ROCHESTER, Mich. – The Milwaukee baseball team held a 2-0 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth, but it was the host Oakland Golden Grizzlies to score the final four runs of the game over the next two innings to record the 4-2 win on Sunday afternoon.
 
Carter Hain's two-run single in the bottom of the sixth proved to be the difference maker as it turned Oakland's one-run deficit into a one-run lead that it did not relinquish before the Grizzlies added an insurance run in the seventh.
 
"We pitched well enough at times to win the game, but ultimately it was the free runners at the wrong times that hurt us," said head coach Shaun Wegner after the game. "There was a hard line drive in that sixth inning that if caught would have flipped the momentum in that inning, but they were able to capitalize."
 
Owen Rice started for the Panthers and struck out six over the first three innings without allowing a run. Gavin Theis was touched up for the three runs in the sixth as he hit a pair of batters, compounded by a walk, wild pitch, and a pair of singles as the Grizzlies wrangled the lead.
 
Theis retired the first two batters in the seventh with a walk and a double play, before Keagon Kaufmann was tagged for a run on the two batters he faced. Johnny Kelliher struck out a pair in his 1 1/3 innings of work.
 
Milwaukee outhit Oakland, 6-3, led by a pair of hits by Justin Hausser as both he and Sean Tillmon drove in the Milwaukee runs. Gabe Roessler and Tyler Bickers each drew two walks each, while Bickers had a single to reach base three times on the day.
 
"Offensively, leaving 12 runners on base is just too many wasted opportunities," Wegner added. "We have to find a way to get guys in from third with less than two outs … two-out RBIS can dictate who ends up on top, and we did not do that today."
 
Rice and Oakland starter Brody Krzysiak matched zeros in the early going, while Theis continued the trend into the fifth.
 
Milwaukee scratched across the first run of the game with two down as Roessler walked and stole second, before Hausser connected on a 1-1 pitch to score Roessler.
 
Carson Hansen was hit by a pitch to lead off the sixth inning and Tillmon brought him all the way around with a run-scoring triple. The Panthers were unable to capitalize with Tillmon on third with one down, as he was stranded 90 feet away.
 
Oakland scored their four runs over the next two innings and were able to hold onto the 4-2 lead as Brandon Decker pitched the final four innings and struck out eight Panthers to register his second win of the series and seventh of the season.
 
Milwaukee will wrap up its road trip on Tuesday afternoon, as the Panthers will head to DeKalb, Illinois for non-conference matchup against Northern Illinois at 3 p.m.