HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Milwaukee baseball team opened Horizon League play with a doubleheader against the Northern Kentucky Norse and were swept by its host by 12-3 and 7-0 scores.
 
"Sometimes you lose in baseball and sometimes you get beat. Today we got beat in every facet of the game," said head coach Scott Doffek postgame. "I thought our spirit was good, but we failed to execute in either game."
 
Milwaukee was only able to muster 13 hits over the two games, with Mark Connelly leading the way with four hits and Tommy Benson collecting three. The team was 13-for-67 on the day, for a team batting average of .194.
 
"We have a lineup full of some bruised egos right now," added Doffek. "We need to step up and find a way to salvage this weekend. It's a long conference schedule but these games are big."
 
Aaron Chapman was a rare highlight on the day, with a pair of solo home runs in the opening game. It was the 64th two-home run game in program history for an individual, and 68th multi-home run game with the program record of four coming back in 1999.
 
Pitching also struggled for the Panthers on the day, as both Riley Frey in the opener and Luke Hansel in game two allowed five earned runs over four innings apiece.
 
Gavin Theis tossed a scoreless inning in the opener, while Nick Gilhaus pitched two scoreless frames and Sam Mathews hung up one zero in game two. Tyler Deleskiewicz pitched 2/3 of an inning in game two and struck out two batters around a single.
 
Game 1 Summary
Milwaukee got on the board in the top of the first inning with two outs as Connelly doubled to centerfield. Chapman reached on a throwing error that allowed Connelly to cross the plate to put the Panthers up by one.
 
Northern Kentucky scored one in the bottom of the first and took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second. The top of the third frame saw Milwaukee even the score at two as Chapman connected on his first home run of the game to left centerfield.
 
The Norse regained the lead in the bottom of the third, and then put up crooked numbers in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings before taking a 12-2 lead into the eighth.

Chapman led off the top of the eighth and homered again over the left field fence to cap off the scoring for Milwaukee. The Panthers went down in order in the ninth as the Norse took the opener, 12-3.
 
Game 2 Summary
Hansel tossed two scoreless frames to begin his outing, as the Panthers only had two batters reach the first time through the lineup.
 
Northern Kentucky broke through first on the scoreboard with four runs in the third and one in the fourth to take a five-run lead.
 
In the top of the sixth, Ty Olejnik had a one-out single, followed by another base knock off the bat of Connelly put MKE did not get the needed-hit to break through.
 
Milwaukee had a base runner on in the final three innings of the game but could not string together any offensive productivity as the team was held scoreless for the first time on the season.
 
Northern Kentucky added two runs in the bottom of the eighth to round out the scoring at 7-0.
 
Up Next
Milwaukee will wrap up the series this weekend, as the third game of the series has been tentatively moved to Saturday, March 18 with first pitch set for 12 p.m. (CT). Due to the forecasted temperatures, the game may be adjusted again that determination will not be made until Saturday morning.