LEADING OFF
» Milwaukee heads to Las Vegas to take on the UNLV Hustlin' Rebels for a four-game weekend, which includes the team's lone scheduled doubleheader of the season on Mar. 1. The Panthers enter the week off a three-game sweep at the hands of South Carolina last weekend.
» Charlie Marion and Thomas Otto led the Panthers with three RBIs apiece during the series with the Gamecocks, while Marion and Tyler Bickers each had a team-best three hits and hit .300 on the weekend. Q Phillips, Gabe Roessler, Caden Headlee, and Justin Hausser all had extra-base hits against South Carolina.
» On the mound, Gavin Theis pitched well until the end of his outing and took a hard-luck loss in Friday's opener. Logan Schulfer led the Panthers with seven strikeouts during his five-inning start on Saturday. Matthew Mueller pitched well out of the bullpen again for Milwaukee with two scoreless innings with a pair of strikeouts on Friday.
» Two trips in the Southeast is now followed by a visit to UNLV as the Panthers and Rebels will meet for the first time in program history. UNLV is 4-4 to open the season with a pair of wins against No. 25 Indiana, followed by another two wins last weekend against No. 25 Cincinnati.
» While this is the first time Milwaukee meets UNLV, this is the second consecutive season that Milwaukee is playing a team from the current iteration of the Mountain West after falling in three games to Fresno State to begin last season. Overall, Milwaukee is 0-6 in games against current Mountain West teams with an 0-2 mark vs. San Jose State, 0-1 against San Diego State, and 0-3 versus Fresno State.
» By comparison, this will be UNLV's first time taking on a team from the current six members of the Horizon League.

LOOKING AT UNLV
Two weeks into the 2025 season, UNLV has a 4-4 record including wins against nationally ranked Indiana and Cincinnati. In its most recent game, the Rebels knocked off No. 23 Cincinnati by a 7-6 score, by scratching across three runs over the last two innings to come out on top.

The win gave head coach Stan Stolte the 221st of his career as he is now in his 10th season at the helm of UNLV. The Rebels were selected fourth in the Mountain West preseason poll, picking up one first-place vote and 27 points overall. Fresno State garnered six of the eight first-place votes and led the field with 43 points, followed by Nevada (35 points), Washington State (30), while UNLV is tied with New Mexico and San Diego State with 27 points.

The player to watch according to the preseason poll release is Paul Myro IV, who at this juncture is hitting just .190 on the year with six runs scored with four hits and five walks, and a solo home run for his lone RBI of the season. Leading the way thus far have been JP Hefft and his team-best 12 hits and .375 average as he has eight RBIs on the young campaign. Dean Toigo has a team-best 11 RBIs with eight hits including a team-best three round trippers.

On the hill, the three consistent weekend starters so far have been Carson Lane, who has a 3.86 ERA over seven innings of work with 11 strikeouts. LJ Mercurius has a team-best 13 strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings with a 9.45 ERA, while Evan Vasilou has also made a pair of starts and struck out nine with a 14.21 ERA over 6 1/3 frames.

The bullpen has been led by Alex Overbay and his impressive start with 12 strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings, as he has not allowed a run yet this season. Overbay is the son of former Milwaukee Brewer, Lyle Overbay, who played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball. Cody Albright and Will Marquart have also been key for the Rebels out of the bullpen combining for nine strikeouts over 9 2/3 innings thus far on the year.

After hosting Milwaukee this weekend, the Rebels will play single games against Arizona State (Mar. 4), Saint Mary's (Mar. 7), Utah Tech (Mar. 8), and UC Riverside (Mar. 11) before opening Mountain West play at New Mexico on Mar. 14.

UP NEXT
The Panthers will play their first midweek game of the season on Tuesday, when they visit U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers with first pitch set for 6:00 p.m. (CT). The team will continue to Kansas for a four-game set with the Jayhawks from Mar. 6-9. The Saturday game against Kansas will take place at Riverfront Stadium in Wichita, home of the Double-A Wichita Wind Surge.

NEWLY ANNOUNCED ON THE HORIZON
On Feb. 27, the Horizon League announced the addition of Northern Illinois as the 12th full-time member of the Horizon League. The Huskies will bring 14 sports to the league, including baseball beginning in 2026-27.

Milwaukee will play Northern Illinois at home during non-conference play this season on Apr. 29. The Panthers are 35-29 in all-time meetings with the Huskies, including last season's 6-5 win at home on May 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 in five seasons, 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.

PRESEASON POLL
Right before the season began, the Horizon League announced its preseason poll with Milwaukee selected to finish fourth in 2025. Wright State took first among the six teams with 33 points including three first-place votes, Northern Kentucky was second with 29 points, followed by Oakland just ahead of Milwaukee with 19 points. Youngstown State with 14 and Purdue Fort Wayne with 13 rounded out the preseason poll.

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 both 2022 and 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.