HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Kent. – In their final regular season action of the 2022 campaign, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies fell to the Northern Kentucky Norse, 11-5, on Saturday, May 21.
Oakland concludes their regular season at 29-25 (18-11 Horizon League), while the Norse are 18-33 (11-17).
Despite Saturday's loss, the Golden Grizzlies still took the season series from Northern Kentucky, winning three of five.
Rundown of Saturday's action
Oakland raced out to a 3-0 first-inning lead on a pair of singles by redshirt senior right fielder
Brenton Phillips and senior designated hitter
Michael Stygles, but seven Norse runs in the fourth and three more in the sixth were too much to overcome.
Entering with one out in the fourth, redshirt junior right-hander
Brett Hagen gave up four runs on three hits and took the loss, dropping him to 4-2.
Handling the 10 outs prior to Hagen's entrance, redshirt senior lefty
Christian Stelling also allowed four runs on three hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
The Golden Grizzlies actually outhit Northern Kentucky, 13-12, led by a 3-for-5 afternoon from graduate student center fielder
Seth Tucker.
Phillips and graduate student left fielder
Cam Post both collected two knocks.
Sophomore southpaw Ben Gerl picked up his fourth win for the Norse, working five innings and giving up four runs (three earned) on 10 hits with four free passes and three strikeouts. Graduate student righty Bryson Lonsbury went the final four frames for his fourth save.
Junior third baseman Manny Vorhees led the offensive attack for the Norse, finishing 2-for-4 with a grand slam in the fourth inning that gave Northern Kentucky a lead they never relinquished.
Senior left fielder Brennan Gick also went 2-for-4 with a home run and added an RBI double.
Up next
Finishing in second-place in the regular season standings, Oakland earned the No. 2 seed in the Horizon League Tournament, which will be held on the campus of Wright State in Dayton, Ohio, and will play their first game on Thursday, May 26 at 3 p.m.
No. 4 Purdue Fort Wayne and No. 5 Youngstown State will square off in the first game of the tournament on Wednesday, May 25 at 12 p.m., followed by No. 3 UIC and No. 6 Northern Kentucky at 4 p.m.
The losers of these two games will be eliminated, with the two winners advancing to Thursday. Oakland will play the higher remaining seed, while the lower remaining seed will battle No. 1 Wright State at 11 a.m.
