ST. PAUL, Minn. – Q Phillips hit his first career grand slam in the top of the sixth inning, but it was not enough as St. Thomas took the opening game of a two-game midweek set, defeating the Milwaukee Panthers 10-7.
 
Phillips' blast highlighted a sixth inning in which the Panthers took advantage of four walks to cut an early 8-1 deficit down to two runs. Teige Lethert drew a bases-loaded walk ahead of Phillips' grand slam.
 
Milwaukee's offense drew 11 walks against St. Thomas pitching, but the Panthers were unable to capitalize late, hitting into a pair of inning-ending double plays that stymied potential rallies.
 
The Tommies jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning. After Milwaukee scored on a Tate Schmidt sac fly in the third, St. Thomas responded with three more runs in the bottom half to extend their lead to 8-1.
 
Zach Dohrmann, the third pitcher used by Milwaukee, helped stabilize things with 2 2/3 innings of relief and a pair of strikeouts. Camden Kuhnke also made his season pitching debut and retired two batters.
 
Trailing 8-6 entering the seventh, Milwaukee scored an unearned run aided by a Tommie error to pull within one at 8-7. However, the Tommies answered with two runs in the bottom of the frame to regain a three-run cushion.
 
Aiden Fishnick closed it out for Milwaukee, yielding just one hit and one walk over the final 1 1/3 innings.
 
Chris Petersen earned the win for St. Thomas, allowing just the Schmidt sac fly through five innings while throwing 68 pitches. Milwaukee starter Tristan Arnold took the loss.
 
Easton Fritcher led the Tommie offense with three RBIs, while Lucas McNellis and Adam Puder added two RBIs each.
 
Milwaukee and St. Thomas will wrap up the series on Wednesday afternoon with first pitch set for 12:00 p.m. at Koch Diamond.