**SCHEDULE UPDATE** - Due to field conditions at Stockton, the first game of the series at Pacific on Friday, February 24 has been moved to Billy Hebert Field in Stockton, California. There will be no live video of the game, but live stats will be available using the links found on MKEPanthers.com


MILWAUKEE – After the team's season-opening weekend in Alabama, the Milwaukee baseball team heads west to Stockton, California for a three-game set against the Pacific Tigers. The Panthers and Tigers are scheduled to play a single game on Friday evening, before a pair of contests on Saturday afternoon.

MKE opened the year 2-1 against North Alabama last weekend, with pitching and timely hitting playing a key factor for the Panthers in both Milwaukee victories.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS
Pacific enters this weekend's series after getting swept in a three-game set against UNLV in Las Vegas last weekend. The Tigers fell by the scores of 14-6, 8-3, and 31-6.

The Pacific pitching staff struggled, yielding a total of 53 runs with 39 of those earned for a team ERA of 14.63. Grant Stevens started the opener and allowed eight runs over three innings, while the bullpen allowed an additional five earned runs.

Jacob Smith started in the team's second game and tossed two scoreless innings, but the bullpen allowed eight runs over the remaining six innings to spoil the early start.

Jake Tandy started the third game and allowed four runs while retiring just one batter, four of the five relievers to follow all allowed at least four earned runs apiece.

Defensively, Pacific struggled with four errors over the first two games, while committing five errors in the finale.

The Tigers offensively hit a collective .302 as a team with nine extra-base hits and 10 RBIs. Tony Otis and Jacob Weiss lead the team on the young season with two RBIs apiece.

Rylan Evans has a team-best .615 batting average with eight hits in 13 at bats, while Peyton Miller has seven hits in 13 at bats for a .538 average.

SERIES HISTORY
Milwaukee has never met Pacific in the sport of baseball, as the two programs will compete for the first time this weekend.

This will be the Panthers' first trip to the state of California since the 2020 season. MKE played a four-game set against Sacramento State, then of the Western Athletic Conference.

STRONG OPENING EFFORTS
On the hill, Riley Frey picked up where he left off a season ago as he tossed six scoreless innings as he struck out seven in the opener. Johnny Kelliher, Sam Mathews and Nick Gilhaus each pitched an inning of scoreless relief for the shutout win.

In game two, Milwaukee sent newcomer Luke Hansel to the hill following an impressive junior college career, the right-hander made the most of his Panther debut with nine strikeouts over five scoreless innings. Nate DeYoung got the save while striking out two over his 2/3 innings of work.

Eliot Turnquist got the nod in game three and struck out one over his two hitless innings of work. Mike Sullivan also pitched a scoreless inning for the Panthers in the finale against the Lions.

THE TIME IS NOW
In the first game of the season, Milwaukee relied heavily on timely hitting in its 5-0 win as Milwaukee totaled 11 hits, with just three coming for extra bases. Milwaukee had three run-scoring singles and a pop out to score a run.

Game two saw more of the same, as the Panther had just seven hits, all singles in the 6-4 victory. Three runs scored on a pair of singles, while Milwaukee also had a sacrifice fly and scored runs on a wild pitch and an error to put the pressure on the North Alabama pitchers.

DIGGING THE LONG BALL
Milwaukee connected on three home runs last weekend at North Alabama as Nate DeYoung picked up the 10th of his career, while Marcus Cline and Ty Olejnik picked up the second in their careers with the Panthers.

The Panthers have out-homered opponents 3-1 this year and is looking to buck the trend of being out-homered. The last time the Panther had more home runs than their opponents came in 2019 (48-42). 2019 was also the last time MKE had a better batting average and outscored their opponents during a season.

LUCKY 7
With his seven strikeouts during the season opener, Riley Frey has struck out at least seven batters in 12 of his 29 career appearances. Including a career-high 10 against Alabama A&M and Northern Kentucky as a sophomore in 2022.

The lefty has amassed 159 strikeouts over 165 innings of work thus far in his career.

SWIPING RIGHT!
In three games, Milwaukee has stolen seven bases and is on pace for 116 through the team's 50-game season.

The program record for stolen bases on a season came back in 2016, when the Panthers stole 103. As a program, the team has only stolen more than 80 bags in just four seasons (2016: 103; 2015: 102; 2001: 93; and 2011: 87).

PRESEASON POLL
The Horizon League announced the results of its preseason coaches' poll last week with Milwaukee selected to finish in third position with a total of 28 points, just one behind second-place Oakland.
Wright State was a near unanimous selection to repeat as Horizon League champions, hauling in five of six first-place votes. Northern Kentucky received the final first-place vote, and were fifth in the preseason poll with just 21 points.

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.

AROUND THE LEAGUES
After being traded to the Toronto Blue Jays from the Arizona Diamondbacks, former Milwaukee Panthers catcher Daulton 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.

Following his sophomore season with the Panthers in 2022, the Houston Astros selected AJ Blubaugh from the Milwaukee roster in the seventh round of the Major League Baseball draft and was ultimately assigned to the Fayetteville Woodpeckers of the Low-A Carolina League he was selected as the Carolina League Pitcher of the Month in September of 2022 after throwing 13 innings and striking out 20 batters in three games.

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), pitched 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.