MILWAUKEE – For the second time this season, the Milwaukee Panthers walked off with a game-winning base hit in their final time at bat as the Panthers upended league-leading Northern Kentucky by a 5-4 score on Franklin Field.
 
The Panthers led early with a 2-0 lead before the Norse took a 3-2 lead in the fifth. Jack Thelen homered to tie the game at three in the bottom of the seventh before Northern Kentucky regained the lead with a run in the top of the ninth.
 
In its final turn at bat, Milwaukee sent five batters to the plate without a single batter being retired as the Panthers scored two in the bottom of the inning to record the series-opening win. Jake Novak led off the inning with a walk before Thelen singled ahead of Nate DeYoung walking to load the bases.
 
Marcus Cline reached on a fielder's choice as the throw went home, but the errant throw pulled the catcher off the plate to score the tying run. Up next was Luke Seidel, who singled to left to drive Thelen home with the game-winning run.
 
"We went into the short game after the leadoff walk to Novak, but they had a hard time throwing strikes and we loaded the bases," said head coach Scott Doffek. "Marcus and Luke just put good swings on balls."
 
Riley Frey got the start for the Panthers and struck out nine batters over his six-inning outing as the left-hander allowed just three runs on seven hits and a pair of walks.
 
"Riley battled in the first but then found his stuff and he was really special for a four innings," added Doffek. "He walked the leadoff hitter in the fifth that turned into a big inning, but credit goes to him for keeping us there. Three runs allowed against that team is really good."
 
Nick Gilhaus gave Milwaukee a pair of scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth while striking out three batters. Sam Mathews pitched the top of the ninth and allowed the last Norse run, but stranded the bases loaded with some effective late-inning pitching.
 
"Gilhaus was really really good," noted Doffek. "I thought Mathews was good as well, as he minimized and gave us a chance in the ninth and we were fortunate."
 
In addition to the RBI by Seidel to win the game and the solo home run by Thelen to tie the game in the seventh. Ty Olejnik and Aaron Chapman had a pair of first-inning RBIs to open the scoring for the Panthers. Seidel ended the game with three hits, while Olejnick, Chapman and Thelen all had two-hit days.
 
Frey yielded back-to-back base hits before getting a pair of looking strikeouts ahead of hitting the next batter to load the bases. The next batter grounded out to shortstop as Frey got out of the bases loaded jam.
 
Seidel led off the bottom of the first with a triple over the right fielder's head before Olejnik singled home the first run of the game. Two batters later, Chapman singled home Olejnik to give the Panthers a two-run lead.
 
Milwaukee got runners to second in both the second and third innings and as Seidel singled and stole second in the second inning, before Chapman doubled with one down in the third. However, the Panthers were unable to capitalize.
 
In the top of the fifth it was the Norse to break through with three runs in the frame on three hits and aided by a Panther error.
 
In the top of the sixth, Northern Kentucky got a two-out single, but Thelen threw out the would-be base stealer for his 15th caught stealing of the season.
 
Gilhaus came on to pitch in the seventh inning and was able to work around a two-out single to send the game to the bottom of the seventh.
 
Thelen was up first and send the second pitch he saw over the fence in left field to tie the game at three.
 
Gilhaus did the same in the eighth inning with a two-out single allowed but struck out the final batter of the frame to keep the Norse bats in check.
 
In the top of the ninth, the Norse were able to score one run off Mathews to take a 4-3 lead. Mathews allowed a sacrifice fly but nothing further as he stranded the bases full of Norse.
 
Novak walked to lead off the bottom of the ninth before Thelen followed with a single. DeYoung then walked to load the bases. Up next was Cline, who hit a ground ball to second base, the throw came home but pulled the catcher off the plate to allow the tying run to score.
 
Seidel was up next and finished the game off with his second game-winning hit of the season as Thelen scored with the winning run.
 
Milwaukee and Northern Kentucky will meet in game two of the series on Saturday afternoon, with first pitch slated for 1:00 p.m. from Franklin Field.