MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee baseball will close a five-game road trip up on Tuesday at Illinois State before returning home to Franklin Field this weekend for a three-game Horizon League series against the Northern Kentucky Norse.

The Panthers and Redbirds will meet on Duffy Bass Field in Normal, Illinois for a 5:00 p.m. first pitch. Following the visit to Illinois, the Panthers welcome in the Norse to begin the second half of Horizon League play. Friday action at Franklin Field Starts at 4:00 p.m. before a 1:00 p.m. start on Saturday and a 12:00 p.m. first pitch on April 23. 

The Panthers are back at the .500 mark with a 16-16 record overall and a 7-7 Horizon League mark. The Panthers are currently alone in third place in the conference standings, just a half-game ahead of Oakland for the four seed. The Panthers trail league-leading Northern Kentucky by 3 1/2 games and second-place Wright State by 2 1/2 games.

All four games will be featured on ESPN+, while the three home games will be simulcast on both ESPN+ and the Black & Gold Network (audio streaming) with Scott Warras responsible for play-by-play duties. Links to the ESPN+ broadcasts, live audio streaming and live stat links can all be found on MKEPanthers.com.

Saturday will be Daulton Varsho bobblehead day at Franklin Field for the first 200 fans to walk through the gates. This weekend will also be Youth Teams Weekend at Franklin Field with youth league programs from throughout southeast Wisconsin expected to be in attendance. In addition, Saturday will also be Girl Scouts Day and Sunday will be Make-A-Wish Day at Franklin Field.

SCOUTING THE REDBIRDS
Projected to finish seventh in the Missouri Valley preseason coaches' poll, the Redbirds are currently 10th in the league and head into Tuesday's matchup with the Panthers on a seven-game skid having lost its last three in a conference series against Murray State at home this past weekend.

Shaydon Kubo and Daniel Pacella lead the offense for the Redbirds as Kubo has a team-high 37 hits and a .311 batting average, while Pacella is the team leader with nine home runs and 29 RBIs through 30 games this season. Greg Nichols also has 33 hits on the season and is fourth in the Missouri Valley Conference with 10 doubles. Auggie Rassmussen is fifth in the conference with two triples and is tied for the conference lead with 14 stolen bases, while also leads the Redbird squad with 23 runs scored.

Milwaukee is slated to face right-hander Thomas Harper on Tuesday, the local product from Wauwatosa, Wisconsin has a 9.00 ERA in his rookie season in Normal, Illinois while also striking out 15 batters over as many innings of work. Harper has a 1-1 record in eight total appearances with four starts under his belt. Pitching has been problematic for Illinois State as the team has accumulated a 7.23 ERA with 271 strikeouts over 265 innings of work. The Redbirds are led by ace Derek Salata, who has a team-best 3.02 ERA in 44 2/3 innings with nearly 22% of the team's strikeouts at 59 for the third highest in the Missouri Valley Conference. Elijah Dale is Illinois State's closer with three saves in 28 innings of work and is tied for the team lead with 11 relief appearances.

Illinois State is in the middle of the conference in fielding percentage at .970 with 32 errors. Catcher Dylan Swarmer, who was previously at Youngstown State, leads the team with a 1.000 fielding percentage in a team-high 195 chances, and has caught two baserunners in 35 stolen base attempts.

SCOUTING THE NORSE
Northern Kentucky has 21 wins, including 11 in Horizon League play, through its first 34 games on the season. The Norse swept their three-game series against the Oakland Golden Grizzlies over the weekend, scoring at least seven runs in all seven of those games. NKU has a seven-game conference winning streak dating back to April 2.

The offense has been the carrying force for the Norse in its 21 wins the team has scored at least six runs in 20 of them, posting a 20-3 record when Northern Kentucky scores at least six runs. Colton Kucera leads the Horizon league in batting with a .382 batting average, just one point ahead of Milwaukee's Aaron Chapman. Kucera has 39 hits, which is third highest on the team behind Noah Fisher with 44 and Treyvin Moss with 42. Fisher and Manny Vorhees are atop the conference in RBIs, with 45 and 44 respectively, with Fisher one off the pace of the league home run race with a team-best 10 round trippers in 2023. Moss is also the conference leader with 21 stolen bases in 22 attempts.

