MILWAUKEE – Home games are just a week away for the Panthers, but before Milwaukee can look ahead to returning home the team has a tall task at hand this weekend as MKE visits Northern Kentucky for a three-game Horizon League Series. The set begins at 1:00 p.m. (CT) on Friday afternoon at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex, just outside of Cincinnati.

WEEK AT A GLANCE
Friday, March 22 | Milwaukee at Northern Kentucky | Bill Aker Baseball Complex | Highland Heights, Ky.  | 1:00 pm (CT)
Saturday, March 23 | Milwaukee at Northern Kentucky | Bill Aker Baseball Complex | Highland Heights, Ky. | 12:00 pm (CT)
Sunday, March 24 | Milwaukee at Northern Kentucky | Bill Aker Baseball Complex | Highland Heights, Ky. | 11:00 am (CT)

QUICK LINKS
ESPN+ (Friday Only): mkepanthers.com/coverage
Live Stats (All Games): mkepanthers.com/coverage
Follow Along (On X): @MKE_Baseball

LEADING OFF
» Milwaukee went 1-2 to open Horizon League play last weekend at Wright State, while Northern Kentucky swept a three-game series from Oakland last weekend. In other action around the league this weekend, Youngstown State visits Oakland, and Wright State travels to Purdue Fort Wayne.
» Milwaukee is 26-18 in all-time meetings with Northern Kentucky, including a 3-4 record against the Norse in 2023. Milwaukee knocked NKU out of postseason play with a 10-8 extra-inning win over the Norse at Nischwitz Stadium in Dayton, Ohio.
» The Panthers have struggled in Highland Heights of late, with a 2-6 record in their last eight. Overall, the Panthers are 9-10 in true road games when visiting Northern Kentucky.
» Last weekend the Panthers won one of three at Wright State, with a 19-6 win in the middle game of the series. Carson Hansen had five hits in the game, while Logan Snow pitched five innings of relief to pick up the win.

SCOUTING NORTHERN KENTUCKY
Milwaukee was given no favors when the schedule came out, having to visit the top two teams in the preseason poll in road games to open the Horizon League schedule. The Norse enter the weekend series at 12-8 overall with a 3-0 mark in league games, Northern Kentucky knocked off non-conference Ohio on Tuesday by a 18-13 score for their eighth win in a row in advance of this weekend's series.

Dizzy Peyton is in his third season as head coach of the Norse, after 17 seasons as an assistant and has his team clicking on all cylinders to open the 2024 campaign. The team is tops in the Horizon League in team batting average at .325, which is good enough for 17th in all of Division I, the team also ranks in the top-40 in the nation in hits, on-base percentage, home runs, runs scored, slugging percentage.

In no surprise Liam McFadden-Ackman, Jake Paulick and Treyvin Moss are all leading the way on offense for the Norse, as Paulick has a .415 batting average, while McFadden-Ackman leads the way in OPS at 1.386, while also leading in RBIs (36), doubles (9), and home runs (10). Moss is second in the league with 31 hits, tied with McFadden-Ackman. Cleary Simpson is tops in the league, also tied with McFadden-Ackman, in runs scored with 25 on the year.

The pitching staff for the Norse are anchored by three all-league caliber pitchers as Tanner Gillis, Clay Brock, and Ben Gerl have all pitched well in the early going of 2024. Gillis transferred to NKU this offseason from Division II Cedarville and has become the ace of the staff as a Friday starter. Gillis is in the top-10 in the Horizon League in most pitching categories with his 23 2/3 innings, amassing a 3-1 record with 28 strikeouts to go along with a 6.85 ERA. Brock has allowed his share of runs in two of his first three starts but has settled down and only allowed one run over his last 13 inning pitched, while Gerl is a weapon from the left side and is coming off a 2023 season in which he threw seven innings in each of his two starts against MKE in 2023. This year, Gerl has a 7.30 ERA and struck out 23 batters over a team-leading 24 2/3 innings on the mound.

Nick McClanahan has thrown 18 2/3 innings out of the bullpen with 25 strikeouts, while Matthew Lopez has made 10 appearances and tossed 16 innings with 11 strikeouts. Aaron Massie has 13 strikeouts over 10 1/3 innings with a 2.61 ERA.

DOUBLES PARTNERS
Three players lead the Horizon League with nine doubles apiece this season including Milwaukee's Carson Hansen, who has nine doubles through the team's first 17 games. Hansen is tied with Liam McFadden-Ackman of Northern Kentucky, and Sammy Sass of Wright State with nine doubles apiece in 2024.

