Milwaukee Athletics

AUBURN, Ala. – Milwaukee's historic run to the Auburn Regional Final closed on Monday evening as the Panthers fell to host and top seed Auburn, 8-3.
 
John Hadley VI and Charlie Marion each homered to account for all three of Milwaukee's runs, while the Panthers were unable to hold down the Tiger offense long enough to advance to the Super Regionals.
 
The Panthers played in front of a record crowd of 8,228 at Plainsman Park, a raucous environment that sought to overwhelm Milwaukee after the Panthers had upended Auburn in the opening game of the regional on Friday afternoon.
 
"I'm really proud of my guys," said head coach Shaun Wegner. "A lot of odds were stacked against us coming into the NCAA Championship, but our team handled the environment really well. They handled the competition, and they have really set us up for success moving forward for our program."
 
The loss concludes one of the most successful campaigns in program history, one that saw the team win two games in the NCAA Regional Round for the first time in program history. The Panthers became the first Horizon League team to reach a regional final by way of the winners' bracket, defeating Auburn and UCF before a rematch against the Tigers over the last two days.
 
"We just wanted to come here and play the best baseball we could, and results would happen if we did that," said Wegner. "Nothing but pride for these guys. Hopefully, we represented the Horizon League well, and I think we did. There is good baseball all throughout this country. You just have to show up and on any given day, whoever plays the best is going to earn that victory."
 
Auburn scored the first two runs of the game despite a valiant effort by Riley Peterson on just two days' rest after five innings against the Tigers on Friday. Hadley VI came up in the top of the fourth inning and launched a two-run home run over the 385-foot mark in straightaway center to knot the score at two.
 
Peterson allowed one earned run over four innings of work, striking out two batters.
 
Auburn scored five runs in the sixth inning before Lucas Watson entered and stemmed the tide. Watson pitched a scoreless seventh to finish his outing, allowing just a walk against one strikeout.

Milwaukee inched closer with a run in the top of the eighth as Marion led off the inning with a home run deep to right to slice the deficit to four. The Tigers, however, got the run back in the bottom half with a wild pitch after the bases were loaded.
 
Tate Schmidt delivered a pinch-hit double with one down in the ninth, but the Panthers were unable to solve Jackson Snaders, who finished the game with eight strikeouts over five innings.
 
Sanders improved to 5-1, allowing only Marion's solo home run. His effort came in relief of Jake Marciano, who went the first four innings and struck out six while allowing Hadley's two-run homer.
 
The Panthers outhit Auburn, 9-8, with Marion collecting three hits and Hadley VI adding two. Chase Fralick and Ethan Bingaman had multi-hit games for the Tigers including a home run for Fralick in the five-run sixth.
 
In addition to his three hits, Marion drove in his 60th RBI of the season. Coupled with his 61 RBIs in 2025, Marion became the first player in program history to record multiple 60-RBI seasons.
 
Fralick was named to the All-Region Team and Most Valuable Player of the Auburn Regional. He was joined on the All-Region team by Marion as well as Grant Ross.
 
Marion is a part of a senior class that included Ross, Watson, Connor Bozak, Tristan Ellis, Aiden Fishnick, and Joey Spence, who were all celebrated at senior day in late April.
 
"We have a lot of seniors out there that might have played their last game of baseball," added Wegner. "I hope they can hold their heads high and be very proud of what they accomplished."
 
The Panthers will open its next campaign in February 2027, with Horizon League play set to open in mid-March. League competition returns to a six-team format as Northern Illinois, who also qualified for the 2026 Division I Baseball Championship, returns to the conference.