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UNLEASH THE GRIZZ

Oakland University Athletics

Scoreboard

Ian Cleary vs. Purdue Fort Wayne
Clarence Round
6
Oakland OAK 14-20, 7-7 Horizon
7
Winner Northern Ky. NKU 20-13, 10-4 Horizon
Oakland OAK
14-20, 7-7 Horizon
6
Final
7
Northern Ky. NKU
20-13, 10-4 Horizon
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Oakland OAK 0 2 0 0 1 0 2 1 0 6 9 0
Northern Ky. NKU 4 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 X 7 13 3

W: B. Gerl (4-3) L: Densmore, Travis (3-4) S: C. Maniglia (4)

Game Recap: Baseball | | Teddy Rydquist

Golden Grizzlies mount late comeback, but fall just short in middle game of series with Northern Kentucky

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Scoring a pair of runs in the seventh inning and another in the eighth, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies made it tight late but were ultimately defeated by the Northern Kentucky Norse, 7-6, on Saturday, April 15 at Friendship Field at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex.

With their win Saturday, the Norse clinch a series victory and improve to 20-13, including a Horizon League-leading 10-4 mark in conference play, while Oakland is now 14-20 and in fourth place in the league standings at 7-7, one game back of the Milwaukee Panthers for third.

Throwing 49 pitches in his only inning of work, senior lefty starter Travis Densmore (3-4) took the loss, allowing four runs on five hits while issuing four walks and striking out one.

Redshirt senior right-hander Sean Fekete took over in the second and departed with one out in the fifth, giving up three Northern Kentucky runs on five hits with three walks and a strikeout, and freshman Tanner Ware, junior Ben Paugh and senior Noah Stants combined to keep the Norse off the scoreboard while handling the final 11 outs.

Chipping away at the four runs Northern Kentucky posted in their half of the first, the Golden Grizzlies cut the deficit in half with two runs in the second, the first coming when junior right fielder Lucas Loos scored on a throwing error by junior left-handed pitcher Ben Gerl and the latter being senior left fielder Ian Cleary coming home on a single off the bat of junior catcher Brandon Heidal.

This was Heidal's 15th RBI of the season and he has now driven in a run in three of the last four games.

Graduate student second baseman Jared Miller made it a one-run game, 4-3, with his ninth double of the campaign in the fifth, plating classmate and designated hitter Gabe Lux.

Entering April hitting just .188, Miller has raised his batting average to .267, a 79-point jump over his last eight games, and he is now up to 21 RBI in 2023, third-best on the club.

Going up by four runs once again, the Norse responded to Miller's double with three runs in the bottom of the fifth, making the scoreboard read 7-3.

Over the seventh and eighth, Oakland tallied three runs to bring it back within one, 7-6, with Cleary and Lux recording the RBI.

Beginning with Miller drawing a walk and followed by Cleary doing the same two batters later, the Golden Grizzlies had the potential tying and go-ahead runs on in the ninth, but graduate student righty Casey Maniglia, an Ohio State Buckeye transfer, was able to induce a 4-6-3 double play to end the contest and allow Northern Kentucky to hang on.

Gerl earned the win for the Norse, moving him to 4-3, and Maniglia picked up his sixth save.

Oakland ended up with nine hits Saturday, with Cleary being the lone Golden Grizzly with multiple knocks, finishing 3-4.

After his eight-game hit streak came to end with an 0-4 Friday, sophomore third baseman Brandon Nigh went 1-5 Saturday, the possible beginning of a new lengthy streak.

UP NEXT
These two will round out their three-game weekend set on Sunday, April 16 at 2 p.m.

This tilt was originally scheduled for 12 p.m., but was pushed back two hours on Saturday.
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