MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee baseball team returns home for its longest homestand of 2023 with five-straight at Franklin Field. The Panthers welcome in Valparaiso on Tuesday before a Horizon League set with Wright State before the wraparound weekend ends with Carroll on Monday.
 
All five games will be featured on 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. 

SCOUTING THE BEACONS
After meeting last week in Indiana, Milwaukee welcomes the 9-12 Beacons to Franklin Field. The Beacons are 2-8 in their last 10, with the wins coming against Milwaukee on Tuesday, and Murray State in the team's series finale on Monday.

Nolan Tucker continues to lead Valpo with 28 hits and a .359 batting average, as he has reached base at a team-best .462 clip. Kyle Schmack leads the team with four home runs and 18 RBIs, while he is also 6-for-7 in stolen base attempts to lead the Beacons. Four others have multi-figure RBI totals with Kaleb Hannahs (10), Ryan Maka (13), Brady Renfro (17), and Jake Skrine (12).

The Panthers faced Ryan Mintz a week ago, as the righty has a 9.18 ERA over his 16 2/3 innings with 11 strikeouts. Brady Nowak was impressive out of the pen against Milwaukee as he tossed 3 1/3 innings and allowed just one hit and two walks while striking out seven. Nowak leads the staff with a 1.64 ERA in his 11 innings pitched with 21 strikeouts. Connor Lockwood (2-2, 5.25 ERA) and Griffin McCluskey (1-4, 6.75 ERA) are two of the team's conference starters, leading the staff in starts on the year.

SCOUTING THE RAIDERS
Before traveling to Milwaukee Wright State will take on Cincinnati at a neutral site, but are currently leading the Horizon League with a 7-2 mark in league games while the team is 15-12 overall.

The Raiders won two of three against Northern Kentucky this past weekend after sweeping Oakland in a three-game set the weekend prior. Four regulars lead the offense with averages better than .300 as Boston Smith is hitting .328 with four home runs and 17 RBIs, while Andrew Patrick is at .326 2ith four home runs and 19 RBIs.

Dane Thomas is hitting .324 in limited action comparted to the regulars, while Jay Luikart is hitting .314 with four home runs and 15 RBIs. Leading the team in runs driven in is Gehrig Anglin with 22 as he also leads the team with five home runs and has a .278 batting average on the season.

Milwaukee will likely face Jake Shirk in the opener as he has a team-high 35 1/3 innings with 25 strikeouts and a 6.37 ERA while posting a 2-3 record. Lefty Sebastian Gongora has been one of the top pitchers in the Horizon League this season and is projected to start Saturday with his team-leading 2.08 ERA to go along with 33 strikeouts in 34 2/3 innings. Luke Stofel rounds out the rotation with a 1-2 record with a 3.81 ERA with 28 1/3 innings and 26 strikeouts.

SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
Carroll, from nearby Waukesha, is 9-8 on the season and started play in the CCIW with a 2-0 record and will play North Park on April 5 before taking on Wheaton in a three-game set on April 7-8.

Thomas Ward leads the offense with a .483 batting average with 28 hits in 58 at bats and has a dozen extra-base hits with a team-best 20 RBIs on the season. Joey Appino is hitting .393 on the year with 12 RBIs, while Justin Baker also has a dozen RBIs and a .246 average. Casey Mir has scored 22 runs and is tied for the team lead in stolen bases with four.

Three pitchers have reached 11 innings thus far on the season with Scotty Starovich leading the staff with a 3.37 ERA over 18 2/3 innings with 21 strikeouts over that span while holding opponents to a .272 batting average. Nolan Fehrman has 13 strikeouts over 19 2/3 innings, while Brett Buzzelli has 13 strikeouts over 17 2/3 innings while posting a 10.70 ERA.

SERIES HISTORY
Including last Tuesday's loss, Milwaukee still owns a 40-33 record against Valparaiso. The Panthers own a 2-0 record against the Beacons at Franklin Field, with MKE sweeping a doubleheader against Valpo on April 5, 2022, by the scores of 3-2 and 8-3.

Milwaukee is 63-76 against the Raiders and were 2-3 against Wright State in 2022. Milwaukee was 1-2 against Wright State last season at Franklin Field, including a 7-0 win in the opener before dropping a heartbreaker in the season finale against the Raiders by a 7-6 score in extra innings.

