LEADING OFF
» After a 1-2 start at Mercer last weekend, Milwaukee heads back to the Southeast and takes on another first-time opponent in the South Carolina Gamecocks this weekend for a three-game series between Feb. 21-23.
» The Panthers had 10 extra-base hits last week including three home runs, two from Camden Kuhnke and one from Justin Hausser.
» Charlie Marion and Kuhnke had three RBIs apiece in the opening weekend, while Hausser and John Hadley each had two RBIs to begin the season.
» As a team, Milwaukee scored 22 runs and hit .218 as a team with a .288 on-base percentage and had a .376 slugging percentage.
» Milwaukee's pitching staff allowed 27 runs against the Bears with an 8.64 team earned run average, while holding the Bears to a .273 batting average. The Panther pitching staff struck out 20 batters including six in a relief performance by Matthew Mueller to save the season-opening win.
» South Carolina hosted Sacred Heart last weekend and took care of business with a three-game sweep including a pair of shutouts to sweep the series. The team then added its first road win of the season against Winthrop on Tuesday, 5-3, before knocking off Queens at home by a 7-2 score.
» While this is the first meeting between Milwaukee and South Carolina, the Panthers are no strangers to teams from the SEC, having played six programs that currently make up the league. The Panthers are 5-25 against SEC programs including 0-9 vs. Arkansas, 0-6 vs. Kentucky, 4-4 vs. Missouri, 1-2 vs. Tennessee, 0-3 vs. Texas, and 0-1 vs. Vanderbilt.
» Meanwhile, South Carolina has only played one program from the current Horizon League, boasting a 4-1 record vs. Wright State, including a 2-1 record in a three-game series in late February 2017.

LOOKING AT SOUTH CAROLINA
South Carolina is off to a 5-0 start in the Paul Mainieri era, as Division I baseball's active winningest coach came out of retirement after last leading the LSU Tigers in the 2021 season. No stranger to success, Mainieri has been a four-time National Coach of the Year in 2000, 2008, 2009, and 2015, and won the National Championship with LSU in 2009.

The Hall of Fame skipper inherits a team that had a 37-25 overall record and were 13-17 in the SEC a season ago and went 1-2 in the NCAA Regionals following a 3-2 record in the SEC Tournament. South Carolina was projected to finish 14th in the 16-team conference, with five different programs receiving first-place votes, paced by league favorite Texas A&M with 10 first-place votes and 228 overall points.

Outfielder Ethan Petry was selected as a First-Team All-Preseason team and has already backed up that start with a .438 average with one round tripper and six RBIs through the team's first five games. Nathan Hall leads the team with nine hits and a .500 average in 18 at bats, and has a home run, three doubles, and six RBIs to begin the year. Kennedy Jones and Nolan Nawrocki are both hitting .333 in the early-going of the season.

The pitching staff has posted the 17th-best ERA in all of college baseball to start the year with a 1.67 staff earned run average. Friday starter Dylan Eskew allowed just one run and struck out nine over his first outing of the season, Saturday hurler Matthew Becker also struck out nine and earned the win over Sacred Heart last week, while Sunday starter Jake McCoy kept pace with his fellow starters with nine strikeouts and earned the win over five innings.

In relief, Ryder Garino has made two appearances and has allowed just one hit with nine strikeouts in five innings of work while Parker Marlatt leads the team in appearances with three and has scattered three hits over his 4 1/3 innings.

UP NEXT
Milwaukee continues its season-opening road trip next weekend with a four-game series at UNLV. The Panthers and Rebels will meet for the first time in program history beginning on Feb. 28, as the series will also feature the team's lone scheduled doubleheader this season on Mar. 1.

FASTEST TO TWO HOME RUNS
With two home runs in the opening series last week, Camden Kuhnke became the first Panther to have multiple home runs in the opening series since the 2022 season when Jake Novak had two in the second game of the season against Alabama A&M.

THREE RBIs IN BACK-TO-BACK DEBUTS
For the second consecutive season a Panther had three RBIs in their Milwaukee debut as Charlie Marion drove in three runs in the team's win over the Mercer Bears on Feb. 14. Three RBIs in the opener matches the debut from teammate Tyler Bickers, who also had three in the Feb. 16, 2024 opener at Fresno State.

SEASON-OPENING WIN
With the team's win on Feb. 14 in the season opener, Milwaukee improved to 3-1 in its last four openers. However, the Panthers are 9-26 all-time in season openers dating back to their inaugural Division I season in 1991.

HOME COOKING
Over the last 20 seasons (2005-24), Milwaukee has taken the term 'home field advantage' to a new level, boasting winning seasons at home in all but two season (8-14 in 2022, 0-0 in 2020). The Panthers went unbeaten at home in 2013 (13-0), while the team has recorded back-to-back 12-7 marks in home games in both 2023 and 2024.

