MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee baseball team returns home for its longest homestand of 2023 with five-straight at Franklin Field. The Panthers welcome in Northern Illinois on Wednesday, before a Horizon League set with Oakland ahead of a wraparound weekend that ends with Northwestern next Tuesday.
 
Milwaukee went 1-4 this past week, winning its annual contest at American Family Field by the score of 6-0 over the MSOE Raiders. However, the Panthers dropped its four road contests as Milwaukee fell in a non-conference bout against the Northwestern Wildcats on Tuesday before dropping all three conference matchups in Ohio to Youngstown State.

This week, the Panthers will host Northern Illinois on Wednesday evening for a 6:00 p.m., before welcoming in the Oakland Golden Grizzlies for a three-game set at Franklin Field on Friday at 6:00 p.m., Saturday at 3:00 p.m. and Sunday at 12:00 p.m. The homestand will conclude with Northwestern returning the trip to Wisconsin on Tuesday evening for a 6:30 p.m. at Franklin Field.

Wednesday night will be Residence Life Night as well as International Students Night at Franklin Field, while the Panthers will also host a Gold Out on Friday in the series opener against Oakland. On Saturday, Milwaukee will host its annual "Bark in the Park" Night with four-legged friends welcome to join spectators at Franklin Field. Sunday will be the team's annual Military Appreciation Day, while Tuesday night against Northwestern will be a Tote Bag Giveaway for fans in attendance.

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 HUSKIES
Northern Illinois enters Wednesday's matchup at 7-35 overall with a 4-16 mark in the MAC. The Huskies enter on an 11-game losing streak, including a three-game sweep at the hands of the Akron Zips this past weekend. Northern Illinois has losses to several common opponents with Milwaukee, as the Huskies lost games to UIC (8-1) and Illinois State (11-5) a week ago, while also falling to Northwestern (16-5), and Illinois State (18-11) in mid-April. The Huskies also have early-season losses to Minnesota (5-3), Northwestern (15-11) and UIC (6-3).

Under the direction of ninth-year skipper Mike Kunigonis, the Huskies are hitting .253 on the year led by junior Colin Summerhill as the only player on the team with a .300 or better batting average at .310. Summerhill leads the team with 49 hits, 12 doubles, eight home runs, and 41 RBIs, while slugging .563 and has a .372 on-base percentage. Junior Andre Demetral and classmate Aaron Harper both have more than 40 hits on the year, with junior Eric Erato at 40. Erato leads the team with 35 runs scored and is 20-for-24 in stolen base attempts as the speedy outfielder has hit leadoff in every game, starting the year in left field before moving to right, and most recently has found himself in centerfield.

Northern Illinois has an inflated team ERA at 9.09, which currently ranks 284th of the 295 Division I baseball programs across the nation. With only four pitchers on the staff posting sub-7 ERAs. Sophomore Mason Ruh has tossed 42 2/3 innings with 33 strikeouts, while junior Jackson Stewart has a 2.08 ERA in 13 innings of relief. Senior Brandon McPherson has a team-high 34 strikeouts in his 10 starts, amassing 31 2/3 innings with a 7.39 ERA. Opponents are hitting .330 against the Huskies as a staff, while the team allows 12.36 hits per game to rank them 286th in the country.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN GRIZZLIES
Oakland will enter this week at 19-25 overall with an 11-10 mark in Horizon League games, just 1 1/2 games ahead of the Panthers for the third seed in the conference. The Golden Grizzlies took the final game of their weekend set with Wright State this past weekend by a 6-3 score as senior Sean Fekete and junior Brandon Decker combined to pitch four-plus innings apiece to knock off the Raiders. The Golden Grizzlies will pay a visit to Bowling Green on Wednesday before making their way to Franklin Field for the weekend set against the Panthers.

Oakland is hitting a Horizon League-worst .254 on the season with just 361 hits in 44 games, the Grizzlies are led by senior Ian Cleary and his .324 batting average to go along with 45 hits and 22 runs scored while driving in 29 runs this season. Cleary is Oakland's lone batter with an average over .285 this season, as graduate student Gabe Lux is at .285 with 24 RBIs and is tied with Cleary for the team lead with 14 doubles. Senior Thomas Green has 28 RBIs and is the only Grizzly to start in all 44 of the team's games on the year, with a team-leading eight home runs.

