Panthers Keep Tournament Hopes Alive in Slugfest against Oakland

The Panthers (12-16) snapped a seven-game losing streak in the second game of a doubleheader against Oakland (7-17) Saturday, winning in blowout fashion, 21-3, to keep their Horizon League Tournament hopes alive.

“That’s how we drew it up,” joked head coach Scott Doffek. “It was a very advantageous day to hit. We jumped out on him early and got a little bit of confidence and momentum early.”

The Panthers brought the big bats for this one being powered by three home runs off the bats of Mike Ferri, Jack Cavanaugh, and Zach Nogalski aided by strong winds blowing out to right field at Franklin Field.

The Panthers’ strong offensive showing started almost immediately. Following a strikeout to lead off the first inning the next six Panthers reached base, with two clubbing home runs.

Ferri opened the scoring for the Panthers with his first-inning grand slam to straightaway left field.  The big first inning was capped off with an exclamation point courtesy of Cavanaugh’s two-run home run.

The Panthers did not settle for one big inning, however. They would bring the big bats back out for an eight-run outburst in the fourth inning featuring a two-run double off the bat of Thomas Otto and a grand slam from Nogalski.

Of the 13 different batters the Panthers used 10 got on base, 10 scored, and 10 drove in runs.

The 21 runs scored by the Panthers on Saturday is the most runs they have scored in a single game this season, beating out their previous high of 19 set back on March 21 against Northern Kentucky.

On the other side of the ball, the Panthers’ starter Mike Edwards (2-5) cruised through six innings of two-run baseball while striking out six.

“Edwards did a nice job keeping them off balance, just not an easy day to pitch,” said Doffek.

In the final game of the weekend series against Oakland, UWM would end up losing by a final score of 8-6 after jumping out to an early 4-0 lead.

The Panthers sit at fourth in the Horizon League with just 12 games to go in the season as they enter a critical stretch of their schedule.

“The last couple of weeks have really gotten away from us,” Doffek said. “We gotta improve in all three phases [defense, hitting, and pitching]. We are really injured all up and down the lineup, and have guys playing out of position.”

The next two weekends the Panthers will face tough competition facing first-place Wright State (21-3) on the road and Northern Kentucky (11-16), who sit at fifth place in the Horizon League.

“We gotta man up, pick each other up, and step up,” said Doffek.

Every remaining game the Panthers play is against conference opponents, and they only have one more series at Franklin Field against Northern Kentucky.

The final series the Panthers play is against Youngstown on the road May 21-23 with the Horizon League Tournament only a few days later May 27-29.