Milwaukee Wins Championship Opener vs. Mastodons, 5-4 - Milwaukee Athletics (2024)

DAYTON, Ohio – Gabe Roessler gave Milwaukee a lead in the sixth inning and Sean Tillmon added insurance in the seventh as the No. 4 Milwaukee Panthers held on for a 5-4 victory over No. 5 Purdue Fort Wayne on Wednesday afternoon in the opening game of the Horizon League Championship.

The Panthers trailed 3-2 after five innings of play before Tai Walton doubled into the right field corner to tie the score at three. Roessler then singled to plate Walton with the go-ahead run. In the next inning, Tillmon singled with two down to score Carson Hansen, who had walked earlier in the inning to put the Panthers ahead, 5-3.

"In tournament play it all comes down to two-out RBIs and making the routine plays … we didn't do a good job early in the game but later in the game our guys had opportunities and we capitalized with two outs," said head coach Shaun Wegner postgame.

Despite being outhit, 11-10, the Panthers' balanced attack saw eight different batters collected hits, while Milwaukee also drew seven walks, including three by Tyler Bickers.

On the mound, Luke Hansel went the first 7 1/3 innings and struck out six Mastodons to earn his fourth win of the season, while Johnny Kelliher tossed the final 1 2/3 innings to record his sixth save.

After a fast-paced first two innings, Hansel and Mastodon starter Mac Ayres were touched up for runs in the third inning. Purdue Fort Wayne scored an unearned tally as Grant Thoroman singled to score the game's opening run.

The Panthers answered right back to take their first lead of the game with two down as Justin Hausser singled followed by a Bickers walk. Hansen added his 63rd RBI of the season with a single to tie the game before Zach Lane gave the Panthers the lead with a hit to the opposite field down the right field line.

A scoreless fourth inning was followed by a two-spot by Purdue Fort Wayne to regain a one-run advantage at 3-2.

The Panthers capitalized in the sixth when Q Phillips reached on a one-out walk and scored on Walton's double into the corner. Roessler followed with a go-ahead single to score Walton for the fourth Panther run.

Hansel allowed a leadoff double in the sixth, and leadoff single in the seventh but stranded three runners over the two innings. He was helped defensively by a caught stealing at home as the Mastodons had two runners on with two down in the seventh.

"Hansel was a bulldog, even after the leadoff double in the sixth inning, but he found a way to strand him on base and that run proved to be huge for us," added Wegner.

In the seventh, Hansen drew a one-out walk and moved up to second on a ground ball. Tillmon followed with a single into right as Milwaukee took a 5-3 lead.

MKE had a chance to blow the game open as Dallan Quigley singled with one down before Roessler singled and Bickers walked again, but the third pitcher of the eighth inning for PFW was able to get out of the jam and strand the bases full.

Things got dicey for the Panthers in the ninth as Kelliher was looking for the five-out save. He hit the first batter of the inning before retiring the next two, a base hit and another plunked batter loaded the bases.

A ground ball was hit to short, that was handled cleanly by Roessler but was unable to get the throw off as a run came in to score. Fortunately, Kelliher got another ground ball on a tough hop to Lane at third, who fired across the diamond to seal the win for Milwaukee.

"Johnny gave up a couple of freebies, which we don't like to see," concluded Wegner. "But we allowed our defense to play, and made the final out, and we move on to tomorrow."

The Panthers advance to Thursday for the second day of the Horizon League Championship and will face either top-seeded Wright State or second-seeded Northern Kentucky. Fans are encouraged to check back in later this evening once and opponent and start time have been finalized based on the results of other games on Tuesday.