CLEBURNE, Texas – In the final tilt in a four-game set, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies defeated the Kansas Jayhawks, 6-3, on Monday, February 27 at The Depot at Cleburne Station.
Their first victory of 2023, Oakland is now 1-6, while the Big 12 Conference's Jayhawks drop to 5-2.
Making his third appearance of the season, junior right-hander
Brandon Decker earned the win for the Golden Grizzlies, throwing six innings of three-hit, two-run baseball to finish the game.
Continuing to ramp his workload back up, redshirt senior righty
Bryce Konitzer started for Oakland, allowing one run on two hits with a pair of walks and three strikeouts over his three innings, throwing 33 of his 55 pitches for strikes.
With junior southpaw Ethan Bradford starting for Kansas, redshirt senior
Luke Malmanger, who does much of his damage against left-handed pitching, was in the lineup at first base and responded with a bases-clearing double to put the Golden Grizzlies up 4-1 in the third, his first three RBI of the season.
The Jayhawks cut it to 4-3 after six, but sophomore third baseman
Brandon Nigh and redshirt senior shortstop
Thomas Green both hit solo shots in the span of three batters in the seventh to extend the Oakland lead back to three.
Redshirt sophomore center fielder Mike Koszewski was the lone Jayhawk to reach base in the final three frames against Decker, drawing a leadoff walk in the seventh, and was quickly erased on a 6-4-3 double play.
Graduate student left fielder
Gabe Lux extended his hit streak to three games with a third-inning single and classmate and designated hitter
Jared Miller picked up his team-leading fifth RBI with a bases-loaded hit by pitch later in the same frame.
Sophomore second baseman
Peter Jelenic raised his batting average to .318 (7-22) with a 2-4 day Monday and has now recorded a hit in five of his six games this season.
Bradford took the loss for Kansas, dropping him to 0-1, and three other Jayhawk pitchers – juniors Kolby Dougan and Stone Hewlett and sophomore Gavin Brasosky – combined to record the final 21 outs.
Monday was the Golden Grizzlies' third win over a Power Five conference opponent over the last two seasons, as they also bested the Big Ten Conference's (B1G) Michigan Wolverines and Atlantic Coast Conference's (ACC) Pittsburgh Panthers in 2022.
50TH CAREER WIN FOR HEAD COACH JORDON BANFIELD
Making him the sixth coach in program history to reach the mark, Monday is also noteworthy for representing career win No. 50 for third-year head coach
Jordon Banfield.
UP NEXT
Continuing their stretch of 10 consecutive games away from the newly-renovated friendly confines of the Oakland Baseball Field to begin the season, the Golden Grizzlies will next battle the American Athletic Conference's (AAC) Wichita State Shockers in three games at Eck Stadium from Friday-Sunday, March 3-5.
Winning the final three games of their series with the Utah Tech Trailblazers, formerly known as the Dixie State Trailblazers, Wichita State will take a 4-3 record into play Friday, which is their home opener.
