LEADING OFF
» After starting the week 2-0, the Panthers settled for a 2-2 week after dropping the last two games to Youngstown State on Friday and Saturday.
» Milwaukee will head to Ohio for four games this week including the first-ever meeting against Cincinnati on Wednesday afternoon. The Bearcats are led by Wisconsin-native Jordan Bischel, who played at St. Norbert College in De Pere.
» After battling Cincinnati, the Panthers will head to Nischwitz Stadium for round two against Wright State. The Raiders were the only team to take a conference series from Milwaukee the first time through league play.
» Last week, Tyler Bickers hit a staggering .786 with an 11-for-14 effort at the plate with seven RBIs, he also walked four times and was hit by a pitch for an .800 on-base percentage with a stolen base.
» Justin Hausser had three doubles and a home run and was tied with Bickers for a team-best seven RBIs, while Q Phillips drove in four and had three doubles.
» On the mound, Gavin Theis improved to 7-1 on the season with his win over Youngstown State with another career-best eight strikeout performance with Matthew Mueller pitching 7 1/3 innings with 12 strikeouts over one start and one relief outing.
» Cincinnati is 21-18 overall including a 2-3 record against common opponents: UNLV and Wright State. The Bearcats will take on Xavier on Tuesday before hosting Milwaukee.
» Wright State has been hot with eight wins in its last nine games and will host Xavier on Wednesday before welcoming the Panthers. The Raiders have a five-game lead on Northern Kentucky, and a 5 1/2 game lead on Milwaukee entering play this week.

LOOKING AT CINCINNATI
Walks have been a key factor in Cincinnati's success this season both offensively and on the pitching mound. At the plate, the Bearcats have drawn the 47th most walks in Division I this season with 212, which is also second-best in the Big 12 behind Kansas. Meanwhile on the hill, the Cincinnati staff has allowed the 26th fewest walks per nine innings at 3.55.

Landyn Vidourek leads the team with 36 walks this season, with Kerrington Cross second on the team with 32 in 2025. The pair set the table atop the Cincinnati batting order where the middle of the order takes over, Vidourek also leads the team with 34 RBIs, while Jack Natili has a .311 average with 31 RBIs, along with Cal Sefcik's .318 average and 30 RBIs. Cross leads the team with a .397 average, playing in 36 of the team's 38 games this year, which leads the Big 12 and is 44th in Division I this season.

On the mound, the staff is led by Kellen O'Connor and Nathan Taylor, who have each made nine starts on the year and helping the team to a team ERA of 4.89, almost a run better than their opponents this season. While the Panthers won't see the duo of weekend starters, the team has plenty of effective options to get through the game on Wednesday including Hudson Johnson who has four wins in 16 relief outings with a 4.25 ERA, as well as Brandon Scheurer who leads the team with 19 outings in 2025.

Cincinnati was selected to finish 10th in the 14-team Big 12 conference before the season with the team sitting in a tie for seventh through the first 18 games of league play. Overall, the team boasts a 21-18 record before playing Xavier and Milwaukee midweek. The Bearcats are on a four-game skid entering play this week having lost to Xavier at home last week before getting swept by league-leading West Virginia this past weekend in Morgantown.

LOOKING AT WRIGHT STATE
The Raiders sit five games in the clear of second-place Northern Kentucky entering Horizon League play this weekend, with one of their two conference losses coming to Milwaukee in the series opener on March 21 in Milwaukee, with the other coming against the Norse on April 6. Home field advantage has been key for Wright State, who are 12-1 at Nischwitz Stadium this year including a perfect 9-0 mark in home Horizon League contests.

Wright State is in the top two in virtually every statistical category this season within the league, including the second-best batting average at .284, and the top scoring offense at 8.1 runs per game. The Raiders also feature the league's top pitching staff with a combined ERA of 6.61 and 1.69 WHIP. Milwaukee is expecting to see Mychal Grogan (0-2; 6.75 ERA) on Friday, Griffen Paige (0-2; 9.69 ERA) on Saturday, and Cam Allen (4-2; 5.40) on Sunday.

The Raiders also have plenty of strong bullpen arms with the likes of JJ Thompson, who leads the staff with a 2.92 ERA in 15 outings, while Warren Hartzell has tossed 29 1/3 innings in relief with a 3.68 ERA and 36 strikeouts. Max Whitesell, Joey Valentine, and Garrett Peters are all key cogs in the Wright State relief corps.

After being in and out of the lineup at the beginning of the season, Gus Gregory has returned to the lineup consistently of late, which has paid off as he had a 5-for-6 effort on Saturday with 11 RBIs as the Raiders swept Oakland this past weekend. The 11 RBIs were a Wright State single-game record and are the second-most in a game by a Division I player this season, only Dale Francis Jr. of Gardner-Webb has had more with 12 against Appalachian State on Mar. 1.

