MILWAUKEE – Carson Hansen had a clutch two-out single to score the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth inning as the Milwaukee baseball team earned a 7-6 win over the Wright State Raiders on Sunday afternoon at Franklin Field.
 
Hansen drove in Tai Walton, who returned to the lineup and walked to lead off the inning, to break the 6-6 deadlock to give the Panthers the series victory over Wright State.
 
"We're really proud of our guys," Wegner said of his team's performance against Wright State. "They're never going be an easy game and they always do things the right way, but our guys did just enough to come out on top."
 
Milwaukee had nine hits on the day and got five RBIs from the 2-3-4 spots in the lineup as Justin Hausser and Hansen each drove in a pair, while Tyler Bickers added one of his own.
 
"It's the usual suspects getting those RBIs that were the difference makers," Wegner added of his offense. "We did have some other guys getting in on the offense and getting on base to be there for them … at some point someone else is going to have to start helping us drive in some of those runs to help us lengthen our lineup."
 
All seven of Milwaukee's runs were scored by seven different players on the afternoon, as the Panthers also drew four walks on the day.
 
The Panthers sent Owen Rice to the mound to open the game and struck out four batters over the first two innings. Gavin Theis pitched the next two and struck out a pair, before Keagon Kaufmann, James Severson and Johnny Kelliher did not allow an earned run over the final five innings.
 
"Keagon has been outstanding lately, and James had a good outing for us as well," Wegner noted. "We played the left-on-left matchup and Kelliher came up with the strikeout of [Patrick] Fultz to get us out of the eighth and he was nails getting that double play ball in the ninth."
 
Rice stranded the bases full after three of the first four Raiders reached to open the game. Milwaukee took advantage with two runs on three consecutive doubles off the bats of Hausser, Bickers and Hansen to take a 2-0 first-inning lead.
 
Wright State responded with a pair in the second to tie the game and took its first lead of the game with a two-run home run off the bat of Ben Vore in the top of the fourth. Vore ended the game with a team-best three RBIs, while Sammy Sass was 4-for-5 at the plate and scored two runs.
 
Milwaukee put up a four-spot in the bottom of the fourth as Q Phillips and Gabe Roessler had back-to-back one-out singles, before Dallan Quigley reached on an error that allowed Phillips to score.
 
Two batters later Sean Tillmon walked before Hausser laced a single up the middle to score a pair as the Panthers regained a 5-4 lead. Milwaukee then executed a double steal as Tillmon swiped the plate for the sixth Panther run.
 
During the fourth, MKE chased Wright State starter Chet Lax from the game, who surrendered the first six Panther runs.
 
Kaufmann allowed an unearned run in both the fifth and sixth innings as the Raiders once again tied the score with the game heading to the bottom of the sixth.
 
Walton walked to lead off the inning before Tillmon sacrificed him to second base, Hausser then followed with a four-pitch walk. Two batters later, Hansen had the clutch two-out base knock to the opposite field to plate Walton with the go-ahead run as the Panthers led 7-6.
 
Kaufmann worked around a pair of two out singles in the seventh before turning the ball over to Severson in the eighth. Severson got the first two outs of the eighth before yielding to Kelliher, who got the final out via strikeout to advance the game to the ninth to strand the potential tying and go-ahead baserunners for Wright State.
 
Kelliher got a first-pitch groundout before allowing a single on an 0-2 pitch in the ninth. The next Raider swung at the first pitch and hit the ball right to Bickers at second, who turned the 4-6-3 double play with Roessler and Hausser to end the game.
 
Kaufmann earned his first win of the season, while Kelliher notched his first career save. Josh Laisure took the loss for Wright State without allowing a hit over 1 1/3 innings, but walked a pair of Panthers and gave up the game-deciding run.
 
Milwaukee will face just one non-conference opponent this week, as the Panthers head to Iowa for a 6:00 p.m. game on Tuesday at Duane Banks Baseball Stadium to take on the Hawkeyes in Iowa City.