ROCHESTER, Mich. – Resuming Horizon League play, the Golden Grizzlies were defeated by the Wright State Raiders in both games of a Saturday, April 29 doubleheader at the Oakland Baseball Field, dropping the first 11-1 and the second 2-0.

With these results, the Golden Grizzlies are now 18-25 (10-10) in 2023, while Wright State improves to 25-17 (15-5).

GAME 1

Wright State 11, Oakland 1

Dayton, Ohio redshirt sophomore left-hander Sebastian Gongora, projected by many to be selected in the 2023 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, fired eight innings of one-run baseball to pick up his sixth win for the Raiders. He allowed three hits, walked one and struck out nine.

St. Clair redshirt senior second baseman Gehrig Anglin, freshman third baseman Patrick Fultz and first baseman Jay Luikart and catcher Sammy Sass, both juniors, hit home runs for Wright State and Lebanon, Ohio redshirt sophomore shortstop Luke Arnold had a multiple-hit showing.

Junior right fielder Lucas Loos tallied the Golden Grizzlies' run, hitting his fourth home run of the year in the fourth inning, and senior left fielder Ian Cleary and sophomore shortstop Peter Jelenic also collected hits.

Troy sophomore right-hander Hunter Pidek (1-2) made his ninth start and went five innings, giving up eight runs (six earned) on six hits with six strikeouts. Eldridge, Iowa junior lefty Jake Matthaidess worked the final four frames for Oakland, finishing his afternoon with a line of three runs (two earned) on five hits with a walk and two punchouts.


Photograph courtesy of Tiff Treppa - Oakland University Athletics.

GAME 2

Wright State 2, Oakland 0

As good as Gongora was for the Raiders in the first game Saturday, Fort Wayne, Indiana junior right-hander Jake Shirk (4-4) was even better in the second.

A day to remember for the native Hoosier, he threw his first complete game of the season and second of his career, surrendering just one hit and striking out a career-high 14.

While the rules of the game saddled him with the loss, Mesa, Arizona senior lefty Travis Densmore (4-5) was special for the Golden Grizzlies, as well, going seven innings and giving up the two runs on only two hits with three walks and four sent down on strikes.

Arnold knocked in the first Wright State run with a double in the third and Anglin homered to right center in the fourth for the other.

Brandon Nigh registered Oakland's hit, an infield single in the first.

On the defensive side of the baseball, Golden Grizzlies redshirt sophomore center fielder Drew Collins turned in the play of the day, sizing up a blast off the bat of Sass, scaling the wall in left center field and perfectly timing his leap to take a home run away from him to end the sixth.

A cool customer, Collins barely even reacted after making quite possibly one of the best catches of the year in the Horizon League thus far, simply showing third base umpire Thomas Newport the baseball and jogging back in as if it was nothing.

UP NEXT
These two will round out their three-game set on Sunday, April 30 at 1 p.m.

Redshirt senior righty Sean Fekete (2-2, 10.21 ERA) will start for Oakland, while Lawrenceburg, Tennessee junior Luke Stofel (2-3, 4.53 ERA), a fellow right-hander, will go for the Raiders.