Sophomore Hunter Pidek has emerged as the Oakland top starter over the last three weeks after facing the Panthers in the second game of their three-game set back in Michigan, Pidek has a team-best 4.62 ERA and has 42 strikeouts over 48 2/3 innings while holding opponents to a .270 batting average. Decker has been a key cog out of the bullpen with 18 appearances on the year and has a 4.82 ERA and 46 strikeouts over 46 2/3 innings. Senior Travis Densmore was supplanted by Pidek as the ace midway through conference play and has a 5.77 ERA over a team-leading 53 innings and a team-high 47 strikeouts. Fekete has a 9.48 ERA in 11 appearances and four starts and did not face the Panthers earlier this season when the teams met in Rochester, Michigan.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Meeting for the second time in a two-week span, Northwestern makes the return trip to Wisconsin after the Panthers paid a visit to Evanston, Illinois on April 25. In the matchup, the Panthers were unable to muster any offense against four Wildcat pitchers, with just two hits over eight innings. Northwestern is 7-31 overall with a 3-12 mark in the Big Ten and will pay a visit to UIC on May 2 before a three-game set at home versus Indiana this weekend.

Junior Tony Livermore had three hits out of the leadoff spot for Northwestern in the April 25 matchup, while senior Evan Minarovic drove in three runs on two hits in the two-spot of the lineup. Three other Wildcats had multi-hit efforts against Milwaukee in the team's win. Senior Stephen Hrustich leads the team in hitting at .311 on the year, with four home runs and 20 RBIs. Sophomore Alex Calarco has a team-high 22 RBIs on a team-leading 40 hits, while graduate student Griffin Arnone has also driven in 20 runs with a team-best seven home runs.

Milwaukee faced junior Ben Grable in Evanston, Illinois, as the flamethrower held the Panthers to one hit over the first 2 2/3 innings. Grable has 26 strikeouts over 23 innings and is fifth on the staff with 26 strikeouts. Junior Matt McClure is the ace of the Wildcat staff with a 6.62 ERA over his 11 starts with 53 innings with a team-high 35 strikeouts. The team has amassed an 8.88 ERA, which is 283rd of the 295 Division I programs across the nation.

SERIES HISTORY
The Panthers and Huskies have met 61 times on the diamond, with Milwaukee owning a 34-27 record against Northern Illinois with the last meeting coming back in 2019, when the teams played a home-and-home series with the Panthers winning in DeKalb, Illinois by a 4-2 score before knocking off the Huskies by a 5-3 margin at Henry Aaron Field. The Panthers are on a six-game winning streak and have won nine of the last 10 meetings.

Milwaukee also owns a 29-22 mark against Oakland in 51 all-time meetings, which includes the three matchups from earlier this season in Rochester, Michigan. The Panthers are 2-4 against the Golden Grizzlies at Franklin Field but do own a 16-7 all-time home record against Oakland.

The loss earlier this season dropped the Panthers to 11-21 against Northwestern in all-time matchups, as the Wildcats are currently on a four-game winning streak. Milwaukee's last win against Northwestern came on April 17, 2018, in Illinois, while Milwaukee's last home win against Northwestern was on April 24, 2013 in a 5-0 shutout victory.

HOME COOKING
With an 8-2 record at Franklin Field, and 9-2 record in home games this season, the Panthers are off to their best home start since the 2021 season when the Panthers started that season with a 9-2 mark in home games. The team was also 9-1 in their first 10 home games during the 2017 campaign and 8-2 in its first 10 home contests in 2016. Milwaukee was a perfect 13-0 in home games during the 2013 season, the only season in program history the Panthers defended home field throughout the season.

Under the direction of Scott Doffek, Milwaukee is 191-92 in home games for a .682 winning percentage. Doffek's predecessor, Jerry Augustine posted a 129-60 home mark for a .683 winning percentage. Combined the duo are 320-152 (.678), while the program all time is 340-182 (.651) in home games since the program moved to Division I, competing in its first home season in 1991.

