Milwaukee had big innings in the second and sixth and held off a rally attempt in the bottom of the ninth on its way to a 9-6 victory over the Youngstown State baseball team on Thursday evening at Nischwitz Stadium.

The loss eliminated the Penguins from the Horizon League Baseball Championship and finished YSU's season with a 32-24 record. That represented the second-highest win total in program history and the most since the 1995 team won 37 games.

Milwaukee advances to play another elimination game on Friday at 6 p.m. against either Wright State or UIC, which both won opening-round games on Thursday.

The Panthers did most of their scoring in two innings against YSU starter and Horizon League Pitcher of the Year Collin Floyd. The senior left-hander who finished his historic season with a 9-4 record, retired Milwaukee in order in the third, fourth and fifth innings but ran into trouble in the second and sixth. He hadn't allowed more than three runs in a game since the opening weekend of the season at Troy on Feb. 20, but the Panthers scored three runs off of him in the second and four runs in the sixth.

Milwaukee led 8-3 after the top of the seventh, but Dominick Bucko's three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh got the Penguins right back in the game. The Panthers got an insurance run in the ninth to up their lead to three, and YSU loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the ninth before Milwaukee reliever A.J. Blubaugh struck out the final three hitters.

Blaze Glenn went 4-for-5 in his final game in a Penguins uniform, and Phillip Glasser was 3-for-5 to lead the Penguins offensively. Jeff Wehler was 2-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBIs, and YSU held a 12-10 edge in the hits column.

Zach Nogalski was 4-for-5, and Jack Cavanaugh was 2-for-4 from the sixth and seventh spots in Milwaukee's lineup, and No. 9 hitter Mike Ferri drove in three runs.

That trio helped Milwaukee take the lead in the second inning as back-to-back singles from Nogalski and Cavanaugh to start the inning. Nogalski scored the first run when he slid home on a fielder's choice off Ferri's bat, and Cavanaugh scored on Luke Seidel's RBI single. Ferri scored the third run of the inning on a sacrifice fly by Nick Winter.

Beginning with Winter's sac fly, Floyd retired 11 straight batters to give his teammates a chance to rally. He had a five-pitch inning in the third and an eight-pitch inning in the fifth inning, and he sat at just 56 pitches through five innings despite allowing the three early runs.

YSU's offense got going in the bottom of the third as Wehler led off by reaching on an error and stealing second. He moved to third on a ground out, and Glenn drove him in with a two-out single up the middle.

The Penguins then tied the score with three straight two-out hits in the bottom of the fourth. Nick Caruso doubled to left on the first pitch of his at bat, and Lucas Nasonti's single put runners at the corners. Wehler then stepped up and ripped a two-run double the left-center gap to make the score 3-3.

The momentum switched quickly to Milwaukee's favor during a stretch from the bottom of the fifth into the top of the sixth inning. With Floyd cruising, Bucko reached on an error to start the bottom of the fifth, and Glenn followed with a single to left to put two runners on with nobody out. Milwaukee starter Jack Mahoney threw out Bucko at third on a grounder back to the mound, and the Panthers got out of the inning on a 6-3 double play with the runners in motion.

Floyd walked Jack Krause to lead off the sixth and end the stretch of 11 straight outs, and Joe Vyskocil fouled out on a sacrifice bunt attempt immediately after for the first out. Nogalski and Cavanaugh hit back-to-back singles to load the bases, and Nate DeYoung walked after being down 0-2 in the count to force in the go-ahead run. Ferri then singled in Nogalski for the fifth run, and two runs came across when the Penguins couldn't convert a double-play opportunity that would have ended the inning with the score at 5-3.

Milwaukee added a run on Nogalski's RBI single in the seventh to go up 8-3, but the Penguins showed their resiliency by getting right back into the game in the first four pitches in the bottom half of the inning. Wehler and Glasser singled on the first pitches of their at bats, and Bucko crushed an 0-1 breaking ball over the wall in right field to get the Penguins within 8-6.

The Panthers added an insurance run in the ninth when Vyskocil singled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Ferri.

Youngstown State kept fighting and brought the winning run to the plate with nobody out in the bottom of the ninth. Glasser doubled to left on the first pitch of the inning, and a Bucko walk and a Glenn single followed. Blubaugh settled down to get ahead of the next three hitters with strike calls on the outer part of the plate, and he struck out Turner Grau, Braeden O'Shaughnessy and Steven D'Eusanio to end the game.

Floyd was charged with six earned runs on six hits and three walks over six innings in what was his 57th career start in the Red and White. Jon Snyder allowed a run in a third of an inning out of the bullpen, and Chad Coles was charged with the final run in 1.2 innings. Coles struck out four batters and threw 49 pitches after pitching two innings in YSU's first game of the day against UIC. Gary Clift Jr. came on to get the three outs in the top of the ninth.

Mahoney threw 124 pitches in his fifth win of the season for the Panthers. He surrendered six runs, five of which were earned, on 10 hits and two walks in 7.2 innings. He handed the ball to Blubaugh with an 8-6 lead, a runner on and two outs in the eighth inning.