MILWAUKEE – Milwaukee baseball concludes its season-opening road trip this week, when the Panthers visit non-conference UIC on Tuesday at 4:05 p.m., before heading to Highland Heights, Kentucky, to open Horizon League play against the Norse with the first of three starting on Friday at 1:00 p.m. CT. 

The Panthers are 7-6 on the season entering play this week after a 1-2 weekend at Murray State. MKE looks to get the ship righted against UIC, who shifted to the Missouri Valley Conference this past offseason after nearly 20 years in the Horizon League. Following the trip to Chicago, Milwaukee will take on Northern Kentucky, who received one first-place vote in the Horizon League preseason poll and finished just ahead of Milwaukee in the final 2022 Horizon League standings.
 
All updates and live coverage links for this week can be found on MKEPanthers.com.

SCOUTING THE FLAMES
UIC has played 11 games on the season thus far and are 5-6 in those games. The Flames lost their four-game home set to St. Thomas (Minn.) due to weather in the Chicagoland area this past weekend. In its most-recent game, UIC knocked off Northwestern this past Tuesday by a 10-6 score in its home opener.

With 96 hits on the season, the Flames have 28 extra-base hits with a .261 team batting average and a .402 slugging percentage. Leading the way for the team is AJ Henkle with a .344 batting average with nine RBIs and a .462 on-base percentage with six walks. Charlie Szykowny has a team-best 14 hits with six RBIs and a team-best eight runs scored. Henkle and Szykowny both lead the team along with Ryan Nagelbach with two home runs apiece.

On the mound Kade Lancour leads the team with four starts and 18 1/3 innings pitched with a 6.38 ERA and a team-best 13 strikeouts. Brandon Bak has three starts with 11 strikeouts and a 6.14 ERA, while Zac Gould has a dozen strikeouts over 10 2/3 innings over his four relief outings.

The Flames have a .986 fielding percentage with just five errors in 367 total chances.

SCOUTING THE NORSE
Northern Kentucky is 8-7 through the team's first 15 games and will take on Miami (Ohio) on Tuesday before welcoming Milwaukee for the conference openers on Friday. The Norse played No. 15 Texas A&M this past weekend and lost all three in College Station, Texas, falling in all three by 8-1, 12-1 and 10-7 scores.

The Norse are hitting .304 on the season with 52 extra-base hits and 116 RBIs with an .866 OPS. Leading the way for the Norse is Treyvin Moss with 23 hits with 12 RBIs and a team-best 15 runs scored. Colton Kucera leads the team with a .450 batting average with 18 hits and 10 RBIs. Liam McFadden-Ackman has driven in a league-best 20 runs, with Manny Vorhees right behind with 19 on the RBI leaderboard.

Kaden Echeman and Ben Gerl have led the staff with four starts apiece, as Echeman is 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA over 15 innings pitched with 17 strikeouts. Gerl leads the Norse with 18 strikeouts and has posted a 9.19 ERA over 15 2/3 innings. Clay Brock is tied for the team lead with six appearances as he has a team-best 2.04 ERA, which is tops in the Horizon League just ahead of Milwaukee's Luke Hansel at 2.05. Five other Norse have started games this season, with Matthew Lopez (1-1, 4.73 ERA) and Aaron Massie (0-0, 9.26 ERA) having two starts apiece.

The Norse are second in the league on defense, trailing Milwaukee, with a .977 fielding percentage as the Norse have committed just 12 errors in a total of 526 chances. Milwaukee has committed just nine errors in 441 total chances to lead the Horizon League.

SERIES HISTORY
Milwaukee has played UIC a program-record 158 times entering play on Tuesday as former conference foes in the Horizon League. The Panthers are 65-93 in all-time meetings with the Flames, and most recently played a doubleheader in late April of 2022 with UIC winning the pair by 7-0 and 12-5 scores.

In 37 all-time meetings with the Norse, Milwaukee owns a 23-14 record against Northern Kentucky. The Panthers won their last two visits to Highland Height, Kentucky, winning in May of 2022 by a 6-5 score, and a 19-2 win in late March of 2021.

STRENGTH IN LENGTH
In back-to-back games a pair of Milwaukee pitchers provided length in their respective outings as Nick Gilhaus tossed 6 2/3 innings of scoreless relief in the March 1 win over Minnesota, followed by a seven-inning outing by starter Riley Frey in the team's 3-1 win over Southeast Missouri on March 4.

The two outings are the two longest appearances by pitchers in the Horizon League through the first four weeks of the season as no Horizon League pitcher has pitched more than six innings thus far on the season.

Frey and fellow starter Luke Hansel both have multiple six-inning appearances under their respective belts, which are both currently in the top-10 of Horizon League pitchers.

TOUGH TO STRIKEOUT
Through the team's first 13 games of the season, Marcus Cline has struck out twice in his 50 at bats.

