MILWAUKEE – Milwaukee kicks off another five-game week with a home contest against Valparaiso at 11:00 a.m. at Franklin Field in its annual School Day game with the traveling TMJ4 Weather Show entertaining the crowd prior to first pitch.
 
After the home game against the Beacons, the Panthers head right back on the road beginning with a road game at UIC on Wednesday before a three-game set in Ohio against Youngstown State from Friday through Sunday.
  
Tuesday's game 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. Wednesday's game at UIC will also be available on ESPN+. Links for live stats of all the games can also be found at MKEPanthers.com.

THE MATCHUPS & GAME LINKS
May 5 | Valparaiso at Milwaukee | Franklin Field | Franklin, Wis.
Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. | ESPN+ / Audio Stream / Live Stats | Follow Along (on X)

May 6 | Milwaukee at UIC | Curtis Granderson Stadium | Chicago, Ill.
Wednesday at 6:05 p.m. | ESPN+ / Live Stats | Follow Along (on X)

May 8-10 | Milwaukee at Youngstown State | 717 Credit Union Field at Eastwood | Niles, Ohio
Friday at 10:00 a.m. | Saturday at 2:00 p.m. | Sunday at 11:00 a.m. | Audio Stream / Live Stats | Follow Along (on X)
 
LEADING OFF
» In a trip that took the team to three different programs, Milwaukee went 1-4 on the road this past week, falling to Northwestern on Tuesday, Notre Dame on Wednesday, and dropping 2-of-3 to UNLV.
» The Panthers return home on Tuesday morning for an 11:00 a.m. first pitch for its annual TMJ4 School Day matchup against Valparaiso. Milwaukee heads to UIC on Wednesday, before heading on Ohio for a three-game series at Youngstown State beginning on Friday.
» Charlie Marion was hot for the Panthers on the road, going 9-for-20 with two home runs and eight RBIs, Connor Bozak also hit north of .400 on the week with three RBIs. On the hill, Aric Ehmke backed up his Horizon League Pitcher of the Week title with six strong against UNLV in Saturday's win.
» Three teams that Milwaukee has seen a lot of in its Division I program history, the Panthers take on former Horizon League foe Valpo on Tuesday with a 41-34 all-time mark against the Beacons. MKE is 17-12 at home vs. Valpo. The Panthers are 66-97 against UIC and are looking to bounce back from a 12-5 loss on Mar. 31.
» Milwaukee is also 78-54 against Youngstown State and will head to Ohio looking to improve upon its 30-28 road record against the Penguins. Milwaukee dropped 2-of-3 against YSU earlier this season at Franklin Field.

QUICK LOOK AT VALPARAISO
Valparaiso enters this week with a 10-33 overall mark and a 3-15 record in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Beacons were swept by Illinois State on the road this past weekend including a run-rule defeat on Saturday afternoon.

The Beacons have several common opponents as Milwaukee thus far on the season with a 3-2 loss at Purdue, 13-9 loss at Northwestern, a 6-1 defeat to Notre Dame, and were swept in a three-game set at UIC in mid-April. After its meeting with the Panthers, Valparaiso will host Evansville this weekend before traveling to Central Michigan.

In their lone meeting a season ago, Valparaiso defeated Milwaukee 8-6 on April 1. The Beacons jumped out to a 7-3 lead after two and held on for the win. Among Milwaukee's returners, Tate Schmidt and Charlie Marion had hits in the game, while Cade Palkowski had an RBI single in the sixth inning for the Panthers.

This year's team is led by Cal Schembra with 29 RBIs, 34 runs, and 42 hits, Thomas Cooper has seven home runs, and Braden Pleau with 11 doubles. Dylan Immel is expected to start for the Beacons, entering Tuesday with an 0-2 record and 11.12 ERA over 11 1/3 innings with 10 strikeouts.

QUICK LOOK AT UIC
UIC has a 20-24-1 record on the year and are 12-6 in the Missouri Valley Conference entering play this week. The Flames won their last two this weekend at Evansville and will host Evansville later this week.

Milwaukee and UIC met earlier this season on March 31, and the Flames won by a 12-5 score. Thomas Curry had four RBIs in the win, while Ashton Kampa drove in three. The Flames used three pitchers with Jared Lessman earning the win with two hitless innings and five strikeouts.

In addition to playing Milwaukee this season, the Flames have played against several common opponents with the Panthers. UIC fell 14-3 to Notre Dame, have gone 0-2-1 against Northwestern, dropped a high-scoring 18-13 game to Purdue, swept a three-game series from Youngstown State, and won 2-of-3 from Evansville this past weekend.

