MILWAUKEE – Despite outhitting their hosts in each game, the Milwaukee baseball team dropped both ends of a Horizon League doubleheader to the Oakland Golden Grizzlies, falling by 6-5 and 7-3 scores.
 
The Panthers held a 9-6 advantage in hits in the opener and led 6-5 in game two. However, the Golden Grizzlies were able to scratch across late-inning runs in each game to come away with the weekend series sweep against their hosts.
 
Justin Hausser led the Panther offense with four hits including a pair of doubles on the day as he drove in a pair. Zach Lane also drove in two as he picked up two hits including a double. Carson Hansen drove in three for the Panthers, including his fourth home run of the season.
 
On the hill, Milwaukee got five effective innings from Adrian Montilva in the opener as he struck out eight and allowed just one run. Owen Rice got the start in game two and did not allow a hit over three innings as neither Montilva nor Rice factored into the pitching decisions in their games.
 
"Our starters gave us a chance to be either even or ahead when they turned the ball over and we put ourselves in peril on too many occasions," noted head coach Shaun Wegner after the game. "We scored a few runs but not enough to overcome our inefficiencies today."
 
While Panther pitching struck out 21 Golden Grizzlies over 18 innings, the Panthers gave up too many walks allowing 20 free passes, while hitting seven batters as Oakland took advantage to score their 13 combined runs.
 
"We had two games today where our freebies turned into too many runs on the scoreboard for them," Wegner added. "We found a way to play errorless baseball all day but still wound up on the losing end of the scoreboard."
 
Game 1 Recap
After Oakland scored in the top half of the first, Sean Tillmon led off the bottom of the inning with a booming double to right field before Hausser brought him in with the tying run on an RBI groundout.
 
Montilva walked the first three batters he faced in the second inning to load the bases but was able to get out of the jam with three-straight strikeouts to strand the bases full.
 
Milwaukee took its first lead of the game in the bottom of the third on a leadoff single by Q Phillips, and three batters later scored on a double into the left field corner off the bat of Hausser to put the Panthers up, 2-1.
 
Montilva got through the fifth as he struck out four of the last six batters he faced before Logan Snow came on and allowed just a two-out single in the sixth inning.
 
Hausser was involved again with a leadoff double in the bottom of the sixth and later came home as Hansen connected on a line drive home run over the right field fence to increase Milwaukee's lead to three at 4-1.
 
Gabe Roessler had a leadoff triple in the seventh and scored on a balk to make it a four-run lead for the Panthers.
 
 
After facing three batters in the seventh, Snow struggled in the eighth and allowed four Oakland runs to level the score at five. The Golden Grizzlies scored a run on a bases-loaded walk in the top of the ninth off Tyler Deleskiewicz, in what proved to be the difference in the opening game.
 
Reggie Bussey led Oakland in the opener as he went 3-for-4 with three RBIs, Brody Krzysiak got the win as he tossed 1 2/3 innings of hitless relief, while Brandon Decker recorded the save as he faced the minimum in the bottom of the ninth.
 
Game 2 Recap
Rice matched Decker, who started game three for Oakland, with three hitless innings with four strikeouts before Cole Spitzer came on and hung up a zero in the top of the fourth.
 
Milwaukee broke the deadlock in the bottom of the fourth with Hausser knocking a first-pitch single up the middle before a Tyler Bickers single put two on with no outs. Lane connected on a two-run double into the gap to give the Panthers an early 2-0 advantage.
 
Oakland scored seven runs on just four hits over the next three innings, taking advantage of six walks and a pair of hit batters to take a 7-2 lead.
 
The Panthers scratched across a late run in the eighth as Hausser scored on a ground ball by Hansen but it was not enough as Oakland held on for the 7-3 win.
 
Ben Clark drove in a team-high two runs on a triple for the final two Oakland runs in the seventh inning to lead the offense. Decker got the win as he went the first five innings for the Grizzlies as three relievers finished up the final four innings for the road team.
 
Keagon Kaufmann and Camden Kuhnke threw scoreless frames in the eighth and ninth for the Panthers.
 
Up Next
Milwaukee will host non-conference Valparaiso on Tuesday afternoon at Franklin Field with first pitch set for 3 p.m.