• Don't look now, but baseball is destroying the field

    When freshman Brian Keller got Valparaiso's Spencer Mahoney to ground out, the Milwaukee Panthers whooped and hollered for another victory in the young Horizon League season. It was a dominating performance on the weekend for Milwaukee, who took the preseason pick for the Horizon League Championship to the woodshed and put some distance between themselves and the pack.

    Valparaiso had beaten Milwaukee seven times in a row dating back to 2011, but the Panthers were having none of that this weekend in a "home" series at UIC.

    The Panthers outscored Valpo 17-7 in the three-game set, which was the third straight series victory for Milwaukee to start the conference series, but the first sweep. All in all, the Panthers are outscoring Horizon League opponents 58-25. Seven regulars are hitting .300 or better in the conference season. Only two aren't above .300 in OBP. The Panthers are hitting .202 better than their Horizon League opponents.

    On the pitching side, it's even better. Tyler Thicke has given up six runs in two and one third, but besides his tough start the Panthers are mowing down opponents at an incredible rate. Josh Uhen hasn't given up a run, Eric King has been a solid reliever since moving to the bullpen at the start of the Horizon League season, and Justin Janquish has been above average as a long reliever, but the real strength is in the three starters.

    Mike Schneider went into the eighth before giving up his first earned run on Saturday, which brings his ERA to 3.18 in conference games and a 1.35 WHIP. It gets better when you see that Schneider is striking out more than one batter per inning. Cale Tassi is the lone starter with a loss, his three earned runs in 5 and 2/3 innings pitched against Wright State enough to give the Raiders their lone victory over Milwaukee on opening weekend. Tassi has been incredible otherwise, giving up five earned runs in 18 and one third innings pitched.

    Neither pitcher can compare to Jake Long in the early going. After giving up one earned run in the first inning of the conference opener against Wright State, Long has been phenomenal. Twenty-six straight innings pitched in a row without an earned run, a school record that gives Long a whopping 0.33 ERA and an opponents batting average of .170. He's made it so head coach Scott Doffek doesn't need to go to the bullpen, as Long has pitched three complete games - one for every conference start. He'll get the nod going into Youngstown State next weekend to try and beat the third-place Penguins' Blake Aquadro, the winner on Friday against WSU who gave up one earned run in seven innings of work and leads the starters with a 4.36 ERA.

    It won't be easy. Drew Dosch was named Preseason Horizon League Player of the Year and is hitting .330 in the season to go with 14 RBI and a .568 slugging percentage. Marcus Heath has 22 RBI and four home runs this season.

    Still, the Panthers took the preseason pick for Horizon League Champion and turned them inside out. Once Milwaukee was done with Valpo, they left the favorites in last place, 1-5 in the Horizon League and 4.5 games out of first place. Youngstown State, at 3-3, could make a huge statement by sweeping the Panthers. It seems almost impossible - with Long, Tassi and Schneider pitching so well - but the Penguins have the firepower in Dosch and Heath to make things interesting.

    What makes Milwaukee's run staggering is that they haven't played a single home game yet. This weekend's series against Valpo was set to be played at the Hank, but the field was unplayable and they had to move the series down to UIC's Les Miller Field, where the school has a FieldTurf surface that dries quickly and allows games even after heavy rains (If you've been considering making a donation to Milwaukee's baseball stadium project, let this be your tipping point).

    No matter what happens, Milwaukee will survive next weekend as the first place team. The only team that could conceivably catch them, Wright State, steps out of the conference for a three-game set with Penn State. But the Panthers

    Horizon League Standings
    1. Milwaukee - 7-2
    2. Wright State - 4-5
    3. Youngstown State - 3-3
    4. UIC - 3-3
    5. Valparaiso - 1-5