TOPS IN PITCHING
Milwaukee's pitching staff continues to be the Horizon League leaders with a team ERA of 6.67 with Northern Kentucky second in the conference with a 8.22 team ERA. Luke Hansel is top among pitchers that qualify for the individual lead in ERA with a 3.52 on the season followed by Adrian Montilva in second at 4.36, and Logan Snow at 4.66.

The trio for the Panthers are in the top-four in the league in opponents' batting average; Hansel (1st, .224), Montilva (2nd, .225), Snow (4th, .237). Hansel also leads the league in innings pitched at 30 2/3, while he is also the conference's strikeout leader with 29 on the year including six strikeouts looking.

OFFENSIVE OUTBURST
With 19 runs in the team's Horizon League victory over Wright State, the Panthers scored their most runs in a game since the 2021 season. Milwaukee scored 21 runs in a home game against Oakland on May 1, while it was the most games the Panthers scored in a road game since March 21, 2021, with a 19-run effort at Northern Kentucky.

With 19 runs against the Raiders, the mark tied the most runs that the Panthers have scored against Wright State. The only other occasion that Milwaukee scored 19 runs against Wright State came back on May 5, 2001, in a 19-2 win in Dayton, Ohio.

FIVE FOR HANSEN
With five hits against Wright State on March 16, Carson Hansen joined elite company in program history becoming just the 22nd player to record five hits in a single game, including the first since May 24, 2012. Among Hansen's five hits, three were doubles as the sophomore tied the program mark for double in a single contest, most recently completed in 2018 by Tyler Bordner on May 23 of that season.

LONG-RELIEF WINS
With five innings of relief on March 16, Logan Snow recorded his first win with the Panthers as he struck out five Raiders along the way. The feat of five-plus relief innings and a win occurred twice in 2023 as Nick Gilhaus pitched 6 2/3 innings against Minnesota in a 3-0 win on March 1, while Eliot Turnquist did not allow a run over six innings against Wright State at home on April 8.

FIVE-GAME STRETCH OF RUNS
Over Milwaukee's five games from the second game of the team's doubleheader at Western Kentucky (March 9) through the March 17 game at Wright State, the Panthers scored 46 runs. It was the highest offensive output for the team since Milwaukee scored 47 runs over a five-game stretch from March 19 through April 1 in the 2022 season.

PLUS-88
With his .571 batting average for the Panthers at Wright State, newcomer Tyler Bickers raised his season batting average by 88 points to his current .288 on the season. Bickers was 8-for-14 at Nischwitz Stadium last weekend including a pair of doubles and his first home run in a Panther uniform. Driving in at least a run in each game, Bickers now leads the Panthers with 10 RBIs through their first 17 games of the season.

NOW WALK IT OUT
Milwaukee has drawn at least nine walks in two games already in 2024, including a season-high 10 in the team's 19-6 win over Wright State on March 16. In the team's March 5 game at UIC, the Panthers drew nine walks against Flames pitching.

The highest amount of walks that Milwaukee drew in 2023 was eight at Youngstown State on April 30, while Milwaukee has not drawn at least nine walks in a game since May 21, 2022, when they drew 16 walks against Wright State pitching in the final game of the regular season.

FIRST WIN FOR WEGNER
Shaun Wegner earned his first collegiate head coaching victory on March 9 with the team's 6-5 extra-inning win over the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. Wegner becomes the eighth different head coach to record a win since the program's inception in 1957, while he becomes the fifth manager in the team's Division I history (1991-present) to earn a win.

IN EXTRA INNINGS
Milwaukee is 1-1 in extra-inning games thus far in 2024 and have been right around that mark over that .500 mark the last decade. The Panthers are 15-16-1 in extra-inning games dating back to the 2015 season.

BICKERS IN THE OPENER
With his two-run triple in the season opener on February 16 at Fresno State, Tyler Bickers became the first Panther to hit a triple in a season opener since the 2021 season, when Marcus Cline hit a three-base hit in the seventh inning of the opener at the University of Kentucky.

He also became the first Panther to record three RBIs in a season opener since the 2022 opener, when Luke Seidel (4), and Mitchell Buban (3) had three or more RBIs in the first game of the season.

TRANSFER HAVEN
Milwaukee's incoming class of 15 included 11 transfers from varying levels of baseball, as the crop of newcomers will look to make an impact on the Panther lineup and pitching staff immediately.

