Fort Wayne, Ind. – Putting an end to a four-game skid, Oakland picked up a pair of pivotal Horizon League victories with a doubleheader sweep of Purdue Fort Wayne on Sunday, April 24.

With the two wins, the Golden Grizzlies are now 19-20 overall and 9-7 in league play, good enough to jump Youngstown State for third in the conference standings.

The Mastodons, meanwhile, are 12-26 and are fifth in the league at 9-10.

Game 1 – Oakland 8, Purdue Fort Wayne 6 (7 Innings)
Senior first baseman Jared Miller was the standout Golden Grizzly in this one, going 3-4 with two home runs – his third and fourth of the season – and five RBI.

Miller started the scoring with a solo shot in the third, and his second of the contest, a three-run blast in the sixth, gave Oakland a lead they never relinquished.

Third baseman Luke Malmanger, a fellow senior, also had himself a nice game at the dish, collecting two hits.

Redshirt senior right-hander Jacob Wosinski drew the start for the Golden Grizzlies and went 3.1 innings, allowing three runs on five hits with two walks and the same number of strikeouts. Graduate student Quinton Kujawa, also a righty, earned his first win of the campaign, working 2.2 frames in middle relief and giving up three runs on four hits.

After the first two Mastodons reached base in the seventh, redshirt senior left-hander Christian Stelling came on and recorded a strikeout and induced a 4-6-3 double play for his second save of the year.

Junior catcher Cade Fitzpatrick led Purdue Fort Wayne with three hits, including a double, and freshman righty Braxton Wilson took the loss, dropping him to 1-2.

Game 2 – Oakland 9, Purdue Fort Wayne 7
Down to their last three outs and trailing by two runs, 6-4, things were looking bleak for the Golden Grizzlies in the second game, but the team responded by scoring five times in the ninth.

Graduate student second baseman Brad Goulet drew a bases-loaded walk to bring redshirt junior shortstop Thomas Green home, making the score 6-5, and Miller completed his 7-RBI day with a two-run single to give Oakland the lead.

Goulet would come around on a single by redshirt senior right fielder Brenton Phillips, and Phillips scored on a double by freshman left fielder John Lauinger, who has now hit safely in his last three games.

Handling the final eight outs, sophomore right-hander Ben Paugh picked up his fourth win of the season. The native of Columbus, Ohio allowed one run on two hits, needing just 25 pitches to complete his 2.2 innings.

After finishing the first game, Stelling started this one for the Golden Grizzlies, working two innings and giving up a lone run on three hits with a walk.

Moving his record to a rough 0-8, senior lefty Justin Miller was the losing pitcher for the Mastodons.

Up next
Oakland will have a four-day break before the Milwaukee Panthers come to Rochester for a three-game set, beginning on Friday, April 29 at 2:30 p.m.

The Saturday, April 30 game will take place at 2 p.m., while the Sunday, May 1 series finale is set for 1 p.m.

At the bottom of the Horizon League standings, Milwaukee currently owns a 14-20 (4-10) record. This overall mark will change by Friday, however, as the Panthers will head to Evanston, Ill. to battle the Northwestern Wildcats on Tuesday, April 26 and will square off with the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) Raiders on Wednesday, April 27 at American Family Field, home of the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball.