ROCHESTER, Mich. – Picking up their second Horizon League series victory of the 2023 season, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies defeated the Milwaukee Panthers, 4-2, on Sunday, April 2.
After dropping the Friday series opener, the Golden Grizzlies rallied back to win the latter two in the three-game weekend set and are now 10-16 (4-5 Horizon League).
Milwaukee falls to 10-14 and 2-6 in the conference.
Registering his second quality start in his last three outings and picking up his second win of the season, senior left-hander
Travis Densmore went seven innings for Oakland, scattering seven Panther hits and giving up just two runs, which came on a home run by senior catcher Jack Thelen in the second and a groundball in the fourth. He did not walk a batter and struck out three.
Earning his first save as a Golden Grizzly, fellow senior
Noah Stants, a righty, worked the final two innings, holding Milwaukee to one hit with a walk and four strikeouts.
Junior right fielder
Lucas Loos plated Oakland's first two runs by crushing his second home run of the year to left center in the second.
Part of a career-high three-RBI day, Loos was also responsible for the eventual game-winning run by executing a safety squeeze bunt to score sophomore second baseman
Peter Jelenic in the fourth.
Immediately following Loos' run-scoring bunt, graduate student first baseman
Gabe Lux doubled home junior catcher
Brandon Heidal to give the Golden Grizzlies a multiple-run lead, 4-2, a cushion that would stand the rest of the way.
Along with sophomore third baseman
Brandon Nigh, Heidal was one of two Oakland players with two hits Sunday and the Anaheim, California native has now recorded a hit in consecutive games for the sixth time this season.
GRIZZVISION WITH HEAD COACH JORDON BANFIELD
STATISTICAL NOTES
- Through the season's first 26 games, redshirt senior shortstop Thomas Green is the lone Golden Grizzly hitting above .300 at .301 (31-103)
- Lux's fourth-inning RBI double Sunday was his 10th two-base hit of the year, a total that ties him for second in the Horizon League and makes him the first Oakland player to reach double-digits in this category in 2023
- Densmore's victory was the 10th of his career, putting him just eight back of Ralph Muglia and Tim Hellebuyck for fourth on the school's all-time list
UP NEXT
The sixth in their 10-game homestand, Oakland will return to action on Tuesday, April 4 against the Mid-American Conference's (MAC) Central Michigan Chippewas at 2:30 p.m.
