VALPARAISO, Ind. – The Milwaukee baseball team went to extra innings for the first time on the season and fell to the Valparaiso Beacons by the score of 7-6 on Tuesday afternoon. The game had six lead changes and saw the game tied on four occasions before the Beacons eventually pulled it out in the end.
 
The Panthers had come back from down two runs with a pair of runs in the top of the eighth inning to tie the game at six but were unable to score as the Beacons got the game-winning run across in the bottom of the 11th inning for the one-run victory.
 
"That was a really disappointing loss today," said head coach Scott Doffek. "Of the seven runs they scored I feel liked we aided them with five of them and beat ourselves."
 
Milwaukee had a chance to take the lead in the top of the 11th with two on and nobody down, before loading the bases with one out but the Panthers were unable to take a lead in the extra frames. "We had a chance with the bases loaded and one down in the top of the 11th inning," Doffek added. "Not scoring in that spot was a really big letdown."
 
The Panthers had 12 hits on the day led by Luke Seidel and Ty Olejnik with three hits apiece as the pair drove in one run each. Nate DeYoung also had a multi-hit effort with his third home run of the season while he along with Justin Hausser were tied for the team lead with two RBIs each.
 
On the hill, Owen Rice got the start and went the first two innings as he allowed one run. Sam Mathews threw 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball, while Johnny Kelliher tossed a hitless inning and Nick Gilhaus pitched two scoreless innings out of the bullpen. Rice, Adrian Montilva, Gilhaus and Mike Sullivan all had two strikeouts apiece.
 
Milwaukee got a leadoff single in the top of the first by Seidel, who moved up to third with two down, but the Panthers were unable to score the runner. The bottom of the inning saw Rice walk the first batter he faced but was helped by Jack Thelen with another baserunner caught on a steal attempt to end the threat.
 
The Panthers got on the board in the top of the second to take the early lead as DeYoung doubled, followed two batters later by a run-scoring double by Hausser to put Milwaukee up by one. In the bottom of the inning, the Beacons tied the game with a leadoff home run.
 
After a scoreless third inning thrown by DJ Kojis the Panthers regained the lead in the top of the fourth as Tommy Benson reached on a one-out double and moved up to third on a wild pitch. Hausser picked up another RBI on a groundout to put Milwaukee back up by one.
 
In the bottom of the fourth, Valparaiso took its first lead of the game with two runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 3-2 lead.
 
Milwaukee wrestled the lead right back in the top of the fifth as Mark Connelly sparked another rally with a two-out single followed by a two-run home run off the bat of DeYoung to give Milwaukee a 4-3 advantage. The Beacons knotted the score at four in the bottom of the fifth on a sacrifice fly.
 
The Panther offense was unable to do anything outside of a two-out single by Olejnik in the top of the sixth. The Beacons opened a 6-4 lead in the bottom of the inning all with two outs on a triple, walk, double and single.
 
After a hitless bottom of the seventh by Kelliher, the Panthers came back up to bat in the top of the eighth. Benson reached on a one-out walk followed by a walk by Hausser to put a pair of Panthers on base. Two batters later Olejnik drove in a run on a single through the right side before Seidel drove home the tying run on the first pitch to chase Hausser home with Milwaukee's sixth run.
 
The Beacons threatened in the bottom of the ninth with a leadoff single against Gilhaus, but the right-handed was able to strand the winning run on third with an eight-pitch strikeout to send the game to extra innings.
 
Both teams went down in order in the 10th, as the Panthers came up in the 11th and Olejnik got a Panther rally going with a seven-pitch walk. Seidel followed with a bunt single, and an error by the Beacons allowed Olejnik to advance to third. Seidel stole second and after a strikeout, Chapman was walked intentionally with the Valparaiso pitcher striking out the next two batters to strand the bases full of Panthers.
 
Valparaiso opened the bottom of the inning with an infield single, and the winning run advanced to second on a passed ball. The next batter doubled to right field as the Beacons escaped with the win in their home opener.
 
Milwaukee will be back on the road this weekend, when the Panthers pay a visit to the Oakland Golden Grizzlies beginning on Friday afternoon with first pitch slated for 1:30 p.m. (CT).