MILWAUKEE – Milwaukee baseball continues its season-opening road trip this weekend, when the Panthers visit the Murray State Racers for a three-game set in Murray, Kentucky beginning on Friday, March 10 at 3:00 p.m.
 
The Panthers enter this weekend's set with Murray State at 6-4 on the season but lost two of three against Southeast Missouri this past weekend. In the finale against the Redhawks, Milwaukee had a season-high seven runs and 14 hits, and three doubles with a season-best .341 batting average in the losing effort.
 
All updates and live coverage links for this week can be found on MKEPanthers.com.

SCOUTING THE RACERS
Murray State has been having some early-season success on offense thus far with a .264 team batting average with 11 home runs and 68 RBIs. Heading into this week, the Racers have scored 73 runs with a .404 slugging percentage.

Leading the way for Murray State is Carson Garner and his .325 batting average with two home runs and 11 RBIs and a team-best .595 slugging percentage. Dustin Mercer leads the team with 13 runs scored and is tops on the team with 16 hits including a pair of round-trippers. Three others have at least a dozen hits through the first 12 games for the Racers as Brennan McCullough has 13 with 12 runs scored and eight RBIs, while Riley Hawthorne has 14 hits and eight runs scored, while Cade Sammons has picked up 12 hits including one double.

Defensively the Racers have struggled with 20 errors on the season, while also allowing 25 stolen bases in 28 attempts. The Racers are 228th in the nation in fielding percentage of the 295 teams in Division I.

Pitching for Murray State has also been subpar as the Racers have a team ERA of 5.30, including Cade Vernon's 8.18 in three starts this season. Ryan Fender has an 8.31 ERA through two starts, while Malik Pogue has started two games and has amassed an 11.25 ERA. Jacob Pennington has been the ace of staff and pitched well with a 3.71 ERA and a sub-one WHIP at 0.94 as he has allowed just seven earned runs over 17 innings with a team-best 16 strikeouts.

SERIES HISTORY
A lot has changed since the last time these two sides have met, such as a new millennium and five presidential elections. Milwaukee and Murray State have only played in Kentucky with the Racers winning the last meeting in March 1999 by a 9-7 score. They met for a doubleheader in March of 1994, with Milwaukee sweeping the pair, 6-4 and 4-1.

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 Wednesday's win over Minnesota, followed by a seven-inning outing by starter Riley Frey in the team's 3-1 win over Southeast Missouri on Friday.

The two outings are the two longest appearances by pitchers in the Horizon League through the first three weeks of the season.

Frey and fellow starter Luke Hansel both have 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 10 games of the season, Marcus Cline has struck out once in his 38 at bats.

That ratio places him fifth in all of NCAA Division I in the "Toughest to Strikeout" category. Joining Cline in the top-100 is Mark Connelly, who is 92nd nationally with three strikeouts in 37 at bats.

SAVING THE DAY
Nate DeYoung has already recorded four saves as Milwaukee has relieved heavily on the senior righty to lock down four of the team's six wins on the season thus far.

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

CAUGHT HIM LOOKING
With 18 strikeouts on the year, Riley Frey is third in the Horizon League in total strikeouts. However, Frey leads the league with the most strikeouts looking, getting 11 of his 18 strikeouts glaring at his third strike.

BACKING IT UP
After earning his Horizon League All-Freshman team nod in 2022, sophomore Justin Hausser has backed it up by hitting safely in all 10 of the team's games thus far on the season.

Dating back to last season, Hausser has hits in 15-straight games and 17 of his last 18 games. He has reached base in 20-straight games dating back to May 1 of his freshman season.

COMING THROUGH IN A PINCH
With two outs in an inning, Luke Seidel has a .500 batting average, while Justin Hausser is second with a .471 average with two outs in an inning.

With two outs, Marcus Cline has four two-out RBIs, with Mark Connelly right behind with three two-out RBIs.

KEEPING IT IN THE PARK
Through the team's first 10 games this season, Milwaukee pitching has only allowed five home runs this season. The number is currently tops in the Horizon League, with Northern Kentucky second with seven home runs allowed.

On the flip side, Purdue Fort Wayne, Oakland, and Youngstown State have all yielding 17 home runs and are tied for worst in the Horizon.

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

SWIPING RIGHT
In six games, Milwaukee has stolen 13 bases including nine by Luke Seidel.

Seidel is currently 13th in the nation in total stolen bases, while he is 10th in Division I in stolen bases per game at 0.90.

LUCKY SEVEN
With his seven strikeouts during the season opener, Riley Frey has struck out at least seven batters in 12 of his 31 career appearances. Including a career-high 10 against Alabama A&M and Northern Kentucky as a sophomore in 2022.

The lefty has amassed 170 strikeouts over 176 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: 6 G, .188 AVG, 1 RBI, 1 Run
• Austin Schulfer (Minnesota, MLB Non-Roster Invitee).
  • Season Begins March 31 at Kansas City.
  • Spring Training: 2 G, 3 IP, 2 ER, 3K.
• 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 cancel at any time.

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