The three atop the rotation for Northern Kentucky have proven to be the most consistent starting staff in conference play through the first half of the league schedule as Clay Brock is second in the conference with a 3.21 ERA, Kaden Edhrman is third in the league at 3.60 and Ben Gerl is fourth in the Horizon with a 3.62 ERA. As a staff the Norse have the second-best team ERA of the six-team Horizon League, trailing just Milwaukee's 5.43 ERA. Closing the door for Northern Kentucky has been Casey Maniglia with four saves in 13 relief appearances with a .136 opponent batting average and 21 strikeouts in 13 1/3 innings, Maniglia only trails Milwaukee's Nate DeYoung for saves in the league.

Milwaukee and Northern Kentucky have been the top-two teams in the conference in defense, with Milwaukee posting a league-best .975 team fielding percentage, and NKU trailing by just a few percentage points at .972.

SERIES HISTORY
Milwaukee has faced Illinois State in every season since 2016, with the COVID-19 season of 2020 being the only exception. Over that span, Milwaukee is 8-4 but Illinois State has won the last two meetings with a 10-2 win in 2021 and a 4-3 extra-inning loss to the Redbirds in 2022. The teams have split their all-time series with a 10-10 mark in the 20 head-to-head matchups with the Panthers owning a 6-5 record all time in Normal, Illinois.

The Panthers own a 23-17 all-time record against Northern Kentucky including a 12-6 mark in home games, with a 3-4 mark at Franklin Field. Earlier this season the Norse swept a three-game series from the Panthers in Highland Heights, Kentucky. The last home win for Milwaukee against NKU came on April 1 of 2022, with a 5-3 win coming as Riley Frey allowed three runs in the third inning but was able to hold the Norse in check otherwise with a career-best 10 strikeouts over a eight innings of work on 108 pitches. Frey also pitched Milwaukee to its last overall win against NKU with an eight-strikeout performance over five innings in a 6-5, seven-inning win in Highland Heights.

FLYING HIGH
It was a game of highs in the third game of the team's series at Purdue Fort Wayne on April 15 as the Panthers scored a season-high 15 runs, on a season-best 19 hits. The team also had several additional season-high marks in the game including RBIs (12), Home Runs (2), Triples (1), Stolen Bases (4), and team batting average (.432).

ONE SWING, MULTIPLE MARKS
With his home run in the top of the ninth inning at Purdue Fort Wayne in the series finale on Saturday, Aaron Chapman recorded his 100th hit and 50th RBI in a Panther uniform, just two seasons. Fittingly, he accomplished his Panther marks against his former team in the Mastodons in his final at bat in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

IT'S CLINE TIME
Junior Marcus Cline went 6-for-9 on Saturday with a pair of doubles while driving in five runs and scoring one run. Defensively he played a flawless shortstop with a team-best six assists and one defensive putout. Cline is hitting .277 in conference games with 13 hits in 47 at bats with six RBIs, the Panthers will look to rely on their shortstop with 15 conference games remaining on the slate.

APRIL HAS BEEN KIND
Since the calendar flipped to April, Aaron Chapman has been beyond hot at the plate with a .476 average with 20 hits in 42 at bats with four doubles, two home runs and nine RBIs. He leads the team this month with 12 runs scored and is a perfect 3-for-3 in stolen base attempts with a .522 on-base percentage over the team's first 10 games in April.

In addition to Chapman in the cleanup spot of the lineup, Mark Connelly has also hit .390 with 16 hits in 41 at bats with two doubles, one triple and a team-best 11 RBIs over that span.

In April, Milwaukee is outhitting opponents 108-88, and have also scored 70 runs while the pitching staff has only allowed 58 earned runs over 85 innings of work. The staff has struck out 86 batters, while Panther batters have struck out just 65 times in April.

HOW SWEEP WAS THAT?
With its sweep of Wright State from April 6-8, Milwaukee notched its first sweep against any conference opponent since late March of 2021, when the Panthers swept Purdue Fort Wayne in the team's facility-opener at Franklin Field. The sweep was also Milwaukee's first series sweep against Wright State since May 17-19 of 2012, which also came at home in Wisconsin.

WALK IT OFF
On April 7, the Panthers walked-off the Raiders by a 6-5 score in 10 innings as Luke Seidel connected on a two-run single in the bottom of the 10th inning following an RBI base knock off the bat of Ty Olejnik, who scored the game-winning run.

It was Milwaukee's first walk-off victory since April 11, 2021, when the Panthers had a walk-off grand slam in the 10th inning in a 12-8 Horizon League victory over Youngstown State at Franklin Field. Catcher Jack Kraus connected on a home run as he ended the game 3-for-6 with 6 RBIs.