Making their way to Milwaukee from Division I programs are pitcher Logan Dobberstein from Kansas State, third baseman Zach Lane from Ball State, outfielders Dallan Quigley from North Dakota State and Tai Walton from the University of Hawai'i, as well as pitcher Isaac Wenzel from Indiana State.

NAIA transfer Logan Snow from Menlo College will wrap up his career with the Panthers. Junior college transfers in infielders Tyler Bickers of John Wood College, and Gabe Roessler from Madison College, along with catcher Teige Lethert from Iowa Central are all expected to see playing time for MKE in 2024.

Infielder/outfielder Sean Tillmon, formerly of Concordia Wisconsin, and catcher Ben Buehring, formerly of Marian (Wis.) were conference opponents in the Division III Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference.

The 11 transfers join Luke Hansel, Caleb Lorbecki, Adrian Montilva, Q Phillips, Owen Rice, and Mike Sullivan who has all transferred to Milwaukee over the last few seasons.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
Milwaukee welcomes in four true freshmen to the team in 2024, three of which hail from the state of Wisconsin. Tristan Arnold is a pitcher from Mukwonago, while Riley Peterson hails from Verona and is a left-handed slinger. Two-way player Camden Kuhnke will play infield and pitch for the Panthers, with Cole Spitzer rounding out the four-man class as a lefty pitcher from St. Paul, Minnesota.

RACKING UP THOSE MILEAGE POINTS
This season, Milwaukee will visit California, Kentucky, and Illinois twice, as well as Texas and Ohio during the first six-plus weeks of the season before playing in their first home game against Purdue Fort Wayne on Thursday, March 28. In total, the Panthers will travel a total of 14,548 miles from campus to campus before opening the home portion of their schedule.

NEW ON THE DOCKET
Milwaukee will meet several opponents for the first-time ever in their Division I history beginning with the season-opening series at Fresno State. The Panthers will also meet Texas Rio Grande Valley from February 23-25, Long Beach State from March 1-3, and St. Thomas at home on April 1 as first-time foes in 2024.

SOME BIG OPPONENTS
After going 2-2 against their four Big Ten opponents last year, the Panthers will take on both Iowa and Northwestern for the third consecutive season, while also facing Michigan for just the second-ever occurrence and first time since 2009.

Last year the Panthers split a home-and-home series with Northwestern, as the home team won each time, while the Panthers fell to Iowa on the road. Milwaukee blanked Minnesota early in the season by a 3-0 score on March 1.

DOUBLEHEADER WITH THE CREW
Through a marketing agreement between the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Brewers, the Panthers have been able to host 31 games at American Family Field, formerly Miller Park, since the 2002 season. During the team's 31 games, Milwaukee has gone 20-11, including last season's win over Milwaukee School of Engineering.

This year, the Panthers will meet the Raiders on April 17 with first pitch slated for 5:05 pm, earlier in the day the Brewers will host the San Diego Padres in a clash of National League foes beginning at 12:10 pm at American Family Field.

PRESEASON POLL
The Horizon League announced its preseason poll prior to the start of the season with Milwaukee projected to finish in fourth place in the six-team league accumulating 16 points.

Wright State was named league favorite with 34 points, followed by Northern Kentucky with 28 and Oakland with 22. The Panthers finished ahead of Youngstown State (15 points), and Purdue Fort Wayne (11) to round out the league projections.

UP NEXT
After the trip to Northern Kentucky, the Panthers head to Chicago for a second game at Curtis Granderson Stadium against UIC on Tuesday to end the season-opening 21-game road trip. Milwaukee hosts Purdue Fort Wayne to open the home portion of the schedule on Thursday, March 28 at 3 p.m., the game will kick off eight of the next nine games at home for the Panthers.

CATCH ALL THE ACTION
Thanks to ESPN+, Milwaukee baseball fans will have the opportunity to watch the Panthers all season long. All of Milwaukee's home games will be carried live online at ESPN+, excluding the April 17 game at American Family Field. The Horizon League and ESPN have an agreement that includes ESPN hosting the league's digital network on the ESPN+ platform.

ESPN+ offers fans thousands of live events, on-demand content, and original programming not available on ESPN's linear TV or digital networks. Fans can subscribe to ESPN+ for just $10.99 a month (or $109.99 per year) and can cancel at any time. For road games, visit MKEPanthers.com for live coverage links.