MILWAUKEE – Having completed 50 games, the Milwaukee baseball team plays its final three of the 2026 regular season, hosting Oakland for a three-game Horizon League series from Thursday through Saturday.
 
Friday's opener will be a 5:00 p.m. first pitch, with 11:00 a.m. start times on both Friday and Saturday at Franklin Field.
 
Milwaukee is in control of their own destiny and can clinch the second seed in next week's Horizon League Baseball Championship at Nischwitz Stadium in Dayton, Ohio. The Panthers can fall to as low as the fourth seed, dependent upon their own results coupled with results between Youngstown State and Wright State.
  
The weekend series will be available on ESPN+ with Scott Warras and the game will be simulcast via audio stream available on the Varsity Network App (App Store / Google Play), and at MKEPanthers.com/Watch. Links for live stats of all the games can also be found at MKEPanthers.com.

THE MATCHUPS & GAME LINKS
May 14-16 | Milwaukee vs. Oakland | Franklin Field | Franklin, Wis.
Thursday at 5:00 p.m. | Friday at 11:00 a.m. | Saturday at 11:00 a.m. | ESPN+ / Audio Stream / Live Stats | Follow Along (on X)
 
LEADING OFF
» Milwaukee went 3-2 this past week, including wins over Valparaiso, UIC, and the series finale against Youngstown State.
» The Panthers will wrap up the regular season this week with a three-game home series against Oakland to close out Horizon League competition.
» Charlie Marion and Dominic Kibler let Milwaukee with identical 8-for-19 efforts over five games for a .421 batting average, Marion had three home runs and drove in six, while Kibler had four home runs and drove in 10 runs, including multi-RBI efforts in all three of the Panther wins.
» Aric Ehmke was once again a strong presence on the mound for Milwaukee, as he did not allow an earned run for the third consecutive start in the team's loss to Youngstown State on Saturday. Sotaro Ishida pitched five innings and struck out five against Valparaiso, while Camden Kuhnke saved two games over 3 2/3 innings. Cullen Riel struck out four batters over his two outings.
» The Panthers will play Oakland, who will host Akron on Tuesday before heading to Wisconsin. The Golden Grizzlies are in the midst of a 16-game losing streak, having last beaten Michigan State, immediately following their series at home against Milwaukee.
» This year, Milwaukee went 2-1 in Rochester Hills, Mich. in mid-April, winning 12-4 in the opener and a 12-0 win in the Sunday rubber match. Oakland took the middle game of the series by a 6-5 score.
» Last season, when the Golden Grizzlies visited Franklin Field, the Panthers also took 2-of-3, winning the first and third game of the series.
» An evenly matched all-time series, Milwaukee is 35-34 against Oakland, with a 33-34 record in games in Horizon League play. Over the last 10 meetings, the teams are 5-5, while Milwaukee is 19-13 in home games against the Golden Grizzlies.

QUICK LOOK AT OAKLAND
Entering the week with a 10-37 overall record and a 5-16 mark in in the Horizon League, Oakland has been swept in each of its last three Horizon League series including Youngstown State (Apr. 17-18), Northern Kentucky (Apr. 24-26), and Wright State (May 1-3). After having the Horizon League bye last weekend, and playing Notre Dame, the Golden Grizzlies are looking to get back in the win column against league competition since defeating Milwaukee, 6-5, on April 11.

A lineup with some veteran players, Oakland's lineup features the likes of Ben Clark, Kyle Revere, Sam Griffith, Aidan Schuck, and Carter Hain. Clark leads the team in hitting with a .339 average, while Revere has been the thump in the middle of the lineup with eight homers and 30 RBIs. Schuck has driven in 28 runs and is tied with Revere and Sam Patton for the team lead in steals with 10 apiece.

The days of Brandon Decker, Grant Garman, and Hunter Pidek have passed as Oakland has struggled to replace their top-end arms from the past few seasons. This year's staff for Oakland enters the week with a 9.86 ERA, which is ranked 298th of 304 Division I programs, while their strikeouts per nine innings is 5.9, placing them 302nd of 304.

