Milwaukee used a five-run fourth inning to defeat the Youngstown State baseball team 11-6 in the Horizon League series opener on Thursday at Franklin Field in Franklin, Wis.
The Penguins held a 2-1 edge before the Panthers struck for five runs on five straight two-out hits in the bottom of the fourth inning to take control of the contest. Milwaukee added runs in four of its final five at bats to hold off YSU for the series-opening victory.
Jay Wrona went 2-for-4 with two doubles and a run scored while Cole Smith hit his second home run of the season and drove in three runs. Nathan Beckley delivered an RBI double for the Penguins, and Kyle Fossum recorded a single, a walk and two runs scored.
YSU starter Jacob Gehring allowed seven runs, five of which were earned, over five innings on the mound. Colin Casteel allowed two runs on three hits with two strikeouts in one inning out of the bullpen before Mitchell Seymour worked a scoreless inning of relief. Tyler Heflin was responsible for a pair of runs in the eighth inning.
The Penguins got on the board first with a single run in the top of the third inning. Fossum drew a two-out walk, advanced to second when Tommy Rover was hit by a pitch and scored on Beckley's RBI double.
The Panthers evened the score at 1-1 with a single tally of their own in the home half of the third. Gabe Roessler hit a leadoff single, stole second, advanced to third on a failed pickoff attempt and scored on a sacrifice fly from Tyler Bickers.
Youngstown State regained a 2-1 advantage in the top of the fourth as Wrona doubled and scored on an RBI single by Brayden Kuriger.
Milwaukee responded by scoring five runs with two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Tate Schmidt singled and scored on a two-out RBI double by Q Phillips. Cade Palkowski plated Phillips with an RBI triple off the right field wall before racing home on a squeeze bunt single down the third base line by Roessler. Justin Hausser followed with an RBI double and Bickers added an RBI single to give the Panthers a 6-2 lead.
The Penguins pushed across another single run in the top of the fifth. Fossum hit a leadoff single, advanced to third on a single by Rover and scored on a sacrifice fly from Smith.
Milwaukee got the run back in the bottom of the fifth to lead 7-3. Caden Headlee drew a leadoff walk, stole second, advanced to third on a failed pickoff attempt and scored on a two-out RBI double by Phillips. The Panthers increased their lead to 9-3 on a two-out, two-run double by Schmidt in the sixth inning.
YSU cut Milwaukee's lead to 9-5 in the top of the seventh on a two-out, two-run home run to center field by Smith. The Penguins drew within 9-6 in the top of the eighth as Kuriger was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored from third on a passed ball.
MKE added a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth to produce the final margin. Hausser hit a solo home run while Bickers singled and scored on an RBI groundout by Schmidt.
Milwaukee starter Gavin Theis allowed three runs on six hits with eight strikeouts over six innings to earn his seventh win of the season. Logan Snow was awarded the save after pitching 1.1 scoreless innings of relief.
The Penguins and Panthers are scheduled to continue their three-game Horizon League series on Friday at 2 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and YSNLive.com.