Jake Busson is atop the team leaders with 15 home runs and 46 RBIs, while he is tied with Curry for the team lead with 49 hits. Curry leads UIC with 37 runs scored and 11 doubles, while Kampa is the Flames leader with a .326 batting average. Keegan Luxem and Kendall Lyons made the last two midweek starts for UIC against Northern Illinois and Iowa, respectively.

QUICK LOOK AT YOUNGSTOWN STATE
Youngstown State is 10-36 on the year with a 7-11 mark in the Horizon League, including two wins against Milwaukee to kick off the month of April at Franklin Field. The doubleheader loss to the Penguins refocused Milwaukee into its strongest stretch of the season at 10-1 including the series finale against one another on Apr. 4.

Horizon League teams aside, Youngstown State has played just four games against mutual opponents with the Panthers including a 12-2 loss to Central Michigan and were swept in a three-game set in Chicago against UIC. Meanwhile, the Penguins are 0-3 against Wright State, 1-5 versus Northern Kentucky, and 4-2 against Oakland this year.

Brady Shannon has a team-best 13 home runs and 28 RBIs, while he has also scored a team-high 29 runs. Alex Jang has 47 hits on the year and a .290 average, while Nathan Beckley leads the team with a .292 average, and 14 doubles.

Braden Gebhardt is expected to get the ball on Friday with a team-high 70 innings pitched and 82 strikeouts while pitching to a 3.09 ERA and a 3-3 record. Jack Messmore is the typical Saturday starter with a 6.10 ERA and a 1-6 record over 59 innings. Brandon Mikos has an 8.37 ERA over 47 1/3 innings and a 0-8 record and is the team's projected Sunday starter.

UP NEXT
The regular season closes next week as Milwaukee will play its final four games of the 2026 slate before postseason play begins. The week will begin with the Panthers visiting Northern Illinois on May 12 at 3:00 p.m., before returning home to take on Oakland for a three-game set beginning on Thursday, Apr. 14 at 5:00 p.m.

ON THESE DATES
May 5 – 15-5 Record; Streak: Won 6; Last Win: 2024 vs. Purdue Fort Wayne (15-6)
        vs. Valparaiso: 1-1 Record; Streak: Lost 1; Last Win: 1999 (12-5)
May 6 – 19-10 Record: Streak: Lost 2; Last Win: 2022 vs. Northern Kentucky (6-5)
        vs. UIC: 2-2 Record; Streak: Lost 1; Last Win: 2017 (3-1, DH Game One)
May 8 – 11-14 Record; Streak: Lost 2; Last Win: 2022 vs. Oakland (3-2)
May 9 – 13-7 Record; Streak: Won 3: Last Win: 2025 vs. Purdue Fort Wayne (2-0)
        vs. Youngstown State: 1-0 Record; Streak: Won 1; Last Win: 2003 (8-3)
May 10 – 10-9; Streak: Won 1; Last Win: 2025 vs. Purdue Fort Wayne (7-4)
        vs. Youngstown State: 2-1 Record; Streak: Won 1; Last Win: 2003 (5-4)

TEAM STEALS
Milwaukee has 102 stolen bases on the season as a team, which is tied for second most in the program's history. The 2016 Panthers set the record with 103 stolen bases that year.

O'CONNELL ON THE RUN
With 35 stolen bases on the season, Dylan O'Connell has the second most stolen bases in a single season by a Milwaukee player. Luke Meeteer owns 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.

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 Dylan O'Connell with eight.

Breakdown by class:
• Seniors: 12 (Marion 6, Ross 3, Spence 2, Bozak 1)
• Juniors: 16; (O'Connell 8, Kibler 6, Holmes 2)
• Sophomores: 10; (Hadley VI 5, Horn 4, Palkowski 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 Monday'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 April 26, 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 8-5 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.

PRESEASON POLL
Milwaukee was picked second in the Horizon League preseason poll with 18 points. Wright State was selected first with 24 points and four first-place votes. Northern Kentucky, Youngstown State, and Oakland round out the league.

THE MAMMOTH VOID
Non-conference games added to offset the departure of Purdue Fort Wayne for the remainder of the season:
• May 8-10 – Oakland at Notre Dame
• May 14-16 – Northern Kentucky at USC Upstate

ON THE HORIZON
Northern Illinois will join the Horizon League on July 1, 2026, and become a full-time baseball member beginning with the 2027 season.