DAYTON, Ohio – The Milwaukee baseball team fell to top-seeded Wright State in the opening game of the double-elimination portion of the bracket by a 6-3 score at Nischwitz Stadium.
 
The Panthers fell behind early as the Raiders scored the first six runs of the game. Milwaukee scored three runs late, but it was not enough, sending the Panthers to the elimination bracket and its second game of the day later this evening.
 
"He's the conference pitcher of the year for a reason," said Scott Doffek on Wright State's starting pitcher. "He did a nice job of commanding pitches on both sides of the plate. You just have to tip your cap because he pitched well, and we couldn't get anything going until the end."
 
Nick Gilhaus got his first start of the season and threw two innings, allowing the first four Raider runs in the second inning. Ryan Hoerter threw a season-high six innings for the second longest outing of his career as he struck out four batters.
 
"I thought Ryan was outstanding against a good lineup," added Doffek. "We needed somebody to do that, because for us to come out of this thing we're going to have to win a lot of baseball games, so he helped us save our bullpen."
 
Mark Connelly drove in two runs on a base knock in the seventh, while Tommy Benson connected on his fourth home run of the season in the eighth to account for the three Milwaukee runs. Marcus Cline had two of Milwaukee's six hits and scored ahead of Connelly's run-scoring knock.
 
Ty Olejnik singled to lead off the first inning but was later caught stealing. Gilhaus hit a batter with two down in the bottom half of the inning but retired the side to send the game to the second.
 
In the bottom of the second, the Raiders scored four runs on three hits to send the game to the third.
 
Hoerter came on to pitch in the third and allowed a home run to the first batter he faced before getting out of the inning.
 
Cline reached on a base hit with one down in the fourth inning but was doubled off on a line drive right back to the pitcher.

Hoerter rolled after retiring the last batter in the third as he struck out two batters during a 1-2-3 fourth inning. He retired the Raiders in order in the bottom of the fifth and allowed a second run in the sixth, making the score 6-0, before striking out the final batter of the frame to leave a pair stranded in scoring position.
 
Milwaukee's bats got going with one down in the top of the seventh as Cline singled on a 1-1 pitch before Aaron Chapman singled. The pair were moved up on a ground out before Connelly pulled a ball through the infield to plate the first two runs of the game for the Panthers.
 
Hoerter continued his successful outing as he worked around a one-out walk in the seventh to bring the Panthers back up to bat.
 
In the eighth, Benson was up to lead off the inning and sent a long drive over the left field wall to trim the lead in half at 6-3.
 
Hoerter got the first out on one pitch in the bottom of the eighth before walking the next batter on five pitches. Jack Thelen got in on the action as he registered his league-leading 26th caught stealing of the year before Hoerter got the third out on a fly ball.
 
Milwaukee was unable to get any baserunners in the ninth as the team fell to the Raiders by a 6-3 margin.
 
The Panthers will be in action again at 6 p.m. (CT) in an elimination game on Thursday afternoon. Milwaukee will take on the losing team from the Oakland vs. Northern Kentucky matchup currently ongoing at Nischwitz Stadium.