DAYTON, Ohio – The Milwaukee baseball season ended on Friday afternoon at the 2024 Horizon League Baseball Championship as Youngstown State squeaked by with a 3-2 win at Nischwitz Stadium.
 
The Panther offense was held to just three hits and scored both of their runs in the bottom of the third, but it was a sixth inning marker by Youngstown State that proved to be the difference.
 
"Today did not end how we wanted our season to end, which was disappointing," commented head coach Shaun Wegner postgame. "We were not able to find enough runs to get the victory and struggled at the plate … especially with runners in scoring position."
 
Q Phillips and Teige Lethert scored runs, while Justin Hausser had Milwaukee's lone RBI of the game. Gabe Roessler, Zach Lane, and Tai Walton collected the three Panther hits.
 
Owen Rice started for Milwaukee and allowed two runs over the first two innings of the game while striking out four.
 
Keagon Kaufmann did yeoman's work out of the bullpen with a career-high 5 1/3 innings and allowed the third Penguin run, suffering the hard-luck loss.
 
Mike Sullivan pitched a hitless inning, while Johnny Kelliher retired the final two batters on five pitches to cap off the game.
 
"Our bullpen did a really good job of limiting their offense," added Wegner. "But we just didn't provide enough from the bats to keep our season going."
 
Rice was able to work around a runner on third with just one out in the first but was not as fortunate in the second as Youngstown State scored a run on a wild pitch and a bases-loaded walk.
 
Phillips walked to lead off the bottom of the third, followed by a six-pitch walk by Lethert to put two on. Walton then followed with a bunt single to load the bases with nobody down. The Panthers were unable to capitalize, scratching across just two runs, the first on Hausser's ground out and the second on a passed ball to even the score.
 
Kaufmann faced just one over the minimum during his first three innings and retired the first batter in the sixth. After a double and a pop up, the next batter walked to put two on with two down. RJ Sherwood singled on the first pitch he saw to left centerfield, which was fielded cleanly but the runner from second scored before the third out of the inning was made at third base on the play.
 
Trailing by a run, Milwaukee got two runners on in the seventh and eighth innings but could not convert. The Panthers went down in order in the ninth following the efforts of Kaufmann, Sullivan, and Kelliher to keep the deficit at one.
 
Braden Gebhardt earned the win allowing just one hit over 3 2/3 innings on the mound in relief, while Chris Domke earned his fifth save of the year by retiring the only four batters he faced.
 
"A special thank you to the seniors and those moving on from the program for helping build the foundation of where we want this program to go," Wegner concluded. "Each one of them had an impact on this year's team and moving forward we look to build Milwaukee into a consistent contender."
 
Milwaukee finishes the season at 19-36 overall, with 13 of those wins coming in Horizon League play.