BATON ROUGE, La. – Milwaukee baseball held a 5-2 advantage over No. 1/2 LSU heading to the bottom of the sixth inning but was unable to hold the lead in an upset bid against the Tigers.
 
Down 2-0 through three innings, Milwaukee responded with a four-run fourth inning punctuated by a two-run double by Tristan Ellis. The Panthers added an insurance run in the fifth as Charlie Marion connected on a solo home run.
 
Matthew Mueller got the start and worked through three innings, striking out three. Mason Weckler was effective through most of his outing, with four strikeouts over 2 2/3 frames.
 
"LSU is a powerhouse program, and Alex Box Stadium can be considered the cathedral of college baseball," said head coach Shaun Wegner. "It's a great atmosphere to open up in, and I thought our guys were not overwhelmed."
 
Dylan O'Connell and Christian Holmes added RBIs in their Panther debuts, while Bradyn Horn collected a pair of hits in the effort.
 
Cade Arrambide led the Tiger offense with three hits, including the go-ahead three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Seth Dardar added three RBIs off the bench, and Steven Milam drove in a pair.
 
LSU broke through first with a solo home run in the second and added an RBI groundout in the third, spotting starter Casan Evans an early advantage.
 
Joey Spence was hit by a pitch, Horn singled, and Tate Schmidt deadened a ball for a bunt single before Holme plated the first run with a ball through the infield. Ellis followed with a double off the end of his bat to score a pair, and O'Connell later brought Holmes home with a ground ball to chase Evans.
 
"We were able to really stretch some at-bats against Evans and just kept scrapping, which elevated his pitch count early," Wegner added. "The guys found a way to end his day early by not getting too big and just getting the ball in play with runners in scoring position."
 
"The real difference came with their damage swings versus our manufactured offense," Wegner continued. "We have to find a way to put the ball in play more and give ourselves a chance to capitalize."
 
After Marion's home run extended Milwaukee's lead in the fifth, Weckler continued for the Panthers into the sixth and ran into trouble, allowing a two-run home run as LSU cut the lead to one. Tyler Andrews came on and limited the damage with a strikeout.
 
The Tigers scored six runs in the seventh on four hits and a pair of Milwaukee errors, then added five more in the eighth to extend the lead to 10 and end the game. 
 
"I thought we caved in to the momentum swing, and when you lose the strike zone, it becomes difficult against a team of that caliber," said Wegner. "You throw in a few errors that continued their rallies and it was the recipe for disaster in the end."
 
After Evans exited, Cooper Williams struck out five over 2 2/3 innings, while Gavin Guidry tossed two scoreless innings with five strikeouts to earn the win. Tiger pitching struck out 17 Panthers on the day.
 
"Tomorrow is another opportunity to simply play nine innings of baseball and try to execute at a higher level," Wegner concluded. "I think our guys will be up for the challenge."
 
Milwaukee and LSU meet for game two of the weekend set Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m.