IT'S BEEN A FEW YEARS
Last season Justin Hausser and Tyler Bickers accomplished numbers that have not been reached five season, as Hausser had 227 at bats, 50 runs scored, and 72 hits, while Bickers drew 28 walks. All four numbers have not been reached since the 2019 campaign.

IN EXTRA INNINGS
After going 2-1 in extra-inning games in 2024, the Panthers hold a record of 16-16-1 in games needing extra frames dating back to the 2015 campaign.

TOP PROSPECT
D1Baseball announced its Top Prospects list for the 2025 season with Milwaukee right-handed pitcher Logan Schulfer named the third prospect on the list representing the Horizon League.

Schulfer is the younger brother of former Panther draftee Austin Schulfer, who is now pitching in the Philadelphia Phillies organization. Austin was drafted in the 19th round of the 2018 draft by the Minnesota Twins.

RETURNING HONOREES
Milwaukee returns one player that earned Horizon League recognition in 2024, with Gavin Theis earning Pitcher of the Week honors on May 20. First baseman Justin Hausser was on the All-Freshman Team in 2022.

PORTAL PARTY
This season Milwaukee welcomes 11 transfers to the roster including Connor Bozak (Cuyahoga), Zach Dohrmann (North Iowa Area), Aric Ehmke (Frontier), Aiden Fishnick (McHenry), Tristan Ellis (Minnesota), Caden Headlee (Minnesota-Crookston), Charlie Marion (Madison), Matthew Mueller (Gonzaga), Eamonn Mulhern (Madison), Logan Schulfer (Ball State), Mason Weckler (Stevens Point).

RETURNING TO WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
Among Milwaukee's transfers into the program is pitcher Logan Schulfer, who began his career with the Panthers in 2022 before transferring to Ball State for two seasons (2023-24).

Schulfer is one of just four active players in Division I to return to a school where they had previously played at the Division I level. Outfielder/Pitcher Malachi Lott returned to Houston, infielder Tristan Moore returned to New Orleans, and infielder Chandler Riley returned to Charlotte.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
In addition to the 11 transfers, the Panthers welcome seven true freshmen, all from the State of Wisconsin, to the squad including Tyler Andrews (Whitefish Bay, Wis.), Parker Bleck (Appleton, Wis.), John Hadley (Sun Prairie, Wis.), Nick Heisl (Germantown, Wis.), Bradyn Horn (Wind Lake, Wis.), Cade Palkowski (Oak Creek, Wis.), Tate Schmidt (Waunakee, Wis.), and Alex Vander Loop (Kimberly, Wis.).

WHATS IN A NUMBER?
In 2025 several numbers will be in circulation for the first time in Panther history, Nick Heisl will wear #48, Isaac Wenzel will wear #59, and assistant coach Andy Bergholz will be the first wearer of #81.

Four players changed jersey numbers from what they wore a season ago including DJ Kojis (#21 to #8), Gavin Theis (#35 to #18), Tristan Arnold (#14 to #23), and Isaac Wenzel (#29 to #59).

TRAVEL POINTS
Wisconsin + Baseball + February is never a good mixture based on temperatures and potential snowfall in the Midwest, so the Milwaukee Panthers will once again open the season on an extended road trip. The trip will feature the first 20 games away from Franklin Field, spanning over 10,770 miles.

The Panthers will play in Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, and South Carolina during its season-opening trip.

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FOREVER
Milwaukee will be facing off against five first-time opponents during the 2025 season including Mercer (Feb. 14-16), South Carolina (Feb. 21-23), UNLV (Feb. 28-Mar. 2), River Falls (Mar. 26), St. Thomas (Mar. 6-7). Milwaukee and St. Thomas were scheduled to play in 2024, but the games were postponed due to weather.

ANOTHER DRAFTEE
For the third consecutive season the Milwaukee baseball program had a player selected in the Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft in June. Owen Rice was selected in the 20th round of the 2024 draft by the St. Louis Cardinals, following the selections of Riley Frey in the 19th round of the 2023 draft by the Atlanta Braves, and the pick of AJ Blubaugh by the Houston Astros in the seventh round in 2023.

Milwaukee has had 26 all-time draftees with five of the last six draftees being pitchers. Five players are actively playing in either the Majors or Minor Leagues, including Milwaukee's first ever Major Leaguer in Daulton Varsho of the Toronto Blue Jays. Austin Schulfer signed a minor league deal with the Philadelphia Phillies entering the 2025 season, while Blubaugh (Houston), Frey (Atlanta), and Rice (St. Louis) are with minor league teams in their respective organizations.