MILWAUKEE – Zach Lane connected on a walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Milwaukee Panthers a 10-9 victory over the Wright State Raiders on Friday evening at Franklin Field.
 
Lane ended the day with a 4-for-6 effort and drove in three runs as Milwaukee recorded 15 hits on the day to Wright State's 10.
 
The Panthers led 8-2 after four innings, but the Raiders took a 9-8 lead with a six-run top of the ninth. Milwaukee evened the score in the bottom of the ninth as Gabe Roessler had an RBI triple to score Lane, who later drove in the game-winning run with a base hit in the next inning to give the Panthers their sixth conference win of the year.
 
"We kept scratching and clawing and trying to find a way, but I give our guys credit, we could have hung out heads and given up after the ninth," commented head coach Shaun Wegner after the game. "We found a way to manufacture a run to get us to the 10th inning … we were able to relax enough and Lane was able to shorten up and get the job done."
 
Milwaukee scored in each of the first four innings to build up their 8-2 advantage but were unable to capitalize over the next four as MKE stranded four runners on base over that span and nine overall on the game.
 
"We scored a bunch of runs and we had a plan against their pitching, which we executed well, but we left nine on base and missed some opportunities as well," Wegner added.
 
Luke Hansel got the start for Milwaukee and allowed just three runs and struck out eight Raiders. Johnny Kelliher came on in the top of the 10th and allowed just one hit as he recorded his first win of the season.
 
Milwaukee scored a pair in the first as Carson Hansen hit a sacrifice fly to plate the opening run, and on the same play an error by the Raiders allowed a second Panther run to score.
 
Wright State scored two in the top of the second with home run off the bat of Andrew Patrick to even the score. Hansel put more traffic on the bases but was able to get out of the inning without further damage.
 
The Panthers loaded the bases in the bottom of the second but came out with just one run on a ground ball by Sean Tillmon as MKE regained the lead. Lane and Q Phillips had RBIs in the third to extend the Panther lead in the bottom of the third to 5-2.
 
MKE had its biggest inning of the game with three runs in the fourth as Tyler Bickers scored a run on a ground ball, before Hansen had a sacrifice fly, and Lane drove in another to extend Milwaukee's lead to six.
 
Hansel got a double play in the fifth and surrendered a solo home run to Patrick in the sixth as the Panthers led 8-3 entering the seventh.
 
Logan Snow had a strong first two innings in relief as he faced the minimum but was touched up for the six runs in the ninth as the big blow of the inning came on a three-run home run by Ben Vore to give WSU its first lead of the game at 9-8.
 
Lane got the rally started in the ninth with a fisted single to the opposite field and was moved into scoring position on a bunt by Phillips. Roessler attacked the first pitch he saw and tripled to right centerfield to chase home the tying run.
 
Kelliher pitched a scoreless top of the 10th to give Milwaukee a chance to walk it off in the bottom of the inning.
 
Tillmon ignited the rally with a four-pitch walk before Hausser singled to the opposite side to put two runners on. A balk was called to push the winning run 90 feet away before Bickers was walked intentionally to load the bases.
 
Two batters later with the Raiders playing with five infielders, Lane punched the ball down the right field line that stayed fair to score Tillmon with the winning run.
 
Milwaukee will host Wright State for the second game of the series on Saturday afternoon at 2:05 p.m. at Franklin Field in search of the series win over the visiting Raiders.