BATON ROUGE, La. – Dominic Kibler gave Milwaukee an early 1-0 lead with a home run, but the No. 1/2 LSU offense was too much for the Panthers to handle in the series finale at Alex Box Stadium.
 
Kibler's home run was his first as a Panther, while Ryan Lemm drove in the first two runs of his career with a third-inning single. Cade Palkowski connected on a three-run home run in the fifth.
 
Riley Peterson got the start for Milwaukee and struck out two over his two innings of work. Cullen Riel finished the game for the Panthers with a scoreless frame.
 
"First off, that ball club across the field is the number one team in America for a reason," said head coach Shaun Wegner. "They have a ton of talent in both the box and on the mound. Credit to Jay and his staff for assembling a very good roster, and today we saw that come to life." 
 
LSU used four pitchers on Sunday, including starter William Schmidt, who earned the win with nine strikeouts over four innings of work.
 
"Offensively, we scrapped and fought all weekend long," added Wegner. "We accumulated far too many strikeouts overall, but the guys worked counts and at-bats and made the LSU staff earn them. There is so much power at their disposal."
 
The Panthers had nine hits and drew six walks as a team. Palkowski and Max Glusick had two hits apiece. Kibler had a home run and two walks, and Charlie Marion had a hit with a pair of free passed. Lemm, Grant Ross, and John Hadley VI each recorded a hit on the day.
 
"It was great I see a couple guys who got their first action take advantage and find some success," said Wegner. "We can use this and grow into next weekend, where we will face another good staff at Duke."
 
Between Peterson and Riel, the Panthers used four other pitchers, all making their season or Panther debuts.
 
"Peterson was on a pitch count, and we really don't back him up at all," Wegner added. "We will learn from it and continue to define roles so that we feel like we have some length in the bullpen."
 
"The mound was not great today, but our defense certainly didn't do them any favors," Wegner said in conclusion. "We have to make routine plays and limit the damage if you want to play deep into the season against playoff-caliber opponents."
 
LSU finished the game with 17 hits, including three apiece from Derek Curiel and Jake Brown. Curiel drove in three, Brown added six RBIs, while Seth Dardar drove in three and Trent Caraway plated five in the 21-7 win.
 
Milwaukee continues its season-opening 20-game road trip with a four-game series at Duke. The set begins with a 3:00 p.m. (CT) first pitch on Friday, Feb. 20.