For the first time in 16 years, the Milwaukee Panthers baseball team is back in the NCAA Tournament. The Horizon League champions will face No. 4 Auburn in the Auburn Regional at 12:00 p.m. Friday at Plainsman Park.
MILWAUKEE – By the time the season finally narrowed to one last step, it felt less like a bracket and more like a doorway—one Milwaukee hadn’t walked through in 16 years.
The Panthers are headed back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010, traveling to the Auburn Regional hosted by the No. 4 overall seed Auburn Tigers. First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. Friday at Plainsman Park.
Milwaukee arrives on a seven-game winning streak that includes a perfect 3-0 record in the Horizon League Championship. a run that ended with the program’s first conference title since the 2010 season. The final game carried a familiar late twist: Horizon League Tournament Most Valuable Player Joey Spence delivered a game-winning two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning against top-seeded Wright State. The dramatic swing backed an eight-inning performance from starting pitcher Gavin Theis. who allowed just one unearned run and struck out a season-high six batters.
Spence and Theis were joined on the Horizon League All-Tournament Team by infielder Grant Ross and outfielders Charlie Marion and Dylan O’Connell. Head coach Shaun Wegner, in his third season at the helm, became the fastest coach in Milwaukee history to lead the Panthers to the NCAA Tournament.
In the Auburn Regional, the other three teams are at-large selections, including host Auburn of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). On Friday evening. UCF of the Big 12 Conference will take on NC State of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) at 5:00 p.m. Milwaukee versus Auburn will stream on ESPN+, with UCF and NC State set to air on ESPN2. The rest of the weekend’s broadcast schedule will be determined by results across all 16 regional sites. airing on the ESPN family of networks. Live stats for all games will be available online, with links to Milwaukee games available on MKEPanthers.com.
The weekend’s schedule has Milwaukee staged in Auburn:
On Friday, May 28 at 12:00 p.m., Milwaukee will play No. 4 Auburn at Plainsman Park in Auburn, Ala., with ESPN+ and live stats.
Saturday, May 29 is set for two possible paths. If Milwaukee wins against Auburn, the Panthers will play UCF or NC State at 7:00 p.m. at Plainsman Park with the network TBA and live stats. If Milwaukee loses to Auburn, the Panthers will play UCF or NC State at 2:00 p.m. with the network TBA and live stats.
The remainder of the weekend’s schedule will be determined by results of games across all 16 regional sites.
Milwaukee’s return has its own weight in the program’s history. The 2026 Horizon League champion Panthers qualified for the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship for the fifth time in program history and first in 16 years. including a previous stretch that ended in 2010. The Panthers were the second seed in the Horizon League Tournament and received the Horizon League’s automatic qualifying bid with three wins over three days. punctuated by the championship game’s 5-4 win that was clinched by Spence’s two-run walk-off home run.
The opponent Milwaukee will face first. Auburn. enters the regional under head coach Butch Thompson with a 38-19 overall record and a 17-13 mark in the SEC. Auburn’s SEC record includes 17-13. and the Tigers’ season featured three wins over common opponents. highlighted by a sweep of a fellow Horizon League member at the start of the season.
Auburn’s profile is built around pitching. The Tigers have the fourth-best earned run average in all of Division I at 3.45. while they allow the 14th fewest hits over nine innings (7.68). Their staff also ranks first nationally in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 3.74 and tops in walks allowed per nine innings at 2.82.
On offense, Auburn is within the top 60 nationally, posting a 53rd-best team batting average at .297 and 54th most hits in Division I with 562. The Tigers average 6.8 runs per contest, ranking 119th entering NCAA Regional play this weekend.
Auburn earned its NCAA Baseball Championship at-large selection after being the sixth seed in the SEC Tournament. The Tigers eliminated the No. 14 seed LSU Tigers and knocked off No. 3 Texas A&M in the quarterfinals before falling to the No. 7 seed Arkansas in the semifinals at the Hoover Met in Hoover, Ala.