Eleven different pitchers have made at least one start for Oakland, including nine apiece from Ben Green and Tanner Ware. Green pitched a season-high six innings this past weekend at Notre Dame on Friday, while Ethan Glassman got the start on Saturday and lasted four innings, Josh Rosenblitt got the start in the finale and was unable to make it out of the first inning.

UP NEXT
The Horizon League Championship kicks off at Nischwitz Stadium in Dayton, Ohio as Wright State clinched the outright regular season title on Friday. Oakland is also locked into the fifth seed, with Milwaukee, Northern Kentucky, and Youngstown State all bunched in the middle.

Milwaukee plays Oakland, Wright State hosts Youngstown State, and Northern Kentucky is idle in league play to wrap up the year.

Oakland will be playing in the play-in game on Wednesday and will await their opponent, with Milwaukee still in the driver's seat for the two seed

ON THESE DATES
May 14 – 14-5 Record; Streak: Lost 2; Last Win: 2019 vs. Northern Illinois (5-3)
        vs. Oakland: 1-0 Record; Streak: Won 1; Last Win: 2015 (5-0)
May 15 – 10-11-1 Record; Streak Lost 2; Last Win: 2022 vs. Wright State (1-0)
        vs. Oakland: 1-1 Record; Streak: Lost 1; Last Win: 2015 (5-0)
May 16 – 9-6 Record; Streak: Lost 1; Last Win: 2024 vs. Youngstown State (6-3)
        vs. Oakland: 1-1 Record; Streak: Lost 1; Last Win: 2015 (7-4)

O'CONNELL ON THE RUN
With 38 stolen bases on the season, Dylan O'Connell has now set the single-season record by a Milwaukee player. Luke Meeteer previously owned the record with 37 stolen bases during the 2015 season.

With four stolen bases against Oakland on Apr. 12, O'Connell tied the Milwaukee program record for steals in a game. He later stole five bases in Thursday's game against Northern Kentucky to set a new single-game record. His five stolen bases in a game are the second-most in all of Division I baseball this season, with Alex Laird of Bowling Green recording seven of Akron on Apr. 3.

TEAM STEALS
Milwaukee has 113 stolen bases on the season as a team, Milwaukee has now stolen more bases than any other Panther team in a single season dating back to its inaugural Division I season in 1991. The previous mark was held by the 2016 Panthers with 103 stolen bases that year.

TEAM HOME RUNS
With 11 home runs during the team's five game week from May 5-10, the Panthers now have 51 home runs on the season, which is tied for fifth-most in a year in program history.

In 2025, Milwaukee hit 56 home runs, while the program record is 77 set back during the 1999 campaign.

IN-LEAGUE HOME RUNS
Milwaukee has 26 home runs in Horizon League games this season, the fifth-most in confernece games over the past 21 seasons. The most by Milwaukee in league play was 35 during the 2019 season, the Panthers have hit at least 25 home runs in league game five times with 35 in 2019, 33 in 2006, 30 in 2025, 27 in 2021, 26 in 2026.

MARION'S HOT STRETCH
Following the first game of a home doubleheader against Youngstown State on April 3, Charlie Marion had a .190 batting average on the season. In the 23 games since then, the Milwaukee right fielder has boosted his average nearly 100 points to .286, which includes 10 multi-hit games, including six home runs and 23 RBIs.

ATTENDANCE RECORD
In the team's home win over Valparaiso on May 5, the Milwaukee baseball team set a program attendance record with 2,414 in attendance for the game. The previous mark was set last season against Northern Illinois at 2,234.

MULTI-HOME RUN GAMES
Milwaukee had back-to-back weekends with a player recording a multi-home run game, Joey Spence (March 13 at Northern Kentucky) and Charlie Marion (March 22 at Wright State). Marion later added another two-homer performance on Apr. 28 at Northwestern.

Spence became the 72nd player in program history to accomplish the feat, with Marion becoming the 73rd and 74th as Marion became the first Panthers with multiple multi-homer games in a season was Nate DeYoung in 2022.

POWER RACE
Milwaukee has slugged 40 home runs this season as a team, led by Dominic Kibler with 10.