TOMMY'S TURN
Milwaukee junior Tommy Benson has turned it back on of late at the plate with seven hits in Milwaukee's last five games, including five doubles, four RBIs and four runs scored. Benson boosted his season batting average by 36 points this past week as he had a .438 average during the team's most recent five-game stretch.

SEIDEL'S BIG WEEK(S)
Following a week in which he went 8-for-11 in the team's four games against Illinois State and Northern Kentucky, Seidel followed up his Horizon League Batter of the Week performance with another 5-for-14 week and his hitting .520 over the team's last nine games with 13 hits in 25 at bats. Seidel missed three games over that span but has an .840 slugging percentage and a .571 on-base mark over the stretch.

WALK IT OFF x3
Milwaukee has had three walk-off wins over the last two homestands, with wins coming on April 7 against Wright State, while also picking up last at bat wins against Northern Kentucky on both April 21 and 22. Luke Seidel had the game-winning hits in both the April 7 and 21st contests, while Justin Hausser had the game winner with a double against the Norse on April 22.

After going walk-off-less in 2022, the three walk offs this year were 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.

STEPPING IT UP IN LEAGUE PLAY
The Panthers offense has picked up in league play with some drastic swings in games overall versus games against Horizon League opponents. Aaron Chapman is hitting .359 on the season but when facing conference competition, he has a .414 batting average. Mark Connelly is also hitting 30 points better against league foes, while Marcus Cline has seen one of the bigger jumps on the team as he is hitting .229 overall on the year but owns a .294 average in 18 league games.

OUT OF THE BULLPEN
Two weekend's, the Milwaukee bullpen pitched 12 2/3 innings against Northern Kentucky and allowed just one earned run over that span while striking out nine Norse. Nick Gilhaus led the way as he pitched 4 2/3 innings with five strikeouts, while Sam Mathews threw 4 1/3 innings including a season-high 3 1/3 innings on April 22.

Mike Sullivan chipped in with 1 2/3 innings, while Johnny Kelliher threw held the Norse hitless for 1 1/3 innings. Curtis Sheahan held Northern Kentucky off the board for the final two outs of the series on April 23.

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.

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.

THE UNCONVENTIONAL CYCLE
Mark Connelly recorded the first-ever cycle in Panther baseball history during the teams win on March 31 over Oakland. 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.

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. On the season, Thelen has thrown out 18 baserunners against this season and currently leads the Horizon League. Thelen is third in the conference with 289 putouts and also leads the Horizon League in total chances with 329.

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.

RUBBER-ARM MAN
Sam Mathews has appeared in 25 games thus far through the team's first 41 on the season and is currently 10th in the country in appearances, five shy of tying the national leaders. 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 seventh in all of NCAA Division I in the category of 'Toughest to Strikeout' having struck out in only nine times in 161 at bats. His number is currently leading the Horizon League having struck out in just one of every 17.9 at bats. Aaron Chapman is not far behind and is currently 19th in the nation, striking out just once every 14.5 at bats.

THE STOLEN BASE RACE
In 41 games, Milwaukee's Luke Seidel has stolen 16 bases on the season and is currently 118th in Division I in stolen bases, while he is 104th in the country in stolen bases per game at 0.42. He currently leads the conference in stolen base percent at 16-for-16, no other player in the Horizon League has more than 10 stolen bases without being caught this season.

In Milwaukee history, Seidel is now fourth on the all-time stolen base list with 47 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 eight saves as Milwaukee has relied heavily on the senior righty to lock down eight of the team's 20 wins on the season thus far. DeYoung is currently 14th in NCAA Division I in saves, with the with just 13 pitchers in the country recording at least nine saves, including the national leaders with 12.

CAUGHT HIM LOOKING
With 66 strikeouts on the year, Riley Frey is currently leading the Horizon League in total strikeouts. Frey also leads the league with the most strikeouts looking, getting 25 of his 66 strikeouts glaring at his third strike, including five in his start against Northern Kentucky on April 21. Luke Hansel is tied for seventh in the league in strikeouts looking with 13 of his 61 strikeouts have been looking.

KEEPING IT IN THE PARK
Through the team's first 41 games this season, Milwaukee pitching has only allowed 32 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 39 or more home runs. Oakland has allowed the most home runs this season with 69.

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.