MILWAUKEE – Milwaukee baseball scored two runs over the final three innings to turn a 5-4 deficit into a 6-5 victory as the Panthers picked up the non-conference victory over the Northern Illinois Huskies on Wednesday afternoon.
Carson Hansen reached base in the seventh and advanced to third on an error before Zach Lane tied the game with a sacrifice fly. In the eighth, the Panthers used small ball to get the go-ahead run in to score as Gabe Roessler connected on a sacrifice fly for what proved to be the game winner.
“We did a good job with ‘team offensive baseball’ in the late innings,” said head coach Shaun Wegner after the game. Evan Baptiste draws a walk and Andrew Chapman gets a bunt down with two strikes leading into the sac fly to take the lead in the eighth.”
Tyler Deleskiewicz made his first career start and pitched a career-high five innings while striking out a career-best six batters. He was touched up for just one run in the first before the Huskies scored three in the second.
“We wanted to see what Tyler’s professional-level stuff looked like in that role, and if he could pitch the baseball at a high level,” Wegner added of his starter. “He himself worked into trouble in the first, and then he just kept going and found a way to get around the walks and hit batters to keep us in the game.”
Milwaukee’s bullpen pitched the final four innings and allowed just one run ace James Severson had one strikeout, while Keagon Kaufmann he had two scoreless innings to record his second win of the year. Johnny Kelliher tossed a hitless ninth for his second save of the season.
“Our bullpen has been really good for us lately with the damage control with putting out fires,” Wegner noted. “They’ve been trying to get us into the dugout as quickly as possible instead of having prolonged innings.”
After falling behind 1-0 in the first inning, two of the first three batters reached for the Panthers in the bottom of the inning. Carson Hansen continued his torrid stretch of late with a three-run blast to give the Panthers a 3-1 lead after one.
Northern Illinois took the lead right back with a three-run inning of their own in the second on a sacrifice fly and a pair of singles to score runs.
With two outs in the bottom of the third, Milwaukee got a single off the bat of Sean Tillmon before Q Phillips tripled to right field on a ball that was scorched off a leaping second baseman’s glove and towards the right field corner to make it a 4-4 game.
Deleskiewicz retired five in a row heading into the fourth and got help from his defense with a double play in the inning to keep the Huskies off the board. He allowed just one baserunner in the fifth and exited with the score still tied.
NIU regained a one-run lead with a sacrifice fly in the sixth, but Severson stranded a runner on base as he got out of the inning on a caught stealing between third and home.
Hansen was hit by the first pitch he saw with one down in the seventh and was able to move up to third on a failed pickoff attempt. Lane sent a ball to right that was deep enough to score Hansen with the tying run.
After Kaufmann’s second scoreless inning, Phillips struck out but reached first on a wild pitch. Baptiste walked after initially trying to bunt Phillips into scoring position before Chapman was able to get the bunt down to put two into scoring position.
Roessler sent the first pitch he saw into right field to chase Phillips home with the go-ahead run as Milwaukee gained the 6-5 advantage.
Kelliher allowed a one-out walk but was able to get out of the inning to clinch his second save of the year.
Colin Summerhill led the Huskies with two hits and walked twice, while Jake Nelson led Northern Illinois with a pair of RBIs. Five pitchers took the mound for NIU, with Conner Lutes doing a bulk of the work with four innings and allowing just one unearned run.
Milwaukee heads back to Horizon League play on Friday morning, when the Panthers visit the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons at Mastodon Field. First pitch is set for 10:00 am (CT).
