MILWAUKEE – Milwaukee scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning off the Purdue Fort Wayne bullpen, as the Panthers took the second game of the weekend set from the Mastodons by a 7-4 score on Saturday at Franklin Field.
 
Justin Hausser gave Milwaukee its first lead of the game at 4-3 in the seventh. Tyler Bickers followed with an RBI single, and Charlie Marion added two insurance runs to put the Panthers up by four.
 
Purdue Fort Wayne scored two off Milwaukee starter Aric Ehmke in the first, but the Panthers responded with two of their own in the bottom half. Gabe Roessler reached on an infield single before Bickers and Caden Headlee drove in runs to even the score against PFW starter Tyler Greenwood.
 
Both starters settled down in the second before the Mastodons regained the lead in the top of the third, once again capitalizing on a leadoff walk. Ehmke and Greenwood each faced one over the minimum during the middle innings, with the Mastodons holding a 3-2 lead held into the seventh.
 
"He got better as he kept going," commented head coach Shaun Wegner on Ehmke. "You'd like to see him attack a little bit earlier … two of the first three runs that scored came off leadoff walks … it's good to see him compete, you just wish it would start a little sooner to help him last a little longer into that game."
 
Tyler Andrews threw a scoreless top half of the seventh before Milwaukee's offense erupted in the bottom half.
 
Q Phillips led off with a triple into the right-center gap before a ground ball by Otto was mishandled, allowing Milwaukee to tie the score at three. With two on and two out, Hausser blooped a single to give the Panthers the lead, followed by run-scoring knocks by Bickers and Marion.
 
"Greenwood didn't really give us too much free stuff … he threw lots of strikes," noted Wegner. "Once they brought their bullpen in, we were able to get to them early. Maybe a misplay here or there defensively that worked in our favor, and we were able to attack and put up that five spot, which was huge for us."
 
PFW got a run back in the eighth off Logan Snow, but the veteran induced a groundout to end the rally. He then worked around a one-out single in the ninth to close out the win for the Panthers.
 
Ehmke finished the game with one strikeout over six innings of work. Andrews earned his first collegiate win after a scoreless seventh, while Snow struck out one over the final two frames.
 
"Tyler threw great … with these conditions you need to have strike throwers in there and make them beat you," added Wegner. "Even though Logan didn't have his best stuff today, he got some outs where they put the ball in play, and we got outs."
 
Greenwood pitched a season-high six innings with one strikeout, allowing just the two runs in the first. Cole Newell allowed five unearned runs in the seventh and took the loss, while Theo Nagy pitched a scoreless eighth.

Drew Helton had two hits and drove in a pair for the Mastodons, while Jackson Micheels added a multi-hit day. Justin Osterhouse drew a pair of walks and scored a run.
 
Bickers ended the day with three hits for Milwaukee, while Marion and Tristan Ellis had multi-hit games.
 
Milwaukee and Purdue Fort Wayne will play the final game of the series on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. at Simmons Field in Kenosha, Wis.