Milwaukee Athletics

FRANKLIN, Wis. – The Milwaukee baseball team clinched the second seed in the 2026 Horizon League Baseball Championship with an 8-4 win over visiting Oakland on Friday afternoon at Franklin Field.
 
Aric Ehmke earned his fourth win of the season, striking out three batters over five innings. Mason Weckler pitched the next 3 1/3 innings and struck out two, while Tyler Andrews and Tristan Arnold each recorded an out in the ninth inning.
 
Offensively, Milwaukee had 10 hits on the day, including two each from the top four batters in the lineup. Grant Ross scored three runs at the top of the lineup, while Charlie Marion and Dominic Kibler each drove in a pair. Dylan O'Connell also collected a pair of hits.
 
"It's great to be the two seed," said head coach Shaun Wegner. "I don't want to put all our focus on that. It just tells us that throughout the year we did enough to other teams within the conference to put ourselves in a good spot. I'm proud the guys for doing that, but we need to be focused on tomorrow, finishing the right way, and try to carry some momentum into the tournament."
 
Kibler kickstarted Milwaukee's offense in the bottom of the first with a two-run home run to right field.
 
Ehmke allowed the first two batters to reach in the second inning but was able to get a lineout and a double play to end the threat. Oakland broke through with a run in the third innings on bunt to slice the lead in half at 2-1.
 
Ross got the run back in the bottom half with a solo home run on a 2-0 count. The Golden Grizzlies got another run in the fourth before it was Milwaukee's turn to answer with a run in the fifth as Ross walked, Marion doubled, and O'Connell reached on an infield single to score Ross.
 
After Oakland scored in the top of the sixth, the Panthers responded with a run in the bottom half as John Hadley VI singled, Tate Schmidt walked, and Christian Holmes sacrificed the pair into scoring position. Cade Palkowski collected an RBI with a groundout to make it 5-3.
 
A leadoff single came around to score in the top of the seventh against Weckler, but the Panthers rebuilt its two-run lead with an O'Connell walk, Kibler single, and Bradyn Horn plating O'Connell with a groundout.
 
"It was a back-and-forth affair with the scoring throughout the game," said Wegner. "We always talk about answering back after they score and then shutting things down after we score, and we didn't necessarily do a good job with those shutdown innings, but we were finding ways to answer back every time and keep the pressure on."
 
Milwaukee had the knockout blow in the bottom of the eighth as Schmidt and Holmes walked to lead off the inning. Palkowski moved the pair into scoring position with a bunt, and two batters later, Marion lined a base hit into right center to extend the Panther lead to 8-4.
 
Weckler allowed a leadoff double and got a strikeout before walking the next batter. Andrews came on to strike out Lucas Day before Arnold entered and needed one pitch to get Sam Griffith to ground out for his first career save.
 
"We went from 15 walks yesterday to Aric and the staff turning in one walk today and just letting our defense play," added Wegner. "When our defense is active and involved, we can be a pretty good team, and props with those guys today on the mound."
 
Aiden Schuck led Oakland's offense with two RBIs, while Nick Mardis had three of the 12 hits for the Golden Grizzlies, including a pair of doubles.
 
Josh Rosenblitt took the loss for Oakland, allowing three runs over 3 1/3 innings. George Hanson allowed five runs over his three innings of work, while Jaxson Easterlin allowed just one hit in the eighth inning.
 
Milwaukee and Oakland will close the three-game series on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. at Franklin Field.