DAYTON, Ohio – The Milwaukee baseball team got into an early hole and could not dig out, falling to Wright State Saturday afternoon in the Horizon League Tournament Championship at Nischwitz Stadium.
The Panthers (22-33) fell to the top-seeded Raiders (35-11), finishing the weekend as runner-ups for the second straight time the tournament has been held, as well as the third time over the past six seasons.
"Let me start with this. The average fan following us and reading the box scores isn't going to know what this team dealt with behind the scenes," head coach
Scott Doffek said. "So, to get to this point, I am really proud of them. So much heart. We were easily the most inexperienced team in the league and for sure, the most inured team I have ever had. And then dealing with COVID; just to get to this point was awesome."
After holding the NCAA team leader in runs (10.4 rpg) and batting average (.338) to just four in a 4-3 loss in the tournament opener Thursday, Milwaukee was not able to follow the same script in the title game, falling 21-3.
"We just didn't compete on the mound early," Doffek said. "And you fall behind like that against those guys and they get you on skates and you can't catch up. That is an incredible offense and you have to do everything well – you have to defend, you have to hold runners, you have to pitch, you have to pound the zone – it's incredible. It's a complete team. But they are beatable, and we've done it. We were in four of the six games (against WSU this season) but unfortunately, when you get down like we did in the first few innings, it's just not going to happen. We were on fumes."
The team got off to a difficult start, giving up four runs in the first – two of them unearned – to get into that early deficit.
Joe Vyskocil did get MKE on the board in the top of the second, following up a
Jack Kraus double with a two-bagger of his own off the wall in deep right center.
WSU kept up the pressure, making it 8-1 by the end of the third, helped along by six walks in that span. A home run by Damon Dues in the fourth made it 11-1.
Mitchell Buban and
Zach Nogalski added RBI-singles in the sixth inning, but the offense was held in check for much of the day.
Krause led Milwaukee with a 2-for-4 day. Dues finished 5-for-6 to pace the WSU offense, hitting for the cycle while tying the league tournament record for total bases (12) in a game.
That brings a close to the 2021 season and also marks the final game for graduating seniors
Mike Ferri,
George Swedie, and
Joe Vyskocil.