That ratio places him eighth in all of NCAA Division I in the "Toughest to Strikeout" category and is also tops in the Horizon League. Joining Cline among those ranked is Mark Connelly, who is 134th nationally with five strikeouts in 46 at bats.

THE STOLEN BASE RACE
In 13 games, Milwaukee's Luke Seidel has stolen 10 bases on the season and is currently 25th in Division I in stolen bases, while he is 12th in the country in stolen bases per game at 0.77. Seidel and Northern Kentucky's Treyvin Moss are the only two in the Horizon League with more than five stolen bases, as Moss currently leads the league with 12.

In Milwaukee history, Seidel is now tied for fifth on the all-time stolen base list with 41 for his career, with the all-time program record set at 98 by Luke Meeteer from 2012-16.

SAVING THE DAY
Nate DeYoung has already recorded five saves as Milwaukee has relied heavily on the senior righty to lock down five of the team's seven wins on the season thus far, including a three-strikeout performance in the team's 3-2 win over Murray State on March 10.

It is the earliest in a season that a pitcher has recorded at least four saves since Cody Peterson had his fourth on March 14 of the 2015 season. Peterson needed 12 games to record his fourth, while DeYoung had five saves in the team's dozen games.

CAUGHT HIM LOOKING
With 21 strikeouts on the year, Riley Frey is second in the Horizon League in total strikeouts. However, Frey leads the league with the most strikeouts looking, getting 12 of his 21 strikeouts glaring at his third strike.

Luke Hansel is tied for third in the league in strikeouts looking with seven of his league-leading 27 strikeouts have been looking.

COMING THROUGH IN A PINCH
With two outs in an inning, Luke Seidel has a .571 batting average, while Justin Hausser is second with a .381 average with two outs in an inning. Hausser also leads the team in batting average with runners on base at .346. Marcus Cline has five two-out RBIs, with Mark Connelly in second with three two-out RBIs.

KEEPING IT IN THE PARK
Through the team's first 13 games this season, Milwaukee pitching has only allowed seven home runs this season. The number is currently tops in the Horizon League, with Northern Kentucky second with 11 home runs allowed.

On the flip side, Youngstown State has allowed 16 home runs this season, while Purdue Fort Wayne, Wright State, and Oakland have all yielded at least 21 home runs this season.

THROW DOWN
Beware to all baserunners against Panther backstop Jack Thelen, the senior has thrown out four stolen base attempts against him, while only five have stolen a base safely against Thelen.

Milwaukee's backstop currently leads the team and is fourth in the Horizon League in putouts with 85, while he is also tied for the team and league lead with a 1.000 fielding percentage.

LUCKY SEVEN
With his seven strikeouts during the season opener, Riley Frey has struck out at least seven batters in 12 of his 32 career appearances. Including a career-high 10 against Alabama A&M and Northern Kentucky as a sophomore in 2022.

The lefty has amassed 173 strikeouts over 182 innings of work thus far in his career.

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.

PLAY BALL!
Through a marketing agreement with the Milwaukee Brewers, the Panthers have played at American Family Field, home of the Brewers, every season since 2002 (excluding 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

The Panthers are 19-11 all-time in games played at Milwaukee's Major League Stadium, including last season's 5-2 win over MSOE. The Panthers and Raiders will meet on April 26 following the Brewers/Tigers game.

AROUND THE LEAGUES

• Daulton Varsho (Toronto; Major League Baseball).
  • Season Begins March 30 at St. Louis.
  • Spring Training: 11 G, .222 AVG, 1 Double, 5 RBIs
• Austin Schulfer (Minnesota, MLB Non-Roster Invitee).
  • Season Begins March 31 at Kansas City.
  • Spring Training: 4 G, 4.2 IP, 3 ER, 5K.
• Trevor Schwecke (Buffalo; Triple-A).
  • Season Begins April 1 at Scranton/Wilkes Barre.
• AJ Blubaugh (Fayetteville; Single-A).
  • Season Begins April 7 vs. Carolina.
• Brian Keller (Hanshin; Nippon Professional Baseball).
  • Season Begins March 31 vs. Kyocera.
• Jack Mahoney (Milwaukee; American Association).
  • Season Begins May 12 at Lake Country.

CATCH ALL THE ACTION
Thanks to ESPN+, Milwaukee baseball fans will have the opportunity to watch the Panthers all season long. All of Milwaukee's home games will be carried live online at ESPN+, excluding the April 26 game at American Family Field. The Horizon League and ESPN have an agreement that includes ESPN hosting the league's digital network on the ESPN+ platform.

ESPN+ offers fans thousands of live events, on-demand content, and original programming not available on ESPN's linear TV or digital networks. Fans can subscribe to ESPN+ for just $9.99 a month (or $99.99 per year) and can cancel at any time.

For road games, visit MKEPanthers.com for live coverage links.