It was an all too familiar tale for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team.

Holding the lead late in a pair of games against Southern Illinois University, the Panthers were unable to hold off late rallies by the Salukis and fell by just one run in both affairs.

In the first game, both teams got off to hot starts, but Milwaukee found themselves in a 5-3 hole going into the fourth inning. Then their bats became electric. By the end of the seventh inning, the Panthers had plated two runs in each of the fourth, sixth, and seventh innings to grab a 9-5 lead.

Everything was looking good until the SIU made a late run of their own, scoring five runs in the bottom of the ninth to steal the game that head coach Scott Doffek dubbed as the most complete game through eight innings the Panthers had played all year.

The Panthers pounded out 14 hits in the first game and were led by second baseman Jesse Hart at the plate, who went 3-4 with three RBI and two runs.

With that game looming the back of their minds, Milwaukee took the field just 24 hours later hoping to forget all about their late game meltdown. Once again, they found no such luck.

Senior Nick Wichser extended his hitting streak to 16 games when he belted his third homerun of the season in the seventh inning to take push the Milwaukee lead to 4-2. Unfortunately for the Panthers, the Salukis had an answer ready and waiting.

SIU was able to tie the game off two unearned runs going into the final frame and managed to plate one more to had Milwaukee their third straight walk-off loss, and their ninth one-run loss of the season.

The pair of defeats drop the Panthers to 5-20 on the season. They will play a double header at Chicago State early this week, followed by a three game set against Cleveland State at Henry Aaron Field this coming weekend. Game time for the CSU home opener is 2 p.m. this Friday, so be out there early to tailgate.

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