DAYTON, Ohio – The Milwaukee Panthers are moving on in the Horizon League Baseball Championship after needing 10 innings to eliminate the three-seed Northern Kentucky Norse by the score of 10-8 late on Thursday evening at Nischwitz Stadium.
 
Milwaukee put up crooked numbers in three of the first four innings to build up an 8-3 lead. Northern Kentucky's offense refused to go down without a fight and chipped away and eventually tied the game at eight with a three-run bottom of the eighth. Milwaukee scored two runs in the top of the 10th and made it stand up to pick up the elimination game win over the Norse.
 
"We swung the bats really well in the early part of that game," said head coach Scott Doffek. "Credit to Northern Kentucky, they kept chipping away but fortunately for us we were able to get it done in extra innings. We were resilient to come back after what could have been a deflating moment for us after giving up that lead."
 
The Panthers had a dozen hits on the game en route to the win, including multi-hit efforts by Ty Olejnik, Marcus Cline, and Aaron Chapman at the top of the order in addition to Jack Thelen. Nate DeYoung drove in a pair, while Mark Connelly also added two RBIs to his season total.
 
"We pitched 10 innings and walked two guys over that span," added Doffek. "They're going to make you beat them, and our bullpen was outstanding. I was proud of the way they attacked it, but we just need to play a little better defense behind them."
 
Eliot Turnquist got his first start since April 15 and pitched 4 1/3 innings while tying his career high with seven strikeouts in a Panther uniform. The bullpen combined to pitch 5 2/3 innings including a career-high 2 1/3 innings by DeYoung on a season-high 38 pitches.
 
Olejnik walked to lead off the game before Cline doubled to put a pair of runners in scoring position with no outs. Chapman followed with a ground ball RBI ahead of DeYoung scoring the second run of the inning on a sacrifice fly.
 
Turnquist allowed a leadoff single in the bottom of the first inning but was able to strike out the next three batters to send the game to the second inning.
 
Milwaukee's lone run of the second inning came on Benson's second home run of the day, this time batting left-handed and sent well over the right field fence.
 
In the third the Panthers continued to build up a lead as Cline singled followed by a double off the bat of Chapman. DeYoung brought home his second run of the game on a base knock to the opposite field and then stole second. Two batters later, Jake Novak put a ball in play that resulted in an error allowing both Chapman and DeYoung to score to put the Panthers up by six runs.
 
The first two batters reached in the third for the Norse, but a double play ended the early threat. However, Northern Kentucky's next five batters reached as the Norse scored three in the frame to pull back within three at 6-3.
 
Olejnik singled on an infield knock with one down and then stole second, Chapman then walked to ultimately chase the Norse starter from the game. DeYoung walked to load the bases before Connelly went opposite field to left center to plate a pair and extend the Panther lead to five.
 
The offense for Northern Kentucky answered right back in the bottom of the inning with a two-run home run to trim the Panther lead to 8-5.
 
Turnquist made it into the bottom of the fifth and was lifted for Gavin Theis, who retired the only batter he faced. Johnny Kelliher was next and got the third out of the fifth on a sliding catch in foul territory by Chapman to end the inning.
 
After Kelliher got the first out of the sixth inning, it was Nick Gilhaus to make his second appearance of the day as the right-hander struck out the two batters he faced in the inning to send the game to the seventh.
 
The Panthers threatened with two down in the seventh as Benson reached on a passed ball on a strikeout followed by a brilliantly placed bunt single by Thelen. Luke Seidel hit a slow ground ball to third base and was narrowly thrown out that was confirmed by video replay.
 
After Gilhaus got the first two outs of the seventh and left with a runner on second, Mike Sullivan came on and got a fly ball to end the inning.
 
Two errors in the bottom of the eighth cost the Panthers the lead, as three runs came around to score to knot the game at eight. Sam Mathews also pitched in the eighth and retired one batter via strikeout.
 
DeYoung who got the final out in the eighth, pitched a scoreless ninth to send Milwaukee to extra innings for the fourth time on the season.
 
In the top of the 10th, Thelen doubled to left centerfield before Seidel connected on a single to put runners on the corners with no outs. Seidel moved up to second on defensive indifference, before a wild pitch behind Olejnik allowed Thelen to score the go-ahead run. Cline was up next and sent a fly ball to centerfield allowing Seidel to score a second run to put Milwaukee up a pair at 10-8.
 
DeYoung struck out the first batter he faced in the 10th before allowing a single and wild pitch. He struck out the next batter before getting the final out of the game to pop out to foul territory to seal the win for the Panthers.
 
Milwaukee will play again on Friday, when the team will head back to Nischwitz Stadium for a 3:00 p.m. (CT) first pitch. The opponent will be determined by the first game of the day as Wright State will battle Oakland, the winner will advance to Saturday, while the loser will be tasked with taking on the Panthers later in the afternoon.