DAYTON, Ohio – The Milwaukee baseball team was eliminated from the Horizon League Championship on Friday afternoon, falling in a one-run matchup to top-seeded Wright State by the score of 2-1 at Nischwitz Stadium.
 
The loss ends the season for the Panthers after accumulating 25 wins on the year including 11 conference wins and a pair of wins to eliminate two teams from the Horizon League Championship.
 
Milwaukee outhit the Raiders by a 6-2 margin, as Wright State was able to scratch two runs across in the opening three innings. The Panthers rallied late with their run in the ninth inning, but the rally fell just a run shy of forcing extra innings for the second consecutive game.
 
Mark Connelly ended the day with a team-best two hits finishing the season with 67 hits, including a 7-for-16 stint in the post season. Nate DeYoung had the lone extra-base hit of the game with a double, while Aaron Chapman capped off his season with his team-leading 70th hit of the year, finishing the year a .335 average. Marcus Cline ended the postseason 7-for-19, including his three-hit performance in Wednesday's matchup against Youngstown State. Tommy Benson ended the postseason with a pair of solo home runs.
 
Jake Novak and Luke Seidel also had hits for Milwaukee, while the pair also drew a walk apiece. Novak had the team's lone RBI with the ninth inning sacrifice fly.
 
Defensively, Ty Olejnik had a pair of highlight-reel sliding catches, while Jack Thelen ended the season with his 27th caught stealing of the year, which is the most since Daulton Varsho caught 24 baserunners in 2017.
 
Adrian Montilva made his fifth start of the season and got through 3 2/3 innings as he allowed both Raider runs on the game. Gavin Theis had his best outing of the season as he threw 2 1/3 hitless innings with one strikeout on 20 pitches.
 
Johnny Kelliher threw 1 2/3 innings with a walk and two strikeouts, while Sam Mathews tied the program record for pitching appearances in a season with his 37th outing and retired one batter via strikeout.
 
The game moved quickly needing only 2:13 to complete, as Montilva locked horns with the Raider starting pitcher in the first inning. In the second the Raiders scored a run on a walk, single and a ground ball, before adding their second run in the third inning on three walks and a wild pitch as Milwaukee's left-handed started stranded a pair in scoring position.
 
Chapman got Milwaukee's first hit of the day on a single with one down in the fourth but was doubled off to end the inning. The Panthers turned their own double play in the fourth before Theis came on, and Thelen caught the would-be basestealer for the third out.
 
Connelly singled in the fifth to lead off the frame but was stranded at second, before Seidel walked to lead off the sixth and was moved up to third on a pair of ground balls but left 90 feet away from scoring the first Panther run.
 
Connelly had a first-pitch single with one down in the seventh, followed by a base hit off the bat of Novak to put the pressure on the Wright State defense, which proved to be up to the task as a double play was turned including a close call at first to end the rally.
 
Kelliher faced the minimum in the seventh inning, as he followed Theis, who set down all six batters he faced.
 
Seidel reached on an infield single in the eighth, but again was stranded on second.
 
Kelliher retired the first batter in the eighth and walked the next batter, who was then erased on a fielder's choice. Mathews was on next and won a six-pitch battle with a strikeout to send Milwaukee to the ninth.
 
With one down, DeYoung connected on the only extra-base hit of the game for either side with a double. Connelly was up next and reached on a fielder's choice as the throw went to third and deflected away allowing the Panthers to have a pair in scoring position with just one down. Novak hit a fly ball to centerfield, allowing DeYoung to score but the Panthers were unable to bring pinch runner Ryan Hoerter home from third with the tying run.