After being rained out earlier in the weekend against the UIC Flames, Milwaukee traveled to Ohio for a weekend bill against Youngstown State, sweeping a doubleheader on Friday, before dropping the finale on Saturday.
In Game 1, the Panthers fell behind early, as Youngstown State scored in the bottom of the first. Gavin Theis was much more efficient in the second frame for Milwaukee, dealing a 1-2-3 inning with a pair of strikeouts. Milwaukee took that momentum into the third, when Tate Schmidt tied the game with an RBI double
This set up a second and third for Tyler Bickers, who cleared the bases with a two-run single. The Penguins got one back in the bottom of the inning and tied it up in the bottom of the fifth. Milwaukee grabbed the lead back when Schmidt and Bickers reached in the top of the seventh, and came around to score on a Charlie Marion double to right. This put Theis in line for the win, and the Panthers bullpen held for the final three frames to take Game 1 by a score of 7-4. Of note, Shortstop Gabe Roessler gave Milwaukee an insurance run in the ninth, smashing his third homer of the year.
The Panthers offense carried over into Game 2, when Milwaukee scored in the top of the 1st on a bases loaded walk to Q Phillips. Milwaukee was unable to tack on any additional runs in the frame, but got a clean inning from starting pitcher Logan Schulfer to hold the lead heading into the second. He surrendered the lead on a pair of long balls, giving up a solo shot to Brayden Kuriger in the bottom of the second, and a two-run homer to Tommy Rover in the third.
Roessler kept the hot hitting going when he was able to single in a run in the fourth. The Penguins extended the lead in the bottom part of the inning after Brady Shannon tripled in a run, and came around to score when Caleb Hadley hit a sacrifice fly on the next at bat.
Schulfer got through the inning, and pitched a clean fifth, hoping his offense would come through to get him off the hook. And boy did they. The Panthers erupted for eight runs in the sixth, including a grand slam from Roessler, and a 3 run blast from Phillips. Head coach Shaun Wegner went into his bullpen in the sixth, turning to Aric Ehmke, who did give up a run on another sac fly by Hadley. The Panthers tacked onto three more runs in the eighth and a two-run homer in the ninth en route to a 15-7 win in Game 2.
Looking for the sweep on Saturday, Milwaukee got off to a strong start. The Panthers put up six runs in the top of the second, getting RBIs from Hadley, Roessler, Schmidt, Bickers, and Marion. Unfortunately, from there, it was all Penguins. Youngstown State was able to get four runs back in the bottom of the second, another in the third, before tying the game back up in the fourth.
Zach Dohrmann gave up the go ahead runs that put Youngstown State in the lead in the 5th. Milwaukee was unable to get anything else going before the Penguins tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the 8th on a Kuriger two-RBI single. Milwaukee was able to cut into the lead, when Marion scored on a wild pitch in the top of the ninth. The Panthers were unable to spark any further rally though, falling to Youngstown State 10-7.
Milwaukee will have one more road game, part of a 19-game road trip to open the season, traveling to take on the Purdue Boilermakers on Tuesday, before a three-game home series against Wright State over the weekend at Franklin Field.
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