TICKET INFORMATION
All tickets for the 2024 Horizon League Baseball Championship are mobile. It is recommended that fans purchase ahead of time. Anyone who does not have a smartphone can purchase tickets at the gate. Tickets purchased at the gate will be texted to customers.
Single Day Pass - $10
Tournament Pass - $30
Free admission for 5 & under and Horizon League students with a college ID.

MERCHANDISE INFORMATION
Official Horizon League Baseball Championship merchandise is available at THIS LINK.

LEADING OFF
SCOUTING THE FIELD
Milwaukee traveled to and hosted all five of their Horizon League foes this season, finishing the conference slate with a 13-17 record. The Panthers went 3-3 against top-seeded Wright State, 2-4 against Northern Kentucky, 0-6 against Oakland, 4-2 versus Purdue Fort Wayne and 4-2 in games with Youngstown State.

Wright State enters the double-elimination tournament as the top seed, needing the very last game of the regular season to clinch the 30-game crown with a walk-off victory over Northern Kentucky as Andrew Patrick connected on a three-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth.

The Raiders have won 11 of their last 16 games heading into postseason play and had 10 All-League selections including first team selections Julian Greenwell, Sammy Sass, and Ben Vore. Wright State leads the conference in extra-base hits with 241. While they also lead the league in slugging percentage at .569. As a team, the Raiders have an 8.35 ERA which is tied for fourth in the conference.

Northern Kentucky narrowly missed out on dethroning the Raiders for the top spot in the league, falling just one game short of Wright State with a 19-11 conference record. The Norse led the league with a .319 batting average and a .433 on-base percentage, led by Horizon League Player of the Year Liam McFadden-Ackman, who led the league in many statistical categories but was unable to hold onto the batting average lead as he fell just shy of becoming a Horizon League Triple Crown winner as he led in both home runs with 21, and RBIs with 73.

The Norse also had third baseman Cleary Simpson and second baseman John Odom earn spots on the Horizon All-League First Team, while newcomer Tanner Gillis anchored the NKU rotation and was among the league leaders in ERA, opponents' batting average, strikeouts and wins. He alongside fellow rotation-mates Clay Brock and Ben Gerl are a formidable trio atop the Norse staff.

Earning the third seed were the Oakland Golden Grizzlies, who were led to their third-place finish by Horizon League Pitcher of the Year Brandon Decker, who was used in a multitude of roles atop the Oakland pitching staff. Decker was used as a starter during weekend series, while he was also used to close games as he finished the regular season with better than a strikeout per nine innings as he struck out 104 and tossed 102 innings.

While Decker was the only representative for Oakland on the All-League First Team, his battery-mate Brandon Heidal was one of the top catchers in the league as he was selected to the league's second team. Oakland was also well decorated on the All-Freshman Team with the likes of Lucas Day, Shane McAlinden, Aidan Orr, and Trent Rice all being recognized for their first-year efforts. Speedster Reggie Bussey at the top of the lineup was second in the league to Rice in stolen bases and was certainly a strong candidate for All-League accolades.

Milwaukee's first-round opponent Purdue Fort Wayne finished two games behind the Panthers in the standings at 11-19, which included four losses to the Panthers. Led on offense by Freshman of the Year candidate Justin Osterhouse, who was a second team honoree and a member of the All-Freshman Team, Osterhouse was a leader of the Mastodon offense that finished the season with a .269 batting average as a team, with a .402 slugging percentage and a .359 on-base percentage. Osterhouse hit .375 on the year with a team-high nine home runs, while finishing among the team leaders with 35 RBIs.

Jacob Walker was a second team honoree alongside Osterhouse, with a .325 average with 19 doubles, five home runs and 27 RBIs. The balanced offense also featured Grant Thoroman (.300 AVG/6 HR/36 RBIs), Nick Sutherlin (.300 / 6 / 36), and Ben Higgins (.280 / 9 / 42). Meanwhile, the 'Dons pitching staff posted an 8.35 ERA as a staff this spring with Carter Sabol and Mac Ayres anchoring the rotation, while Kevin Fee pitched to a 3.22 ERA in 58 2/3 innings during his 27 relief outings as he was named Horizon League Reliever of the Year on Tuesday.

Rounding out the field is Youngstown State, who struggled with one of the highest team ERAs in all of Division I as 10.46 entering play at Nischwitz Stadium. The efforts of Jacob Gehring should not go unnoticed as the veteran right-hander was named to the league's first team after leading the team with four wins over 74 1/3 innings with 52 strikeouts.

The Penguins have a young nucleus of talent that will likely develop into a formidable group within the next few years led by Horizon League Freshman of the Year Alejandro Covas, who had six home runs and 37 RBIs while hitting .343 as a rookie. He follows teammate Matt Thompson who was the 2023 Freshman of the Year, who followed up his freshman season with a .267 average and 24 RBIs. The lineup goes as Trey Law does, as Law was selected as the top shortstop in the league as the leadoff man for the Penguins hit .349 on the year, finishing in the top three in the league with 76 hits this season.

