The Milwaukee Panthers are in the driver’s seat in the NCAA Tournament’s Auburn regional. The Panthers have two wins over the Auburn Tigers and UCF Knights and made it to the regional final.

The Panthers are looking to make it to their first super regional in program history.

From a rocky start to a red-hot Horizon League Tournament run

Milwaukee did not have a smooth start to the 2026 college baseball season. The Panthers were 5-22 overall on April 3 and had an uphill battle to climb to end the season.

From April 3 to the end of the regular season, Milwaukee went 17-9. However, they still had a below-average overall record of 22-31. The Panthers needed to win the Horizon League Tournament to make it into the NCAA Tournament as an automatic bid.

The Panthers posted a solid conference record of 14-10 in 2026. This gave them the number two seed in the Horizon League Tournament, which was played at Nischwitz Stadium in Dayton, Ohio.

Milwaukee defeated Northern Kentucky and the tournament host, Wright State, twice to win the tournament title. They outscored their opponents 23-7 across those three games. The 2026 Horizon League Tournament title is the first conference tournament title for the Panthers since 2010.

Milwaukee’s wins over Auburn and UCF

An automatic bid placed Milwaukee as the fourth seed in the Auburn regional. The Panthers faced off against the Tigers on Friday, May 29.

Milwaukee got off to a huge, early lead on Auburn. Heading into the bottom of the fourth inning, the Panthers had a 10-0 lead on the Tigers. Milwaukee would go on to win 13-8.

Joey Spence, John Hadley VI, and Grant Ross led Milwaukee offensively with three hits apiece. Spence had two doubles in the game and an RBI. Hadley VI had a double and a triple against Auburn.

Charlie Marion and Bradyn Horn both had three-run home runs early on in the game that were huge for the Panthers. Those home runs allowed them to gain a big 10-0 lead early.

The magic did not stop on Friday for Milwaukee. On Saturday, May 30, the Panthers defeated the UCF Knights in the “1-0” game by a score of 13-6.

Ross continued his big performance in the regional. After a three-hit game against Auburn, the Milwaukee third baseman hit a home run and a double against UCF. He finished the game with two hits, three RBIs, and five runs scored.

Marion finished with a multi-hit game against the Knights. Milwaukee’s center fielder, Dylan O’Connell, had two doubles in the game that led to four RBIs.

Up next for Milwaukee

The Milwaukee Panthers will play the winner of the game between Auburn and UCF in the Auburn regional final on Sunday, May 31.

The Auburn-UCF elimination game is at 3 p.m. ET at Plainsman Park, and the game can be watched on ESPN2. Milwaukee’s game against the winner will be at 8 p.m. ET. That game will be on ESPN+.

WBN NCAA: https://worldbaseball.com/league/ncaa/

PHOTO: Via Dominic Kibler on Instagram (@dominic.kibler)

• The Milwaukee Panthers defeated the UCF Knights in the NCAA Baseball Tournament’s Auburn Regional.
• Milwaukee’s offense scored nine early runs, capitalizing on five extra-base hits and five walks.
• UCF faces an elimination game against the host team and No. 4 national seed, Auburn.

Milwaukee proved its offensive outburst in the Auburn Regional opener was no fluke, though UCF’s pitchers certainly aided the Panthers’ efforts on May 30.

The Horizon League champs tagged the Knights for five extra-base hits and capitalized on five walks in the first three innings to cruise for a 13-6 victory at Plainsman Park. Milwaukee (27-31) sits in the driver’s seat to become just the 10th regional No. 4 seed to advance to supers in NCAA baseball tournament history.

UCF (32-22) will meet Auburn (39-20) at 3 p.m. Sunday in an elimination game. The winner will turn around and face Milwaukee at 8, needing to upend the Panthers twice.

Milwaukee scored the game’s first nine runs to win for the 22nd time in their last 30 games. They jumped out to a 10-0 lead the day before to stun Auburn.

Andrew Williamson demolished his fourth home run of the regional to lead off the sixth inning, a 443-foot blast with an exit velocity of 110 mph off the bat. Evan Jones gave the Knights a chance at an improbable comeback with a career-high 4⅓ innings of two-run relief.

Here are three takeaways from an untimely upset that puts the Knights on the brink of elimination.

UCF had no answers for the top of Milwaukee’s order

Milwaukee’s big bats at the top of the lineup set the tone and proved to be near-impossible outs for UCF’s pitchers.

Panthers leadoff hitter Grant Ross reached base in each of his five plate appearances, including an unorthodox solo home run deflected off the head of UCF center fielder De’Amez Ross — reminiscent of an infamous 1993 José Canseco blooper in Cleveland.

“We’re just gritty, man. We’re grinding it out,” Grant Ross told the ESPN+ broadcast crew after the game. “We knew we had the talent all along. It’s just clicking.”

HOUSTON – Christian Walker hit a three-run homer and Jeremy Peña had a home run among his three hits to help the Houston Astros roll to a 9-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday.

By the numbers:

Peña’s two-run shot made it 3-1 in the second and the Astros added three runs in the fifth to pull away after the Brewers got within 1. Walker’s shot to the seats in right field made it 9-2 with two outs in the eighth.

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It’s the seventh win in nine games for the Astros and snaps Milwaukee’s four-game winning streak.

Houston starter Peter Lambert (4-4) allowed five hits and two runs with three walks in five innings for the win.

Milwaukee’s Brandon Sproat (1-4) permitted six hits and five runs in 4 1/3 innings.

William Contreras gave the Brewers an early lead with a two-out RBI double in the first.

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Cam Smith was on second base with one out in the second when he scored on a single by Jake Meyers to tie it.

The home run by Peña came with two outs in the inning to put the Astros on top 3-1.

Garrett Mitchell walked to start the fifth and moved to second on a wild pitch by Lambert with one out. Christian Yelich walked with two outs before the Brewers cut the lead to 3-2 on an RBI single by Jackson Chourio.

The Astros had runners on first and third with one out in the fifth after Sproat hit Walker with a pitch. Sproat was replaced by Carlos Rodriguez and Taylor Trammell hit an infield RBI single to make it 4-2.

Isaac Paredes then doubled to left field to score two more and put the Astros up 6-2.

What’s next:

Houston RHP Tatsuya Imai (2-2, 6.17 ERA), who was the starter in a combined no-hitter his last time out, starts in the series finale Sunday against RHP Jacob Misiorowski (5-2, 1.83).