{"id":156705,"date":"2026-05-26T11:37:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T16:37:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/?p=156705"},"modified":"2026-05-27T17:33:56","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T22:33:56","slug":"uwm-baseball-team-heads-to-ncaa-tournament-for-first-time-in-16-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-baseball-team-heads-to-ncaa-tournament-for-first-time-in-16-years\/","title":{"rendered":"UWM baseball team heads to NCAA Tournament for first time in 16 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

The biggest moment in more than a decade happened in dramatic fashion for the UW-Milwaukee baseball team over the weekend.<\/p>\n

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning of the Horizon League championship game and his team trailing by a run, Joey Spence stepped to the plate and smashed a two-run walk-off home run<\/a> on Saturday to give UWM a 5-4 victory over Wright State.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were debating whether or not I should bunt \u2026 and (assistant coach) Mike Porcaro was like, \u2018Hey, I trust you. Go hit,\u2019\u201d Spence told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel<\/a>. \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for those guys trusting me to go do what I do, that wouldn\u2019t have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Several<\/a>
The UWM Panthers celebrate at home plate after Joey Spence hit a game-winning home run to win the Horizon League championship. Click on the photo to watch video of the homer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That lightning bolt delivered UWM its first conference championship since 2010 and sent the team to the NCAA Tournament for a fifth time. Besides 2010, the Panthers made the tournament in 1999, 2001 and 2002.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the team learned its destination: The Panthers will travel to Alabama to take on Auburn, the No. 4 overall seed, at noon on Friday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.<\/p>\n

Early rounds of the NCAA Tournament are double elimination, so win or lose, UWM will play at least one more game<\/a> on Saturday against one of the other two teams in the region, Central Florida and North Carolina State. Those games are likely to be broadcast<\/a> on either ESPN+ or ESPNU.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the team will be honored by the Milwaukee Brewers at a pregame ceremony Tuesday before the game vs. the St. Louis Cardinals.<\/p>\n

Representing the Panthers are Horizon League All-Conference or All-Tournament team members: pitcher Gavin Theis, outfielder Charlie Marion, catcher Dominic Kibler; outfielder Dylan O\u2019Connell and catcher and Horizon League Tournament Most Valuable Player Joey Spence.<\/p>\n

UWM Athletics has complete coverage of the title-clinching game<\/a> and the NCAA Tournament<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A
Chancellor Thomas Gibson wishes UWM baseball players and coaches well before the team got a police escort to the airport on its way to Alabama to play in the NCAA Tournament. (UWM Photo\/Troye Fox)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joey Spence\u2019s walk-off home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning clinched the Horizon League title and the Panthers\u2019 first NCAA berth since 2010. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3151,"featured_media":156706,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[],"section":[122,126],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[167],"class_list":["post-156705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","section-campus-community","section-campus-news","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","uwmnews-feed-alumni-association"],"yoast_head":"\nUWM baseball team heads to NCAA Tournament for first time in 16 years<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Joey Spence\u2019s walk-off home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning clinched the Horizon League title and the Panthers\u2019 first NCAA berth since 2010.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-baseball-team-heads-to-ncaa-tournament-for-first-time-in-16-years\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UWM baseball team heads to NCAA Tournament for first time in 16 years\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Joey Spence\u2019s walk-off home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning clinched the Horizon League title and the Panthers\u2019 first NCAA berth since 2010.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-baseball-team-heads-to-ncaa-tournament-for-first-time-in-16-years\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UWM REPORT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-26T16:37:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-27T22:33:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2026\/05\/baseball750x500-crop-5.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John G. 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