Pittsburgh, Penn. – Oakland made the trip to Pittsburgh to battle the Panthers on Wednesday, May 4 and left with an 8-4 victory.

This is the Golden Grizzlies' second win over a Power Five conference opponent in 2022, as they previously topped the Michigan Wolverines in Ann Arbor on March 30.

Oakland is now back above .500 at 22-21 (11-8 Horizon League), while Pittsburgh is 24-18 (10-10 Atlantic Coast Conference).

How it happened
Making the start at second base, senior Jared Miller began the scoring by plating classmate Gabe Lux with a groundout in the first inning.

The Panthers scored twice in the second to take their first lead of the afternoon, with the first run coming on a sacrifice fly by junior shortstop Brock Franks and the second on a single off the bat of sophomore right fielder CJ Funk.

Oakland evened the score at two in the third when redshirt senior right fielder Brenton Phillips, the reigning Horizon League Batter of the Week, reached on a fielder's choice, allowing senior designated hitter Michael Stygles to score.

Pittsburgh would take their second and final lead of the game, 3-2, in the fourth when junior catcher Tatem Levins was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, forcing home Funk.

As part of a 3-for-4, two-run, two-RBI day, Stygles homered to right field in the fifth to tie the contest back up at three, and the Golden Grizzlies moved back ahead, 4-3, in the seventh on a single by Lux.

Immediately following Lux's RBI single, Stygles added his second extra-base hit of the tilt, a triple to right center, to bring the first baseman home and extend Oakland's lead to 5-3.

Cutting the deficit in half, 5-4, the Panthers scored their final run of the game on a home run by senior left fielder Ron Washington, Jr. – no relation to the longtime Texas Rangers manager – in their half of the seventh.

Oakland's final three runs all came in the ninth, the first two coming across when junior Ian Cleary – who pinch-hit for Stygles – singled and advanced to second on a throwing error by senior right-hander Baron Stuart, and the last tally on a sacrifice bunt by Miller.

The plan all along for the Golden Grizzlies and second-year head coach Jordon Banfield was to turn Wednesday into a bullpen game and that is exactly what they did, strategically using seven pitchers to record the 27 outs.

Redshirt senior left-hander Christian Stelling drew the start, his third of the season, and worked the first inning plus one batter in the second. Freshman righty Hunter Pidek, who recorded all three outs in the sixth and the first of the seventh, picked up the win, moving his record to 2-1.

Handling the final five outs, graduate student right-hander Quinton Kujawa earned his first save of the campaign.

Working the seventh inning, redshirt sophomore righty Brady Devereux took the loss for Pittsburgh, dropping him to 4-2.

Up next
Oakland will return home for a traditional doubleheader with the Wright State Raiders on Friday, May 6, with the first game beginning at 1 p.m.

Wright State is the top team in the Horizon League with a 14-4 mark in conference play, but the Golden Grizzlies did take two of three from the Raiders in Dayton on March 18 and 20.