DAYTON, Ohio – The Milwaukee baseball team connected on 13 hits and scored 12 runs to advance in the Horizon League Championship on Wednesday, downing the fourth-seeded Youngstown State Penguins by a 12-3 score at Nischwitz Stadium in Southwest Ohio.
 
The nine-run margin of victory tied the season-high, matching the team's wins at Oakland on March 31 and at home against Carroll on April 10. The margin of victory also matched the exact score the last time the Panthers were in the single-elimination game to open the postseason, as Milwaukee knocked off Northern Kentucky by a 12-3 score in the 3-6 matchup of the 2019 Horizon League Championship. The postseason win is also the first for the Panthers since 2021, when Milwaukee won an 11-inning affair against UIC to advance to the Horizon League Championship final against Wright State.
 
"That's a guy we have had a hard time with," noted Scott Doffek on the Youngstown State's starting pitcher. "I thought we got his pitch count up on a warm day and we laid off some really good pitches and we hurt him in the middle part of the game to force him to give us hittable pitches."
 
Marcus Cline had a career day for the Panthers, as he drove in a career-best five of Milwaukee's 12 runs with a team-high three hits. The Panthers also got three hits off the bat of Mark Connelly, who collected a pair of RBIs, while Jake Novak had a multi-RBI effort with a two-run home run to cap off the Panther scoring in the eighth inning.
 
Cline joins Novak as the only two Panthers this season with more than three RBIs in a game, as Novak also drove in a season-best five runs against Oakland on May 5.
 
"Cline was special in the batter's box with the home run, the bases-clearing double and a two-out single," added Doffek. "Just an outstanding day up and down the lineup."
 
Aaron Chapman had two hits on the day as did Luke Seidel as the pair both scored two runs apiece. Nate DeYoung was on base with a double and a pair of walks with one RBI and a pair of runs scored as both he and Chapman had stolen bases for the Panthers.
 
On the mound, Riley Frey got the start and was up to the task as he needed 102 pitches to get through seven innings. The left-hander allowed two runs on six hits and three walks while striking out six Penguins.
 
"That's a very good and very hot lineup, and Riley did a really good job of keeping them off balance and made some good pitches when he needed to," noted Doffek. "We played some good defense behind him, Ty Olejnik was ranging well behind him, and there were some plays there that made a difference as well."
 
Sam Mathews yielded the final Youngstown State run in the eighth inning, while Curtis Sheahan needed just five pitches to end the season for the Penguins in the ninth.
 
After a scoreless first inning, it was Youngstown State to jump out to the first lead of the game with an infield single and a run-scoring double off Frey in the second inning.
 
With two down in the top of the third Cline got the offense going with a solo home run that carried over the right field fence to tie the game at one. Chapman followed with a walk and then stole second before DeYoung drove him in for the first Panther lead of the game.
 
Connelly and Carson Hansen walked to load the bases before Tommy Benson drew a bases loaded walk to give the Panthers a 3-1 lead.
 
The Penguins scratched a run across in the bottom of the fourth on a triple and a wild pitch to draw Youngstown State back within one at 3-2.
 
Milwaukee's offense exploded for the next nine runs of the game as Chapman singled and was chased home on an RBI double off the bat of Connelly to make the score 4-2 in the fifth.
 
Jack Thelen led off the sixth as he was hit by a pitch before Seidel and Olejnik singled to load the bases. Up next was Cline, who laced a double into the right field corner to clear the bases and give Milwaukee a five-run lead.

Two batters later, DeYoung walked and then stole second before Connelly brought him in with an opposite field single. Hansen then connected on a sacrifice fly to chase DeYoung home as the Panthers led by seven heading to the bottom of the inning.
 
Frey continued to cruise through the Penguin lineup allowing just one base runner in each the fifth and sixth innings and brought Milwaukee's offense back up to bat in the seventh.
 
Seidel doubled with one down in the seventh inning, before Cline added his fifth RBI of the game on a single through the shifted left side of the infield to put the Panthers up by a 10-2 margin.
 
In the bottom of the seventh, Frey needed just seven pitches to set Youngstown State aside as his day concluded with his sixth strikeout of the game and league-leading 87th of the season.
 
Connelly reached on an opposite field single in the top of the eight before Novak, who had come on for defense in the sixth tacked on two more runs with third home run of the season to plate a pair.
 
Youngstown State scored a run in the bottom of the inning on back-to-back two-out doubles to trim the Panther lead to 12-3 before Mathews was able to get the next batter on a ground ball.
 
Sheahan came on in the ninth and retired the side with ease on three ground balls to send the Panthers into the double-elimination portion of the bracket.
 
Milwaukee's next round opponent will not be known until the conclusion of the second game of the single elimination bracket. If third-seeded Northern Kentucky wins, the Panthers will play top-seeded Wright State at 10:00 a.m. (CT) on Thursday; however, if sixth-seeded Purdue Fort Wayne wins, the Panthers will take on second-seeded Oakland with first pitch slated for 2:00 p.m. (CT).