FRANKLIN, Wis. – The Milwaukee Panther baseball team dropped the second game of a three-game series against the Oakland Golden Grizzlies by the score of 5-3 at Franklin Field on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Panthers were unable to string together any sustained offense, scoring just one run in the sixth and two more runs in the seventh.
 
"We got undisciplined in the batter's box at the wrong time," said Head Coach Scott Doffek. "And we did not follow the plan that we had in place, and we were unable to execute."
 
The pitching staff limited damage, with three double plays turned by the defense on the game in addition to timely outs throughout the game as Oakland stranded 12 runners on base. Luke Hansel got the start for the Panthers and allowed three runs over 4 1/3 innings while striking out three Golden Grizzlies. Four arms out of the bullpen pitched 4 2/3 innings and allowed just two runs on four hits in the second half of the game.
 
"Early in the game Luke was fighting himself the whole time he was out there," added Doffek." But he only gave up three runs. I thought overall our bullpen did a really good job."
 
Milwaukee (21-23, 10-12 Horizon) matched the Golden Grizzlies with 11 hits on the game led by Justin Hausser, who had three singles on the afternoon. Aaron Chapman and Ty Olejnik had multi-hit efforts with Olejnik leading the team with two RBIs, while Chapman drove in the team's first run of the game in the sixth inning.
 
The Golden Grizzlies scored in the opening inning with one run on two hits and a walk to take the early lead off Hansel.
 
Milwaukee went down in order in the bottom of the first inning and got their first hit with a double with one down in the second. Jack Thelen was stranded at second as the next two Panthers struck out.
 
In the top of the third, the leadoff batter walked for the Golden Grizzlies before an infield single put two on with no outs. On the next batter, the Panthers turned a double play on a strike-out throw-out double play, erasing the lead runner before Hansel got out of the inning.
 
Oakland scored two more with two outs in the top of the fourth on a double, walk and a two-run double to take a 3-0 lead.
 
Three of the first four batters reached for Oakland in the top of the fifth inning, as Hansel was lifted in place of Ryan Hoerter. Four pitches into the first batter that Hoerter faced topped a ball to Chapman, who turned the 5-2-3 double play to keep the Golden Grizzlies off the board in the inning.
 
After Hoerter worked through the top of the sixth, Luke Seidel led off the bottom of the inning with a walk and was bunted to second. Chapman followed with a single into right centerfield allowing Seidel to score the first run of the game for Milwaukee.
 
The Panthers continued to threaten as Mark Connelly singled, but Milwaukee grounded into a double play for the second consecutive inning to end the threat.
 
Oakland extended its lead with two down in the top of the seventh with a two-run home run to increase its lead to 5-1. Sam Mathews came on and threw one pitch to record the final out of the inning.
 
Hausser singled to lead off the bottom of the seventh, followed by a double off the bat of Tommy Benson. After a pitching change, Jake Novak walked on five pitches to load the bases. Olejnik followed with a bouncing ball through the right side of the infield to plate a pair. However, that was all the damage the Panthers could accumulate on the Oakland pitching, as the next three batters were retired. 
 
In the top of the eighth, Mathews got the first batter on two pitches before Johnny Kelliher was next on the hill and allowed three singles to load the bases. Mike Sullivan got the first batter he faced on a high chopper to Chapman at third before getting the final batter of the out via strikeout. Sullivan also pitched the ninth and allowed just a two-out single before retiring the side.
 
Milwaukee got a two out single by Hausser in the eighth and a one-out single by Olejnik in the ninth but were unable to convert as Oakland tied the series at one game apiece with the 5-3 win.
 
Milwaukee will host Oakland in the rubber match of the series on Sunday afternoon, with first pitch slated for 12:00 p.m. at Franklin Field.