ALL-LEAGUE HONORS
On May 21, the Horizon League announced the selections of starting pitcher Luke Hansel and outfield Carson Hansen to the All-League First Team, while designated hitter Sean Tillmon and starting pitcher Adrian Montilva were both second team honorees.

Hansen became Milwaukee's first outfielder to earn first-team accolades since 2016, when Luke Meeteer was a first teamer, while Hansel becomes the first Panther full-time starting pitcher to earn a spot on the top team since Austin Schulfer earned first team honors in 2018.

Tillmon earns Milwaukee's first designated hitter/flex all-league honors since Oakland Scanlan was on the second team in 2019., and Montilva's spot on the second team give Milwaukee five-straight seasons with a pitcher on the second squad as the Panther left-hander joins former teammate Riley Frey (2021, 2022, 2023), and Jared Reklaitis (2019).

THEIS NABS WEEKLY HONOR
Following an impressive four-inning outing to help the Panthers to a one-run win over the Youngstown State Penguins on May 17, the right-hander from Sussex, Wisconsin earned his first career Horizon League Pitcher of the Week selections. The redshirt sophomore's outing included facing just one over the minimum as he retired 12 of the 13 batters he faced while winning his third game of the season.

HANSEN NAMED BATTER OF THE WEEK x3
Milwaukee sophomore Carson Hansen was selected as the Horizon League Batter of the Week for three weeks from April 23-May 7 becoming just the second player in the history of the Horizon League (since 1983) to earn three straight awards.

Over the team's 13 games between April 17 and May 5, Hansen has hit .462 with 24 hits in 52 at bats, while picking up 13 extra-base hits with 10 doubles and three home runs. He has scored 13 runs, while driving in 30. He has walked eight times and was hit by one pitch for a .516 on-base percentage and has also gone 3-for-3 in his stolen base attempts during the historic run.

DEFENSE STEPPING UP
After committing 29 defensive miscues in their first 22 game (3-19 record), the Panthers have only committed 20 errors in games since then helping lead to a 15-15 record.

BATTING AVERAGE BOOSTERS
In 30 Horizon League games this season, the Panthers have upped their season batting average as a squad. As a team, Milwaukee has a .299 batting average in league games compared to a .272 mark overall this season.

Leading the way in bumping that mark is Carson Hansen who is hitting .383 in league games (.320 overall), while Tyler Bickers (.398 in HL Games/.324 Overall), Justin Hausser (.357/.326), Gabe Roessler (.275/.243), and Q Phillips (.306/.291) are all hitting at least 10 percentage points better in league games than total games in 2024.

JOHNNY ON THE SPOT
With a win and a save at home against Wright State, junior left-hander Johnny Kelliher thrown three innings of scoreless ball while he has only allowed three earned runs since March 30 against Purdue Fort Wayne. Since that outing, Kelliher has lowered his season ERA from 15.43 to 6.64.

Kelliher got a key strikeout to end the eighth inning on April 21 against Wright State before getting a double play ball to end the game for his first career save. He has since gone on to assume the closer's role for the Panthers and has five saves on the season including four in his last six appearances. His five saves rank him second among Horizon League pitchers in saves.

CARSON HANSEN: DOUBLES MACHINE
Carson Hansen leads the Horizon League with 25 doubles on the season. Hansen has tied the program record twice this season with three doubles at Wright State on March 16, and again on April 20 at home versus the Raiders. While Justin Hausser also tied the program mark as well with three doubles against Parkside on April 30.

There have only been two other Panthers to record at least 25 doubles in a single season with both instances coming in the 2008 season, when Jesse Hart set the single-season record with 28, while teammate Shawn Wozniak finished the 2008 campaign with 26.

HANSEL LEADS THE ARMS RACE
Luke Hansel has arguably been the best starting pitcher among the six Horizon League teams this season as Milwaukee's right-handed ace leads the league with a 3.61 ERA, with teammate Adrian Montilva third among starters in the league at 5.43. Hansel also has held batters to a .224 batting average against, which is second best in the league, and is also second with 78 strikeouts and 82 1/3 innings pitched.

Hansel was named Horizon League Pitcher of the Week once this season, with that announcement made by the league on April 16.

ROESSLER'S ON-BASE PACE
Gabe Roessler had his on-base streak stopped at 28 games on May 5 at Purdue Fort Wayne after having reached base safely in 28 consecutive games. Since 2006, Roessler's streak is the 29th occurrence of a Panther reaching base in at least 20 consecutive games, having joined teammate Justin Hausser, who had a 21-game on-base streak in 2023, and Sean Tillmon's 20-game streak this season.

Since 2006, only four players have ever had streaks of at least 30 consecutive games of getting on base including Mike Goetz in 2006 (57 games), Daulton Varsho in 2017 (41), Ryan Solberg in 2014 (37), and Rob Brockel in 2007 (34).

