FRANKLIN, Wis. – It was once again a walk-off victory for the Milwaukee Panthers on Saturday afternoon, as the Panthers scored one run in the bottom of the ninth to take game two of a three-game series from the Northern Kentucky Norse by the score of 8-7 at Franklin Field.
 
With the game tied at seven heading to the bottom of the ninth, Aaron Chapman reached with a one-out single. Jack Thelen followed with a walk before Justin Hausser connected on a game-winning double over the head of the drawn in outfield to plate Chapman with the final run of the game.
 
Milwaukee on the day was clutch throughout with six of the team's eight runs coming with two outs. Including a four-run fourth inning to tie the game in the early stages of the contest.
 
"Coaches will tell you that two-out hits win you ball games," said head coach Scott Doffek. "There's really no way to coach for it, it's just the matter of relaxing and staying in the moment and not trying to do too much and then putting a good swing on it. Including what Justin did with one out in the ninth."
 
Hausser was one of five Panthers with multi-hit afternoons as he was joined by Luke Seidel, Carson Hansen, Chapman, and Marcus Cline with two-hit efforts. Seidel, Hausser and Cline each had doubles, while Chapman connected on his fifth home run of the season.
 
Luke Hansel got the start for Milwaukee and was touched up for six runs over five innings as he ended the game with seven strikeouts.
 
"We were scuffling a little bit throughout the beginning of the game, six of their first seven runs were guys that we put on base. Luke settled in a little bit in the third and fourth innings, but he kind of kept us in that game, but a lot of credit to our offense."
 
Mike Sullivan allowed one run in his 2/3 innings of work, before Sam Mathews came on and pitched a season-high 3 1/3 innings to earn his second win in as many days as he did not allow a hit over his tenure on the mound.
 
The Norse took the early lead with three runs in the top of the first and added another run in the top of the second before Hansel was able to strand the bases full in his second inning of work.
 
Milwaukee answered back in the bottom of the inning with four runs as Hausser sparked the rally with a one-out single. DeYoung singled through the infield to put a pair on before Cline connected on a base knock up the middle to plate the first Panther run as Hausser scored.
 
Seidel was up next and doubled to right field as DeYoung and Cline both scored to get the Panthers back within one run. Olejnik then singled to left centerfield to chase Seidel home with the game-tying run.
 
After Hansel set down the Norse in both the third and fourth innings including a pair of strikeouts in the fourth, the Panther bats were up again and looking to take their first lead of the game.
 
In the bottom of the fourth, Novak reached on a wild pitch as the third strike was dropped. Two batters later, he moved up to second on a ground ball. Hansen was up next and singled a ball back up the middle to chase Novak home to put the Panthers up by a 5-4 margin.
 
Northern Kentucky scored twice in the top of the fifth off Hansel to regain the advantage at 6-5.
 
In the bottom of the fifth, the first out was retired on the first pitch of the inning, but the second pitch was sent over the left field fence off the bat of Chapman to tie the game once again.
 
In the top of the sixth, Sullivan retired two of the first three batters he faced, but the next batter was hit by a pitch as he swung through the pitch, the play was ruled in favor of the batter as he was granted first base after a lengthy discussion among the umpires. The next two batters walked to score a run before Mathews was able to get the final out of the inning on a fly ball.
 
Milwaukee came back up to bat in the bottom of the inning and Cline got another rally going with a double down the left field line on a diving attempt by the Norse fielder. Hansen was up next and was first pitch swinging and singled a ball into left field to even the game for the Panthers at seven.
 
After a scoreless eighth for the Panthers, as Mathews continued to roll in the top of the eighth and ninth innings as he set the final 10 Norse batters down in the game, Milwaukee came up in the bottom of the ninth in search of another walk-off victory.
 
Chapman had the count even at 2-2 before pulling a single through the left side of the infield to put a runner on with one down. Thelen worked a six-pitch walk to move Chapman into second with the go-ahead run.
 
After falling behind 0-1, Hausser took the next three pitches for balls before the count became full on a called strike. The next pitch, Hausser sent over the right fielder's head to plate Chapman with the game winning score to give Milwaukee an 8-7 win.
 
Milwaukee and Northern Kentucky will close out the three-game set on Sunday, when the two sides meet at 12:00 p.m. at Franklin Field.