ROCHESTER, Mich. – Overcoming a six-run fourth-inning deficit, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies clawed their way back to defeat the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons, 14-9, on Thursday, April 6 in the first of a three-game Horizon League series at the Oakland Baseball Field.
Career win No. 60 for third-year head coach
Jordon Banfield, the Golden Grizzlies improve to 11-17 and 5-5 in league play, while Purdue Fort Wayne drops to 8-22 and is also 5-5 in the conference.
Making his seventh start of the season, redshirt senior right-hander
Bryce Konitzer went 3.1 innings for Oakland, giving up seven runs on seven hits with two strikeouts.
Helping the Golden Grizzlies bridge the middle-inning gap, graduate student lefty
Christian Stelling was terrific in relief of Konitzer, also throwing 3.1 innings and allowing just a lone run on two hits with one walk and four strikeouts.
Picking up his first win as an Oakland University student, redshirt senior right-hander
Sean Fekete recorded the final out of the seventh, and junior
Brandon Decker, a fellow righty, worked the final two frames for his first save of 2023 and the fifth of his career.
Indianapolis junior right-hander Mac Ayres, who spent the previous three seasons in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) with the Muncie-based Ball State Cardinals, was strong in his sixth start for the Mastodons, lasting into the sixth inning and holding the Golden Grizzlies to two runs, one of which came after he exited, on six hits with a pair of walks and nine strikeouts.
A trio of relievers saw action for Purdue Fort Wayne, with South Bend, Indiana sophomore righty Bryce Martens taking the loss, which drops him to 1-2.
Beginning with Peoria, Illinois graduate student first baseman Braedon Blackford's solo home run in the first, his Horizon League-leading ninth of the season, the Mastodons struck first, but Oakland tied it right back up in their half of the first when
Gabe Lux, also a graduate student first baseman, singled home sophomore center fielder Drew "Dubs" Collins.
The first of two big flies for him on the afternoon, Girard, Illinois junior right fielder Grant Thoromon put Purdue Fort Wayne back ahead with a solo shot in the second and the Mastodons added four more in the third and another in the fourth, giving themselves a 7-1 lead.
Following consecutive Golden Grizzly pinch-hit walks by graduate student
Jared Miller and junior
Lucas Loos in the sixth, Anaheim, California junior catcher
Brandon Heidal delivered a two-strike, two-out, bases-clearing double to right center, cutting the Purdue Fort Wayne cushion to three, 7-4.
Heidal scored after Twinsburg, Ohio freshman left fielder
Reggie Bussey reached on an error by the Mastodon third baseman, making it a two-run contest, 7-5.
Purdue Fort Wayne spread it back out to a four-run advantage, 9-5, with two runs their half of the seventh, but Oakland would take the lead in their turn at-bat.
After Temperance sophomore third baseman
Brandon Nigh crushed his second home run of the season off the batter's eye in straightaway center to make it 9-6, the Golden Grizzlies loaded the bases on a single by senior designated hitter
Ian Cleary and walks by redshirt senior shortstop
Thomas Green and Miller, bringing Loos, a Payson, Illinois native, to the plate.
His fourth hit of the season, all of which have gone for extra-bases and his third home run, Loos ripped a grand slam to left field to put Oakland ahead, 10-9, and the Golden Grizzlies added four more runs in the eighth, with Nigh putting the finishing touches on a three-RBI day with a two-run single and Green blasting his team-leading sixth home run of the campaign over the batter's eye.
Trailing only Blackford, Green is tied with fifth-year senior Noah Fisher and junior Liam McFadden-Ackman, both of whom play for the Northern Kentucky Norse, for the second-most home runs in the Horizon League.
GRIZZVISION WITH HEAD COACH JORDON BANFIELD
UP NEXT
The middle game in this pre-Easter Horizon League set, these two teams will be right back at it on Friday, April 7 at 2:30 p.m.
Sophomore right-hander
Hunter Pidek (0-1, 4.91 ERA, 25.2 IP) will start for Oakland, while freshman Owen Williard (0-1, 7.56 ERA, 16.2 IP), a fellow righty, will go for Purdue Fort Wayne.
