MILWAUKEE – Tyler Bickers and Carson Hansen combined for eight RBIs and Luke Hansel threw seven effective innings as the Milwaukee Panthers won the opening game of a three-game series with Purdue Fort Wayne by a 10-2 score.
 
Bickers was 4-for-5 at the plate including a pair of doubles as he drove in five runs to lead the Panthers. Hansen was 2-for-3 with a home run, drew a pair of walks, and drove in three runs for MKE.
 
"Hansen and Bickers are starting to become confident in the situations where we have runners in scoring position," head coach Shaun Wegner noted. "Earlier this season, we had a lot of guys pressing and they were trying to do too much … now we're starting to relax a little bit and putting good contact on the ball."
 
Hansel earned his first win of the season with seven innings on the hill, finishing the game with eight strikeouts and allowing just one earned run.
 
"Luke was awesome … he's a veteran presence, and with his mentality you just know what you're going to get with him," Wegner noted on his starter. "He has shown he can handle big situations that come his way. It would have been easy for the first inning to spiral on him, but he was able to shut it down and allowed our offense to go out and make noise with the bats."
 
Milwaukee outhit the Mastodons by an 11-7 count, while drawing seven walks on the afternoon. The Panthers set a new season high with eight extra-base hits, including seven doubles and Hansen's home run.
 
"We had some guys that were really locked in today, I thought we saw the ball really well and we stayed disciplined," Wegner added. "Ultimately, we controlled the zone a little bit better than we have in the past and that's what shows today on the scoreboard."
 
After Purdue Fort Wayne scored two runs in the top of the first inning, Hansel settled down and got through the next two innings unscathed to bring the Panthers up to bat in the third.
 
Gabe Roessler led off the third with a first-pitch double, Hansen walked three batters later before the pair stole their way into scoring position. Bickers hit a dribbler on the infield that scored the duo as Milwaukee leveled the score.
 
The Panthers added an unearned run in the bottom of the fourth to take its first lead of the game at 3-2 and began to build onto its lead as the game progressed.
 
Sean Tillmon doubled and Hansen homered in the fifth to extend the Panther lead to 5-2.
 
Justin Hausser connected on a double to lead off the seventh, before RBIs by Hansen and Bickers added onto the Milwaukee advantage. Bickers drove in two more in the eighth to cap off the scoring and give the Panthers the 10-2 win.
 
After Hansel went the first seven innings, James Severson came on and got through the final two innings, including a double play in the eighth.
 
Purdue Fort Wayne was led by Grant Thoroman and Nick Sutherlin with one RBI apiece, while all four of the Mastodon pitchers were touched up for at least one run, including Owen Willard who took the loss.
 
Milwaukee and Purdue Fort Wayne will play game two of the series on Friday with first pitch slated for 2 p.m. at Franklin Field.