UCF arrives with its own momentum. The UCF Knights finished 19-11 in Big 12 league games and 31-21 overall. Like Milwaukee’s Shaun Wegner, Rich Wallace is in his third season at the helm. UCF and Milwaukee shared two common opponents in 2026; the Knights played both at the Live Like Lou Jax Classic in Jacksonville. Fla. UCF beat Notre Dame, 4-2, and fell to LSU by an 11-0 score.
UCF’s pitching has been central to its postseason resume as well. The Knights hold the 26th best earned run average at 4.37 and rank 17th in hits allowed per nine innings at 7.90. Their staff also limits walks. allowing 3.88 walks per game (54th in Division I) and posting the 16th best WHIP in the nation at 1.31.
UCF was the fourth seed in the Big 12 Championship and bypassed playing games on May 19 and May 20. The Knights earned an at-large selection to the NCAA Baseball Championship, then fell in their quarterfinal matchup against Oklahoma State, 12-6.
NC State completes the Auburn Regional field. With a 32-22 overall record and a 14-16 mark in the ACC. head coach Elliott Avent will step away after a 38-year career that includes more than 1. 300 wins. including the last 30 years with the Wolfpack. Associate head coach Chris Hart has been named Avent’s successor.
NC State’s season included a three-game series at home from Notre Dame and a 2-of-3 series win at home against Duke during the regular season before falling to the Blue Devils in postseason play. Notre Dame and Duke were also on Milwaukee’s schedule earlier this season. and the Panthers earned a win over Duke early in the year.
The Wolfpack offense leans toward aggression on the bases and discipline at the plate. NC State is 30th in walks drawn with 302 this season and has amassed 549 hits, including 77 home runs. The offense ranks 25th nationally with 8.2 runs per game and has 98 stolen bases, ranking 55th nationwide. NC State also plays “small ball,” ranking 13th in Division I in sacrifice flies with 35.
On the mound, NC State pitchers strike out 10.6 batters per nine innings, ranking 14th in the country. The staff is 70th nationally with a 2.17 strikeout-to-walk ratio. At the same time. opponents can find cracks: NC State is in the bottom half of the country in walks allowed per nine innings at 4.87.
NC State earned an at-large selection to this year’s championship after being the nine-seed in the ACC Baseball Championship in Charlotte, N.C. The Wolfpack were upset by the 16th-seeded Duke Blue Devils in the first round by a 21-12 score.
Milwaukee’s path to this weekend has been defined by moments that arrived late and often. The Panthers won their fifth league championship on May 23, knocking off top-seeded Wright State by a 5-4 score. The win came in dramatic fashion. with a two-run walk-off home run from Joey Spence in the bottom of the ninth.
Earlier in that clinching sequence, Milwaukee entered the bottom of the ninth trailing by a 4-3 score. After Christian Holmes walked, Spence sent a ball over the right-field fence to clinch the Horizon League crown.
It was the first walk-off win to take the Horizon League title since Jordan DeVoir of UIC defeated Butler with a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth in 2003. For Milwaukee, it marked the third walk-off win of the season. The Panthers also knocked off Northern Kentucky 11 innings by a 6-5 score on April 16. and defeated Oakland in 11 innings by a 12-11 margin.
Spence’s impact wasn’t only in one swing. With two home runs and seven RBIs. including the championship-winning two-run home run. Spence earned Horizon League Tournament Most Valuable Player honors. It made him the third Panther to win the award under the Horizon League title. joining pitcher Chad Pierce in 2010 and Dave Pudlosky in 2002. In the pre-Horizon League days as the Mid-Continent Conference. infielder Scott Gillitzer won the 2001 MVP award. and pitcher Chad Sadowski was named the 1999 MVP.
The All-Tournament Team once again reflects the pitching-and-power balance driving Milwaukee this season. Alongside Spence. the league’s All-Tournament Team included outfielders Charlie Marion and Dylan O’Connell. third baseman Grant Ross. and starting pitcher Gavin Theis. With five members on the All-Tournament Team, Milwaukee matched its Horizon League mark set back in 2002.
In the Horizon League Championship last weekend, Milwaukee’s staff posted a 1.67 earned run average while holding opponents to just seven runs total and a .204 batting average.
