A late rally was unable to be capped off, as the Milwaukee baseball team was able to bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning but could not string it together, falling to Northwestern 6-4 Tuesday afternoon in Evanston.
Action started off on a slow note with the Wildcats quickly jumping out to a 6-0 advantage.
It was not until the eighth inning when Milwaukee finally etched its way onto the scoreboard thanks to a single by John Boidanis. They would only get one that inning, as they left the bases loaded heading into the bottom half of the frame.
The ninth would feature more momentum beginning to slide the Panthers’ way, starting with a Matt Quartel pinch-hit single. A pair of doubles from Ian Ross and Chris Kelly sliced the Northwestern lead to just 6-3.
Kelly then crossed home on a error following a Mike Ferri single, cutting the deficit to just two. The tying run would walk up to the plate, but Northwestern brought in reliever Cooper Wetherbee to finish things off. He would end up getting a strikeout to close out the game and receive the save.
Milwaukee Head Coach Scott Doffek looked back on the way his team came out somewhat sluggish.
“We didn’t show up with the type of energy we needed,” said Doffek. “We had a hard time executing on the mound in the middle innings.”
Jake Sommers (0-2) took the loss for the Panthers, allowing two runs in 2.0 innings. Six other Milwaukee pitchers received action, including Alex Fischer, who tallied a pair of strikeouts in 1.1 scoreless frames.
“We fought in the end, but ran out of innings,” said Doffek. “This is a critical weekend coming up for us. We need to find ourselves between now and then and come out and compete the way we are capable.”
It will indeed be a big weekend for the Panthers, as they play back-to-back Horizon League doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday. They’ll take on Oakland on Friday, with first pitch scheduled for 11 a.m. CST.