Breakdown by class:
• Seniors: 15 (Marion 9, Ross 3, Spence 2, Bozak 1)
• Juniors: 20; (O'Connell 8, Kibler 10, Holmes 2)
• Sophomores: 14; (Hadley VI 7, Horn 4, Palkowski 2, Schmidt 1)
• Freshmen: 2; (Glusick 2)

Milwaukee has hit three grand slam this season: Hadley VI, Feb. 21 at Duke; Kibler, Mar. 28 vs. Butler; Kibler, Apr. 13 at Central Michigan.

KIBLER SLAMS
With a grand slam in the team's win over Central Michigan, Dominic Kibler now has two grand slams this season after hitting one against Butler on Mar. 28. He is the first Panther with multiple grand slams in a single season since Carson Hansen in 2024, when he had slams against Northern Kentucky at home on both Apr. 26, and in game two of a doubleheader on Apr. 27.

SHUTOUT WINS
On Apr. 12, the Panthers recorded their first shutout win of the season with 12-0 seven-inning victory at Oakland. It was the team's first shutout win since their previous series finale at Oakland, when Milwaukee finished the regular season with an 11-0 victory over the Golden Grizzlies on May 17, 2025. Milwaukee recorded its second shutout of the season against Wright State on Apr. 25, which was the first time that the Raiders had been shutout in a Horizon League contest since May 19, 2022.

EXTRA-BASE HITS
Milwaukee has recorded at least one extra-base hit in all but two games this season to lead all Horizon League programs. The exceptions were March 10 at Purdue and March 14 at Northern Kentucky.

Through games played on May 11, Northern Kentucky has been held without an extra-base hit on three occasions, followed by Oakland, Youngstown State and Wright State (four each).

FIRST DIVISION I HITS
Six Panthers have already recorded their first career hits at the Division I level…
• Ryan Lemm, February 15 at LSU (Single)
• Max Glusick, February 15 at LSU (Single)
• Peter Visconti II, March 4 at Minnesota (Single)
• Connor Bozak, March 6 at Southeast Missouri (Single)
• Connor Harvie, March 10 at Purdue (Single)
• Sotaro Ishida, March 15 at Northern Kentucky (Double)

WINNING STREAK
Milwaukee posted an eight-game winning streak beginning with the series finale against Oakland on Apr. 12 through the team's Apr. 25 win at home against Wright State. The eighth-game streak was tied for the fourth longest winning streak in program history. Milwaukee had a record 13-game winning streak in 2002, while recording a pair of nine-game winning streaks during the 2001 campaign.

COMEBACK WINS
Milwaukee erased an 8-0 first-inning deficit against Northern Kentucky on March 15 and did so again on Apr. 21, trailing St. Thomas by an 8-0 score through 6 1/2 innings, before scoring nine unanswered between the seventh and eighth innings to win, 9-8. The two are now tied for the second-largest comebacks in the last 20 seasons (since 2007).

The largest came on Apr. 15, 2015, when the Panthers trailed Chicago State 10-1 before outscoring the Cougars 14-1 the rest of the way, including an 11-run seventh inning, to win 15-11.

LONGEST GAMES SINCE 2004 (BY INNING)
Since 2004, Milwaukee has played seven games of 13+ innings of play and is 5-2 in those contests:
• March 20, 2016 at Illinois State – Win, 4-1 (18 Innings)
• March 15, 2026 at Northern Kentucky – Win, 16-10 (14 Innings)
• May 22, 2010 vs. Youngstown State – Win, 8-7 (14 Innings)
• May 21, 2008 vs. Cleveland State – Win, 10-7 (14 Innings, Horizon League Tournament)
• March 3, 2017 at Evansville – Win, 7-5 (13 Innings)
• May 16, 2024 vs. Wright State – Loss, 4-2 (13 Innings)
• May 15, 2008 vs. Youngstown State – Loss, 5-4 (13 Innings, Miller Park)

HOME COOKING
Over the last 21 seasons (2005-25), Milwaukee has taken "home field advantage" to another level, posting winning home records in all but two seasons (8-14 in 2022; 0-0 in 2020). The Panthers went unbeaten at home in 2013 (13-0) and have posted three straight 12-7 home records (2023-25).

In 2026, Milwaukee is 9-5 in home games with four games remaining on the home slate.

IN EXTRA INNINGS
Milwaukee is 2-0 in extra innings in 2026 (1-3 in 2025) and holds an 19-19-1 record in extra-inning games since 2015.