In addition to Gregory's recent success, Wright State has relied on the likes of JP Peltier, and his team-best 39 RBIs this season in addition to Hunter Warren, who has 36 RBIs in addition to his team-best .358 batting average. Boston Smith had 31 RBIs and his nine home runs trail the 12 by Peltier, which leads the team. Eight players have at least 20 RBIs for the Raiders this season.

UP NEXT
After the weekend in Ohio, the Panthers will return home for their next five games. The team will take on Northern Illinois at 11:00 am on Apr. 29, before welcoming Division III MSOE to Franklin Field on Wednesday evening. The five-game homestand will conclude with a three-game weekend series against Northern Kentucky from May 2-4.

BICKS' HOT STICK
During the team's seven-game homestand from April 11-19, Tyler Bickers had 16 hits in 27 at bats to give him a .593 batting average at the plate. More recently during the team's three-game series against Youngstown State, Bickers finished the three-game set with a 10-for-11 (.909 average) effort against the Penguins.

IT'S MUELLER TIME
During his two outings against UIC and Youngstown State, Matthew Mueller returned to form and had an impressive 1.23 earned run average, yielding just one run over 7 1/3 inning. Mueller tied his season-high with six strikeouts in each of his outings, with a half dozen against the Flames in a start, while performing well as a reliever on Saturday and added another six strikeouts against the Penguins.

THE RACE TO 200
In the history of Division I baseball at Milwaukee only nine players have gone on to collect 200 career hits, Justin Hausser looks to break into that exclusive club and enters the week with 182 hits for his career. He had a career-best 72 hits as a junior in 2024.

HORIZON LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Milwaukee has had three players earn weekly honors during the 2025 season thus far. Aric Ehmke was named Pitcher of the Week on April 8, while the Panthers swept the awards on April 15 with Charlie Marion earning Player of the Week and Gavin Theis earning Pitcher of the Week accolades.

FIVE-FOR-FIVE
In Milwaukee's win over Northern Kentucky on Mar. 29, Tyler Bickers was 5-for-5 in his at bats becoming the 23rd Panther in program history to have at least five hits in a game.

DOUBLE-DIGIT HOMERS
Charlie Marion (9) and Gabe Roessler (8) are currently on pace to eclipse double-digit home runs this season, the duo would be the first pair of Panthers to have at least 10 home runs since the 2006 campaign when Joe Nowikcki and Ross McCoy each had 11 round trippers that year.

HOME RUN PACE
With 42 combined home runs through the team's first 37 games, Milwaukee is currently on pace to finish the season with 64 home runs this year. The program mark for homers in a season is 77 set in 1999, while 64 would put this year's team third on the single-season mark.

A PAIR OF FIVES
In the middle game of Milwaukee's road series at Youngstown State on Mar. 14 both Q Phillips and Gabe Roessler had five RBIs apiece in the lopsided 15-7 victory.

Last Four Occurrences
Mar. 14, 2025, at Youngstown State – Q Phillips (5) & Gabe Roessler (5)
Apr. 15, 2022, at Youngstown State – Nate DeYoung (7) & Connor Goodman (6)
Apr. 28, 2015, vs. Edgewood – Nick Unes (6) & Sam Koenig (5)
Apr. 12, 2006, at Chicago State – Ross McCoy (8) & Zak Rivera (5)

THREE STEALS IN A GAME
Gabe Roessler stole three bases in Saturday's series finale at Youngstown State on Mar. 15, he became the first Panther to swipe three bags in a game since he accomplished the same feat on May 5 last season against Purdue Fort Wayne. Milwaukee has now had 19 instances of a player stealing at least three bases in a game in program history, with the program record of four reached twice.

HIT BY PITCH
Six hit batters in a game by Milwaukee pitching was the program record for the Panthers entering play in 2025, last done on Feb. 22, 2008. This season the Panthers have hit seven batters twice in a game, during the nine-inning contest at Purdue on Mar. 18, before doing it again in the seven-inning affair two games later against Wright State on Mar. 21.

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.

IN EXTRA INNINGS
This season, Milwaukee is 0-1 in extra-inning games, the Panthers hold a record of 16-17-1 in games needing extra frames dating back to the 2015 campaign.

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.

NEWLY ANNOUNCED ON THE HORIZON
The Horizon League announced the addition of Northern Illinois as the 12th full-time member. 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.

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.

CHECK THAT DIAL
This season, Milwaukee has made the move to one of the leading audio providers in all of college sports with their audio streams now available online directly through the team's home website MKEPanthers.com, as well as on The Varsity Network. Fans can download 'Varsity Network' in the App Store on iOS devices and Google Play and search "Milwaukee" to find the live audio stream of Panther baseball games.