ROCHESTER, Mich. – Beginning their first home Horizon League series of the 2023 season, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies were defeated by the Milwaukee Panthers, 13-4, on Friday, March 31.
Playing the third contest in a 10-game homestand Friday, the Golden Grizzlies are now 8-16 and 2-5 in Horizon League play, while Milwaukee improves to 10-12 and 2-4 in the conference.
Beginning with a triple just past the outstretched, diving glove of senior right fielder
Ian Cleary in the first inning and completed with a single in the eighth, senior second baseman Mark Connelly, a Dewitt native and Lansing Community College transfer, recorded the first cycle in Panther history and finished with four runs scored and a pair of RBI.
Classmate and left fielder Luke Seidel also homered for Milwaukee as part of a two-hit, three-RBI afternoon and fellow senior and designated hitter Nate DeYoung also collected two hits in an 11-knock showing for the Panthers.
Oshkosh, Wisconsin junior left-hander Riley Frey threw seven innings to pick up the win and even his season record at 3-3, allowing three runs on four hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.
Sophomore Keagon Kaufmann and freshman Tyler Deleskiewicz, both righties, each pitched an inning in relief to cap the day for Milwaukee.
Oakland scored their first two runs in the first when redshirt senior shortstop
Thomas Green went deep to straightaway center field, his fifth home run of the season, already surpassing his 2022 total of four.
Finishing 2-3, Friday was Green's 10
th multiple-hit game of 2023 and he leads the Golden Grizzlies with 18 RBI and 13 extra-base hits, having also tallied seven doubles and a triple.
Sophomore second baseman
Peter Jelenic made it a 5-3 game by hitting the first pitch of the bottom of the fifth inning over the right field wall for his first career home run and graduate student designated hitter
Jared Miller drove in the game's final run in the ninth with a groundball to second base, scoring freshman
Reggie Bussey, who pinch-hit in Cleary's spot to begin the frame.
Falling to 1-2, redshirt senior right-hander
Bryce Konitzer took the loss for Oakland. He gave up six runs on six hits with three walks and six strikeouts over four innings. Juniors
Ben Paugh and
Jake Matthaidess, freshman
Dylan Haslett and seniors
Caleb Fuller and
Chase Keeney saw action out of the bullpen for the Golden Grizzlies.
A fan favorite and senior lefty, Keeney, who hails from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, worked a scoreless ninth in his season debut, sending a pair of Panthers down swinging.
STATISTICAL NOTES
- Green's 2-3 day raised his batting average back above .300 to .309 (30-97)
- Redshirt sophomore outfielder Liam Pollock registered his first hit of the season with an infield single in the ninth
- Jelenic's big fly made him the seventh Golden Grizzly with a home run in 2023, joining Green (5), redshirt sophomore Drew Collins (3), Cleary (2) and sophomore Brandon Nigh, junior Lucas Loos and Miller (1 each)
- Konitzer's six strikeouts Friday give him 21 this season, tying him with junior right-hander Brandon Decker and trailing only senior lefty Travis Densmore's 29
UP NEXT
Game 2 of this weekend series is set for Saturday, April 1 at 2 p.m. at the Oakland Baseball Field.
Sophomore righty
Hunter Pidek (0-1, 3.27 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, .226 BAA, 22 IP) will make his fifth start of the year for the Golden Grizzlies.
Senior LHP
Chase Keeney pitching in the top of the ninth inning of the Golden Grizzlies' 13-4 loss to the Milwaukee Panthers on Friday, March 31 at the Oakland Baseball Field. In his first appearance of the season, the Iowa native struck out two and worked a scoreless frame.
Photo courtesy of Ceejay Round.