THE UNCONVENTIONAL CYCLE
Complete game shutouts, inside-the-park home runs, and no hitters are just some of the things statistically 'easier' to accomplish than hitting a cycle in baseball history. Mark Connelly, however, accomplished the feat in team's March 31 win over Oakland.

The cycle was the first-ever in Milwaukee program history, as Connelly got the more 'difficult' hits out of the way early with a triple in the first inning and a home run in the fifth. He later added the double in the seventh inning and rounded out his cycle with a base knock in the eighth inning.

The four-hit effort was just the second on the season for a Panther batter as Tommy Benson had four hits in a game against Southeast Missouri on March 5.

DON'T DO IT…HE DID IT
In an impressive showing on March 24, senior Jack Thelen threw our four attempted baserunners against him in the team's doubleheader against Youngstown State. He did so late in both games as well as he got the third out of the sixth and erased a leadoff single in the eighth during the opener against the Penguins, while getting the third out of the seventh and second out of the eighth inning in game two versus YSU.

Thelen hast thrown out 14 baserunners against this season, one behind conference leader Brandon Heidal of Oakland. Thelen is third in the conference with 233 putouts and is second in the league in total chances with 264.

TWO-FOR-ONE SPECIAL
In the opening game of the series at Northern Kentucky on March 17, Aaron Chapman connected on two home runs becoming the 68th Panther to have at least two home runs in a single game. He joins current teammates Jake Novak and Nate DeYoung with multi-home run games.

Novak accomplished the feat on February 19 a season ago at Alabama A&M, while DeYoung had a three-home run game on April 15 last season at Youngstown State and had a pair of round-trippers on May 6, 2022, at Northern Kentucky. The program record is four home runs in one game set back on March 17, 1999, when Todd Ludwig had four home runs at home against Butler.

LEADING THINGS OFF
Three Panthers have had success when leading off an inning as Aaron Chapman, Mark Connelly, and Jack Thelen have all reached base at least 50% of the time when leading off an inning. Thelen has reached base 56.0% of the time, while Chapman at 52.9% and Connelly at 50.0% are in the top-three in reaching base when leading off an inning.

RUBBER-ARM MAN
Newcomer Sam Mathews has appeared in 20 games thus far through the team's first 32 on the season and is currently 11th in the country in appearances. He currently leads the Horizon League in pitching appearances in his final collegiate season.

The program's single-season appearance leader is Matt Freisleben, who appeared in 37 games during the 2002 season. No pitcher for Milwaukee has appeared in over 32 games in over a decade, with the last coming in 2012 as Kaleb Engelke pitched in 32 games that season.

TOUGH TO STRIKEOUT
Mark Connelly is currently 21st in all of NCAA Division I in the category of 'Toughest to Strikeout' having struck out in only nine times in 124 at bats. His number is currently leading the Horizon League having struck out in just one of every 13.8 at bats. Aaron Chapman is not far behind and is currently 30th in the nation, striking out just once every 12.3 at bats.

THE STOLEN BASE RACE
In 32 games, Milwaukee's Luke Seidel has stolen 14 bases on the season and is currently 102nd in Division I in stolen bases, while he is 101st in the country in stolen bases per game at 0.44.

Seidel is one of five in the Horizon League with at least a dozen stolen bases and is currently leading the conference in stolen base percent at 14-for-14, no other player in the Horizon League has more than seven stolen bases without being caught this season.

In Milwaukee history, Seidel is now fifth on the all-time stolen base list with 45 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 a league-best seven saves as Milwaukee has relied heavily on the senior righty to lock down seven of the team's 16 wins on the season thus far, including a three-strikeout performance in the team's 3-2 win over Murray State on March 10.

DeYoung is currently 12th in NCAA Division I in saves, with the with just 11 pitchers in the country recording at least eight saves, including the national leaders with 11.

CAUGHT HIM LOOKING
With 54 strikeouts on the year, Riley Frey is currently tied for the lead in the Horizon League in total strikeouts. Frey also leads the league with the most strikeouts looking, getting 19 of his 54 strikeouts glaring at his third strike. Luke Hansel is tied for eighth in the league in strikeouts looking with nine of his 52 strikeouts have been looking.

KEEPING IT IN THE PARK
Through the team's first 32 games this season, Milwaukee pitching has only allowed 27 home runs this season. The number is currently tops in the Horizon League, as the other five members of the six-team conference have all allowed at least 31 or more home runs. Oakland has allowed the most home runs this season with 53 given up, while Youngstown State has yielded 49 long balls and Purdue Fort Wayne has yielded 46.

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.

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.

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.