The postseason pitching began with Aric Ehmke. who started against Northern Kentucky and allowed two runs over seven innings with four strikeouts. Aiden Fishnick followed with two hitless innings and two strikeouts. The next day, Riley Peterson struck out five Wright State batters and allowed just one run over six innings. Mason Weckler worked around two hits in the seventh inning. before Camden Kuhnke struck out three batters over two innings to lock down his sixth save.
In the clincher, Gavin Theis tossed eight innings, allowing an unearned run and striking out six Raiders. Camden Kuhnke threw an inning and earned his fourth win of the year following Spence’s winning home run in the bottom of the ninth.
Milwaukee heads into the regional looking for only its second NCAA Tournament win and first since its postseason debut in 1999. In that first run, the Panthers knocked off the No. 1 overall seed Rice by an 8-4 score before being eliminated by the Owls two days later.
Horizon League success has been the storyline across recent years, even as Milwaukee’s wait has been long. Last season. Horizon League champion Wright State won a pair of games in the NCAA Championship. including an elimination game win over perennial power Vanderbilt. Milwaukee is now aiming to keep that momentum going with a win for the Horizon League when taking on Auburn on May 29. followed by a matchup against UCF or NC State on May 30.
The last time the Horizon League had consecutive seasons with wins in the Division I Baseball Championship came during a four-year span from 2013-16. when Valparaiso defeated Florida in 2013. Youngstown State defeated Indiana State in 2014. and Wright State won two games in 2015 over Ohio and Notre Dame and two more in 2016 against Western Michigan and Ohio State.
There’s also a regional familiarity to Milwaukee’s placement. In 2026. the Horizon League champion has been placed in a pod hosted by a team from the Southeastern Conference for the fourth time in the last six seasons. Wright State played at Tennessee in 2021, Northern Kentucky visited Tennessee in 2023, and last season Wright State played at Vanderbilt.
And for Milwaukee, the drought ends here. Entering the 2026 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship. Milwaukee was tied for the second-longest drought for teams to make an appearance. with its last game in 2010 in the Tempe Regional. That 16-year drought was tied with The Citadel of the Southern Conference. Washington State of the Mountain West. and Lamar of the Southland. The longest drought belonged to Northern Illinois, which last played in the NCAA Tournament in 1972.
The Huskies won the Mid-American Conference in their last season as members of the MAC, with Northern Illinois joining the Horizon League as its sixth member in 2027.
Milwaukee’s roster includes players who remember the last tournament run up close. Two members of this year’s team appeared in 2010. Head coach Shaun Wegner was a senior on that team, playing in 47 of the team’s 59 games that season. Wegner had the game’s first hit against Arizona State. a single on the third pitch against current Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Merrill Kelly.
Longtime Milwaukee pitching coach Cory Bigler was also part of the 2010 team, then in his seventh season in the role. Bigler will be wrapping up his 23rd season as the team’s pitching coach in 2026.
Even the connection between Milwaukee and Auburn runs deeper than scheduling. Alongside their shared field this weekend. Milwaukee and Auburn are tied through Bruce Pearl: they are the first and last Division I men’s basketball teams Pearl served as head coach. Pearl. from Boston. Massachusetts. got his first Division I head coaching job at Milwaukee after serving in the same capacity at Division II Southern Indiana. With the Panthers, he guided the team to 86 wins over four seasons including a trip to the Sweet 16 in 2004-05. After Milwaukee. he took the head coaching position at Tennessee for six seasons. before finishing his head coaching career at Auburn from 2014-25. winning 244 games over 11 seasons. He later took an ambassador position with the department.
For now, though, all of it narrows to one thing: the first pitch on Friday, May 28 at 12:00 p.m. in Auburn, Alabama—Milwaukee’s return to the NCAA stage, and its chance to turn years of waiting into something permanent.
Milwaukee Panthers NCAA Tournament Auburn Regional Auburn Tigers Horizon League Joey Spence Gavin Theis Dylan O'Connell Charlie Marion Grant Ross