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The UW-Milwaukee Panthers (27-33) have their dream season come to a conclusion in Auburn, Alabama as the No. 4 overall seeded Auburn Tigers (42-20) took down UWM in Game 6 Sunday night 8-1 and then again in the winner-take-all Game 7, 8-3, from Plainsman Park in the Auburn Regional.
The Panthers ripped through the first two games of this regional, taking down Auburn in the opener on Friday and then taking down Central Florida (UCF) Saturday scoring a combined 26 runs in those two games. A bad defensive top of the second inning where Auburn scored five runs in Sunday’s Game 6 and the inability of the offense to get anything going led us to Monday’s Game 7. Another bad inning happened in Game 7 where Auburn scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth that kind of felt like a dagger.
It’s definitely disappointing that basically two bad innings over two games is ultimately what cost the Panthers their season, but UWM did give themselves a chance in Game 7 offensively, but they couldn’t string together multiple “big hits” in a row.
In every sport, all but one team is going to have this feeling of disappointment.
But I am extremely proud of this group. This team started the season 5-23 before figuring it out and making this improbable run to the NCAA Tournament, while winning the first two games of the Regional to put themselves in position to be one win away from the program’s first ever Super Regional appearance. The program entered this dance with an all-time record of 1-8 in the tournament.
It’ll take some time to get over these last two games, but this team accomplished a lot and put UWM back on the college baseball map. There’s now a new narrative and new standard set for Milwaukee Panthers baseball.
Thanks for the ride!
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