DAYTON, Ohio – Milwaukee baseball scored 11 runs over the first three innings and never looked back, advancing to the second day of the 2025 Horizon League Baseball Championship with a 15-4 victory.
 
The Panthers scored seven runs in the second inning, highlighted by four triples from Q Phillips, Gabe Roessler, Charlie Marion, and Caden Headlee. The feat tied the NCAA Division I mark for triples in a single inning, last accomplished by Wichita State in 1983.
 
Marion also added a home run and led Milwaukee with three hits and five RBIs. Tyler Bickers and Teige Lethert had multi-RBI games, as the Panthers had 15 hits, including six for extra bases.
 
The Mastodons threatened in the first against starter Gavin Theis, loading the bases with the first three batters. A sacrifice fly brought in one run before the Panthers turned the first of three double plays on the day to limit the damage.
 
Justin Hausser recorded his first hit of the game with one down in the bottom of the first, and Marion followed by launching a ball over the right field fence to give Milwaukee a 2-1 lead.
 
Phillips tripled with one out in the second before scoring on a single to center by Tristan Ellis. Roessler then tripled into right-center to make it 4-1. Hausser followed with a dribbler that was initially ruled an out, but video review confirmed he beat the throw, allowing Roessler to score.
 
Bickers walked to chase Mastodon starter Dillon Fischer, putting two on with two outs. Marion then hit the third triple of the inning to plate two more runs, and Headlee followed with the fourth triple to make it 8-1. Lethert capped the frame with a single to bring home Headlee.
 
"It was a pretty surreal inning," said head coach Shaun Wegner after the game. "It came down to the hustle single by Hausser to keep the inning alive and allowed us to do that damage. Doubles, triples, homers … it doesn't matter what they are, we just want to produce some slug because you get to score a lot more runs that way."
 
The four triples in one inning also tied the Milwaukee program record for triples in a game, previously set against Akron on Mar. 18, 2006. In that contest, Rob Brockel tripled twice, while Joe Nowicki and Jeremy Wilson added one each in a 20-12 win over the Zips.
 
Milwaukee tacked on two more runs in the third on a two-run single by Bickers, supporting Theis, who threw 43 pitches across three innings, allowing one run and striking out three.
 
Purdue Fort Wayne responded with two in the fourth off Mason Weckler, who then navigated through traffic in the fifth to leave the bases loaded. Tyler Andrews also stranded the bases full in the sixth, and after two reached in the seventh, Keagon Kaufmann came on to induce an inning-ending double, keeping the score at 11-3.
 
"When it comes to pitching, it's about trying to focus on the game at hand while also thinking ahead and setting up for the future," said Wegner. "Once we got ahead by 10 runs, I felt good about getting Gavin out of there, knowing that we could continue scoring and the bullpen can hold it. So really good work by Mason, Tyler, and Keagon to keep it in control and close it out."
 
The Panthers added a run in the bottom of the seventh, which was answered iby a solo home run from Brooks Sailors in the top of the eighth.
 
Hausser led off the bottom half with a walk, followed by hits from Bickers and Marion to bring him home. Lethert added a sacrifice fly to score Bickers, and Phillips doubled to drive in Headlee who had reached on a fielder's choice to give Milwaukee an 11-run advantage.
 
"We knew we needed to keep on the gas and try not to let the other team get any momentum," Wegner added. "We had a couple of zeroes in the middle inning where we were too relaxed, and I'd like to see us keep our foot on the pedal, but overall, it's hard to be upset with that victory."
 
Theis did not factor into the decision, while Weckler struck out one over his two innings of work. Andrews picked up his second win in as many weeks over Purdue Fort Wayne, allowing no runs and striking out two. Kaufmann closed it out with two strikeouts over the final 2 2/3 innings.
 
Milwaukee advances to face Northern Kentucky on Thursday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. (CT) at Nischwitz Stadium in Dayton, Ohio.