of work and juniors Keagon Kaufmann (21.0 IP/16 Ks) and James Severson (15.0 IP/15 Ks).

The Panthers brought in 11 newcomers to the staff, looking to help a Milwaukee staff that had a team 6.29 ERA over 418 innings a season ago.

SCOUTING THE LIONS
Entering just their fifth season in Division I, the Lions are under new leadership with Jad Prachniak, who was hired by North Alabama in late June 2022. Prachniak has had a very successful head coaching run at Division II West Chester of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, where he posted a .682 winning percentage with a 273-127-1 record.

The top three hitters from North Alabama's lineup have departed the team, leaving Jonathan Lane as the team's top returning hitter with a .277 batting average. Lane also had 28 RBIs a year ago while leading the Lions with five home runs in 47 games. Senior Drew Hudson had 31 RBIs with a .235 average a year ago as he started in all 53 of the team's games.

Jacob James led the staff a year ago with 71 2/3 innings in 20 game/10 starts, while recording 66 strikeouts and posting a 6.66 ERA. Jacob Bradshaw tossed 56 innings and stroked out 39 while recording an 8.84 ERA.

North Alabama welcomes nine true freshmen to the roster, with all but two having the ability to pitch.

Last season the Lions finished last in the West Division of the Atlantic Sun Conference, which was won by third-seeded Kennesaw State. The Owls lost their opening round NCAA Tournament matchup to LSU before knocking off Army West Point in the elimination bracket, Kennesaw State was ultimately eliminated by host Southern Miss., who ultimately advanced to the super regionals.

SERIES HISTORY
This weekend's series will be the first-ever meeting between Milwaukee and North Alabama.

WHAT'S ON DECK
After the three-game swing in Alabama, the Panthers head to the West Coast to battle Pacific in a three-game set next weekend in Stockton, California.

The set with Pacific will feature the team's lone doubleheader of the season on Saturday, following a single-game on Friday.

PERFECT GAME PREVIEW
PerfectGame.org revealed its Horizon League season preview on February 6, with a trio of Panthers earning preseason all-conference honors. Outfielder Ty Olejnik, and pitchers Riley Frey and transfer Owen Rice were all selected for honors.

CHANGE IN SCHEDULE
With the departure of UIC from the Horizon League, the conference adjusted the schedule for 2023 and will no longer feature a five-game season-long series amongst conference opponents and will instead feature a more balanced three-home, three-road game split among the six remaining conference members.

VARSHO ON THE MOVE
This offseason in Major League Baseball, the Arizona Diamondbacks traded former Milwaukee Panthers catcher Daulton Varsho to the Toronto Blue Jays for Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Gabriel Moreno.

Varsho is projected to be the opening day leftfielder for Toronto according to the team's depth chart on its official website.

Through three Major League season, Varsho has a career .234 batting average with 41 home runs and 121 RBIs in 283 career games with the D'Backs.

The Blue Jays are not scheduled to visit Milwaukee this season but are expected to visit Varsho's collegiate hometown during the 2024 season.

BLUBAUGH'S IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Following his sophomore season with the Panthers a year ago in which he earned Reliever of the Year honors from the Horizon League, the Houston Astros selected AJ Blubaugh from the Milwaukee roster in the seventh round of the Major League Baseball draft. Blubaugh became the 24th player in program history to be selected by a MLB franchise.

Following his selection, Blubaugh was assigned to the Florida Coast League Astros Blue, where he was for three outings before being assigned to the Fayetteville Woodpeckers of the Low-A Carolina League.

After throwing 13 innings and striking out 20 batters in three games he was selected as the Carolina League Pitcher of the Month in September of 2022.

AROUND THE LEAGUES
Trevor Schwecke finished his 2022 campaign with the Blue Jays organization and made it to Triple-A Buffalo on a callup in late August. On the year he hit .230 with 10 home runs and 44 RBIs including three home runs and 11 RBIs in 19 games with Buffalo.

Austin Schulfer coasted through 23 innings with a 0.39 ERA in 15 games with Double-A Texas to earn his promotion to Triple-A St. Paul, where he appeared in 29 games and had a 5.23 ERA as he earned himself an invite to Major League Spring Training with the Minnesota Twins in 2023.

After being claimed in the Rule V Draft by the Boston Red Sox in 2021 and pitching for the Worcester WooSox this past season (6-5, 3.27 ERA, 113 IP, 126 Ks), pitcher Brian Keller signed with the Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball.

A five-year career with the Panthers for Jack Mahoney concluded this past spring after throwing 31 innings and striking out 33 while pitching to a 4.06 ERA with the Panthers in 2022. The left-hander followed it up by signing with the Milwaukee Milkmen of the American Association. He pitched in 32 games with one start and struck out 48 batters over 39 1/3 innings.

CATCH ALL THE ACTION
The Milwaukee Athletic department announced that it will broadcast all 20 home baseball games at Franklin Field this spring on ESPN+. Additionally, all 21 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.