On Friday afternoon, a group of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, college baseball players were doing something no one had anticipated in the visiting dugout at Auburn’s Plainsman Park. They were triumphing. Loudly, comfortably, and with the kind of conviction that makes you question whether the outcome was truly that unexpected or if everyone else was simply not paying attention.
In the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers defeated No. 4 national seed Auburn 13-8, their first tournament victory since 1999 and only the second in program history. They had a 25-31 record going into the game. Midway through the workday, they departed with a result that ended the game in two different Major League Baseball clubhouses.
The game began quickly and continued to do so. Before Auburn had a chance to catch up, Bradyn Horn’s three-run home run in the first inning gave UWM a 4-0 lead. In the fourth inning, Charlie Marion scored three more runs to increase the lead to ten. The Panthers were not playing scared at that point. They weren’t pretending to be “just happy to be here.” They were acting as though they were a team with something to prove and had picked this specific afternoon to do so. By the seventh inning, Auburn had rallied to within 12-7, creating the kind of tension that makes watching college baseball truly difficult. After that, Riley Peterson entered from the bullpen, pitched five relief innings, and finished the game.
In just his third season as the program’s head coach, Shaun Wegner spoke to ESPN+ commentators following the game with the measured assurance of someone who had been saying this was possible for a long time without many people paying attention. “We talked about how the job’s not finished,” he stated. “These guys have accepted it. Here in Milwaukee, something unique is just getting started. Watching Wegner speak gives me the impression that he truly means that, not as a sound bite but as a conviction that predates this tournament run by a significant amount.
The journey to Auburn was a tale unto itself. Before West Bend East alum Joey Spence hit a walk-off home run in the championship game to send the Panthers to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010, Milwaukee, the No. 2 seed going into the Horizon League tournament, advanced through the bracket. At that point, a mid-major program from the upper Midwest playing in Franklin, Wisconsin, suddenly became relevant again after sixteen years away from the national stage, and the larger college baseball world began to pay attention.
As his team faced the Brewers at Daikin Park, Astros reliever AJ Blubaugh, one of just two UWM products currently in the major leagues, was receiving updates in between innings. His long-dormant group chats with former teammates abruptly came to life. He talked about getting chills when he thought about former Panthers who were never given a chance while watching the last innings on his phone. After watching the score, Brewers manager Pat Murphy, who had made a motivational video at Wegner’s request, said simply, “They’re going to do it.” “It’s the beginning of something special,” I said after it was final. I’m simply overjoyed about the program.”
It’s possible this tournament run ends Saturday. Auburn will probably be waiting with a lot of motivation because double elimination is harsh. However, the events that took place in Alabama on Friday afternoon cannot be reversed. A team that began the season with a 5-23 record, rallied to a 25-31 record, won the Horizon League via walk-off, entered one of the top college baseball venues, and defeated the nation’s fourth-best team by five runs. For the first time in 27 years, Wisconsin’s only Division I baseball program, which plays at a 4,000-seat stadium in Franklin, has won a tournament.
Baseball has always been a cruel and beautiful game, and it always will be. For Milwaukee, Friday was mostly lovely.