THREE-GAME STRETCH FOR MONTILVA
Adrian Montilva recorded 26 strikeouts over a three-game span with eight against Northern Kentucky, a career-high 10 versus Purdue Fort Wayne before securing another eight against Oakland on April 6. With his total over three games, it was the most since 2018 when Austin Schulfer struck out 32 over a three-game stretch from March 30 to April 21. Schulfer had eight strikeouts against Oakland, followed by 15 against Northern Kentucky before wrapping up the stretch with nine strikeouts versus Youngstown State.

On March 30, Montilva tossed the 42nd game in program history that has seen a pitcher strikeout at least 10 batters in a game. He became the first to reach the 10-strikeout plateau since Riley Frey accomplished the feat on April 6, 2023, with a 10-strikeout game at home against Wright State.

OFFENSIVE OUTBURST
With 19 runs in the team's Horizon League victory over Wright State on March 16, the Panthers scored their most runs in a game since the 2021 season. Milwaukee scored 21 runs in a home game against Oakland on May 1, while it was the most games the Panthers scored in a road game since March 21, 2021, with a 19-run effort at Northern Kentucky.

With 19 runs against the Raiders, the mark tied the most runs that the Panthers have scored against Wright State. The only other occasion that Milwaukee scored 19 runs against Wright State came back on May 5, 2001, in a 19-2 win in Dayton, Ohio.

FIVE FOR HANSEN
Carson Hansen had five hits against Wright State on March 16, in doing so he joined elite company in program history becoming just the 22nd player to record five hits in a single game, including the first since May 24, 2012. Among Hansen's five hits, three were doubles as the sophomore tied the program mark for double in a single contest, most recently completed in 2018 by Tyler Bordner on May 23 of that season.

LONG-RELIEF WINS
With five innings of relief on March 16, Logan Snow recorded his first win with the Panthers as he struck out five Raiders along the way. The feat of five-plus relief innings and a win occurred twice in 2023 as Nick Gilhaus pitched 6 2/3 innings against Minnesota in a 3-0 win on March 1, while Eliot Turnquist did not allow a run over six innings against Wright State at home on April 8.

FIVE-GAME STRETCH OF RUNS
Over Milwaukee's five games from the second game of the team's doubleheader at Western Kentucky (March 9) through the March 17 game at Wright State, the Panthers scored 46 runs. It was the highest offensive output for the team since Milwaukee scored 47 runs over a five-game stretch from March 19 through April 1 in the 2022 season.

WALK IT OUT
Milwaukee has drawn at least nine walks in three games in 2024, including a season-high 10 in the team's 19-6 win over Wright State on March 16. In the team's March 5 game at UIC and the second game of the May 5 doubleheader against Purdue Fort Wayne , the Panthers also drew nine walks this season.

The highest amount of walks that Milwaukee drew in 2023 was eight at Youngstown State on April 30, while Milwaukee has not drawn at least nine walks in a game since May 21, 2022, when they drew 16 walks against Wright State pitching in the final game of the regular season.

IN EXTRA INNINGS
Milwaukee is 2-1 in extra-inning games thus far in 2024 and have been right around that mark over that .500 mark the last decade. The Panthers are 16-16-1 in extra-inning games dating back to the 2015 season.

BICKERS IN THE OPENER
With his two-run triple in the season opener on February 16 at Fresno State, Tyler Bickers became the first Panther to hit a triple in a season opener since the 2021 season, when Marcus Cline hit a three-base hit in the seventh inning of the opener at the University of Kentucky.

He also became the first Panther to record three RBIs in a season opener since the 2022 opener, when Luke Seidel (4), and Mitchell Buban (3) had three or more RBIs in the first game of the season.

RACKING UP THOSE MILEAGE POINTS
This season, Milwaukee will visit California, Kentucky, and Illinois twice, as well as Texas and Ohio during the first six-plus weeks of the season before playing in their first home game against Purdue Fort Wayne on Thursday, March 28. In total, the Panthers will travel a total of 14,548 miles from campus to campus before opening the home portion of their schedule.

UP NEXT
The winner of the Horizon League Championship on Saturday will advance to the regional round of the 2024 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship. The field will be announced on Monday, May 27 at 11:00 a.m. (CT) on ESPN2.

Thus far Penn from the Ivy League and Army from the Patriot League have clinched berths to the NCAA Regionals, the Big West Conference does not have a league tournament, with the remaining automatic qualifying bids to be claimed on either May 25 or 26.

CATCH ALL THE ACTION
Thanks to ESPN+, Milwaukee baseball fans will have the opportunity to watch the Panthers all season long. All of Milwaukee's home games will be carried live online at ESPN+. The Horizon League and ESPN have an agreement that includes ESPN hosting the league's digital network on the ESPN+ platform.

ESPN+ offers fans thousands of live events, on-demand content, and original programming not available on ESPN's linear TV or digital networks. Fans can subscribe to ESPN+ for just $10.99 a month (or $109.99 per year) and can cancel at any time. For road games, visit MKEPanthers.com for live coverage links.