Milwaukee Advances; WSU Survives; YSU, UIC Eliminated

Horizon League Baseball Tournament Scores
No. 1 Milwaukee 6, No. 4 Wright State 1
No. 2 UIC 15, No. 6 Youngstown State 5
No. 4 Wright State 5, No. 2 UIC 4

NILES, Ohio -- After No. 1 Milwaukee flexed its muscle in the Panthers' first action of the Horizon League baseball tournament, No. 4 Wright State recovered from the morning loss to win the nightcap and advance as No. 6 Youngstown State and No. 2 UIC were eliminated.

No. 1 Milwaukee, No. 4 Wright State
Shortly after 10 players and head coach Scott Doffek received their Horizon League postseason awards, the Panthers proved Milwaukee deserved its No. 1 seed and regular season title by cruising to a 6-1 win over No. 4 Wright State.

Horizon League Pitcher of the Year Jake Long put together one of his best performances of an already stellar season, holding the Raiders to just five hits, one earned run and zero walks while tying a career-high with eight strikeouts in 9.0 innings of work. For his effort, Long earned his eighth win in his fifth complete game of the season.

Already at 100 pitches after eight innings, Long returned to the mound for the ninth and was immediately struck in the back by a line drive. The play ended up as a 1-6-3 putout and, after a couple of warm-up pitches, Long stayed in the game. Kody Krizman singled through the right side for Wright State, but Long induced a 5-4-3 double play to end the ballgame.

The Panthers staked their ace to an early lead, scoring in the first inning on Horizon League Player of the Year Michael Porcaro's sac fly. Milwaukee then batted around in the second inning, taking advantage of five hits, two walks, a stolen base, an error and a balk to score five runs.

Alex Erdmann got the scoring started with a two-run single, the first in a string of four-straight singles by the Panthers. During that stretch, Luke Meeteer drove in a run and Porcaro drove in two more.

Wright State had saved their ace for today's game, but shortly before the first pitch head coach Rob Cooper announced that Casey Henn would be unable to make the start and Robby Sexton would take the mound instead. Sexton lasted just 1.1 innings, allowing four hits, three walks and all six Milwaukee runs (four earned) while recording a lone strikeout.

In 5.2 innings of relief work, Trevor Swaney allowed six hits and a walk to go with two strikeouts. Although Swaney was charged with zero runs, he did allow two inherited runners to cross the plate on Porcaro's two-run single in the second.

Swaney returned to the mound with the intention of pitching the bottom of the eighth but threw one warmup pitch before having to exit the contest with apparent tightness in his forearm. In relief of Swaney, E.J. Trapino allowed one hit and one walk to go with one strikeout in a scoreless inning.

The Raiders scored their lone run of the ballgame in the top of the fourth inning when Michael Timm singled to drive in Keiston Greene, who had led off the frame with a single.

With the win, Milwaukee advances to face No. 3 Valparaiso at 11 a.m. ET on Saturday. Wright State would go on to play the winner of the Youngstown State-UIC matchup in Friday's 7 p.m. ET game.

No. 2 UIC 15, No. 6 Youngstown State 5
The Flames rallied to erase a five-run deficit by scoring 15 unanswered runs as No. 2 UIC eliminated No. 6 Youngstown State with a 15-5 win on Friday afternoon.

Trailing 5-0 in the fifth inning, UIC started its rally with four runs in the bottom of the frame. A hit-by-pitch and back-to-back singles loaded the bases to start the inning, setting up Ryan Shober's sac fly.

After a fielder's choice putout on what could have been an inning-ending double play, Alex Boss tripled past the diving YSU center fielder to drive in a pair of runs. Boss then scored on Alex De La Rosa's seeing-eye single up the middle to pull the Flames within 5-4 of Youngstown State.

UIC finished the comeback with three runs in the bottom of the sixth, tying the game on John Coen's RBI single and then taking the lead on a two-run error by Youngstown State. The Flames added a sextet of insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh on Joe Betcher's RBI single, a run-scoring error, another sac fly by Shober, another two-run error and an RBI single by De La Rosa.

Two more runs came across in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI groundout by Zenon Kolakowski and a run-scoring fielder's choice putout. By the time the floodgates finally closed, the Flames had put up crooked numbers in four straight innings and led Youngstown State by 10.

Youngstown State grabbed an early 5-0 lead with two runs in the second inning and three in the fourth. Nine-hole hitter Devin Higgins drove in the first three runs with a two-run single in the second and run-scoring single in the fourth. Higgins and Neil Schroth then scored on Phil Lipari's two-run single.

Ian Lewandowski started on the mound for UIC but only made it through 3.0 innings, allowing two hits, two earned runs and two walks with no strikeouts. In 5.0 innings of relief, Mike Schoolcraft picked up the win on four hits, three earned runs, one walk and one strikeout. Collin Weyer closed out the game for the Flames, allowing one walk and recording one strikeout in a hitless, scoreless inning of work.

Every pitcher that took the mound for the Penguins allowed multiple runs as Youngstown State starter Blake Aquadro took the loss on 5.2 innings of work with nine hits, seven runs (five earned), zero walks and three strikeouts.

While Youngstown State was eliminated, UIC advanced to play No. 4 Wright State in another elimination game at 7 p.m. ET Friday night.

No. 4 Wright State 5, No. 2 UIC 4
In a back-and-forth contest, No. 4 Wright State rallied, then held on to upset No. 2 UIC 5-4 eliminating the Flames from the Horizon League baseball tournament.

Justin Kopale's RBI single in the ninth inning provided a vital insurance run and proved to be the game-winner, putting Wright State the Raiders ahead 5-3 at the time. UIC rallied in the bottom of the ninth and scored on run on Alex De La Rosa's two-out, RBI single but the Flames could not complete the comeback.

With the score tied 3-3 in the sixth, Garrett Gray and Keiston Greene combined for back-to-back two-out doubles to put the Raiders ahead by a run. Wright State had tied the game in the sixth on a dropped third strike; when Greene ran to first and was thrown out to complete the strikeout, Sam Picchiotti raced home from third and slid in safely ahead of the tag on the return throw.

Picking up the win on 4.0 innings on three-hit, one-run relief was Travis Hissong, who walked just one while recording eight strikeouts. Taylor Braun made the start for Wright State and allowed six hits, three earned runs and three walks in five innings of work, striking out two. Mike McKinley took the loss for the Flames on 7.2 solid innings, allowing seven hits, four earned runs and three walks to go with three strikeouts.

Wright State had jumped out to a two-run lead in the top of the first inning on an RBI single by Gray and a sac fly from Greene. UIC got one run back on an RBI single by Ryan Boss in the bottom of the frame. The Flames then took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fourth on John Coen's two-run triple.

While UIC is eliminated, Wright State will await the loser of Saturday morning's matchup between No. 1 Milwaukee and No. 3 Valparaiso. That game will begin at 11 a.m. ET.