MKE welcomes Carroll to Franklin Field for the first-time ever but own a 5-0 record against the Pioneers all-time. The two sides last met in late April of 2013, when the Panthers flexed their muscle and downed the Pioneers by a 17-3 score at Henry Aaron Field, which included an 11-run opening inning for the Panthers.

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 Friday's 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.

WALK, WALK, WALK
For the first time this season a Panther batter walked three times in one game as Jack Thelen drew three bases on balls on April 1 against Oakland.

It was the third time in his career that he drew three walks in a game, having done so on April 20, 2019, against Wright State, and again on April 10, 2022, against Purdue Fort Wayne. Ironically, the Panthers have lost all three games that Thelen has walked on three occasions.

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 a league-leading 11 baserunners against to lead the Horizon League after throwing out another runner against Valparaiso on March 28 and another on April 1 vs. Oakland. Thelen is second in the conference with 180 putouts and is tied for the league lead in total chances at 204.

EXTRA-BASE MACHINE
Senior Mark Connelly was a spark in the middle of the Panther lineup the past two weeks with six of his 12 hits coming for extra bases. Connelly had a double against Concordia Wisconsin and another two doubles against Youngstown State on March 24. He added three extra-base hits in the team's win over Oakland on March 31.

Over the team's last seven games, the Panthers are 3-0 in games that Connelly has an extra-base hit, while they are 0-4 in games where he does not have at least a two-base knock.

THINGS ARE HEATING UP
Aaron Chapman continued his hot stretch of late with 10 hits over the team's last seven games in 29 at bats for a .345 average. While his season batting average took a slight dip to .354 Chapman against Valparaiso and Oakland, Chapman is still second in the Horizon League leaders in batting average. John Odom of Northern Kentucky leads all eligible batters with a .365 average.
Wright State is in Chapman's sights with a .363 average.

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 54.5% of the time, while Chapman and Connelly have reached base 50.0% when leading off a frame.

RUBBER-ARM MAN
Newcomer Sam Mathews has appeared in 14 games thus far through the team's first 24 on the season and is currently 37th in the country in appearances.

Mathews continues to pitch in high-leverage spots having not allowed a run over his 13 2/3 innings with nine strikeouts and a .250 batting average against. Dating back to his time at Division III Marietta, Mathews has not yielded a run in an outing of three innings or shorter, since April 15, 2022. Over that span since, Mathews has pitched 20 innings in outings of three innings or fewer without allowing a run.

TOUGH TO STRIKEOUT
Mark Connelly is currently 43rd in all of NCAA Division I in the category of 'Toughest to Strikeout' having struck out in only five times in 72 at bats. His number leads the Horizon League having struck out in just one of every 11.5 at bats.

Aaron Chapman is not far behind and is currently 49th in the nation, striking out just once every 11.3 at bats.

THE STOLEN BASE RACE
In 20 games, Milwaukee's Luke Seidel has stolen 12 bases on the season and is currently 73rd in Division I in stolen bases, while he is 60th in the country in stolen bases per game at 0.50.

Seidel is one of four in the Horizon League with at least 10 stolen bases and is currently leading the conference in stolen base percent at 12-for-12, only Andrew Patrick of Wright State has gotten at least 10 stolen bases without being caught, as Patrick is 10-for-10.

In Milwaukee history, Seidel is now fifth on the all-time stolen base list with 43 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 six saves as Milwaukee has relied heavily on the senior righty to lock down six of the team's 10 wins on the season thus far, including a three-strikeout performance in the team's 3-2 win over Murray State on March 10.

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

DeYoung is currently 8th in NCAA Division I in saves, with the with just seven pitchers in the country recording at least seven saves including national leader Dalton Kendrick of Memphis with eight.

CAUGHT HIM LOOKING
With 39 strikeouts on the year, Riley Frey is second in the Horizon League in total strikeouts. However, Frey leads the league with the most strikeouts looking, getting 18 of his 39 strikeouts glaring at his third strike.

Luke Hansel is tied for sixth in the league in strikeouts looking with eight of his league-leading 40 strikeouts have been looking.

KEEPING IT IN THE PARK
Through the team's first 24 games this season, Milwaukee pitching has only allowed 18 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 26 or more home runs.

Oakland has allowed the most home runs this season with 40 given up, while Youngstown State has yielded 36 long balls and Purdue Fort Wayne has yielded 34.

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.

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.