ROCHESTER, Mich. – Securing a victory in the three-game Horizon League series, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies bested the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons, 7-2, on Friday, April 7 at the Oakland Baseball Field.
Having now won three of their four Horizon League series thus far in 2023, the Golden Grizzlies move to 12-17 (6-5), while Purdue Fort Wayne is now 8-23 (5-6).
Turning in his first career quality start, sophomore right-hander
Hunter Pidek picked up his first win of the season, working six innings and holding the Mastodons to one run on five hits with five strikeouts, all without walking a batter.
Senior
Noah Stants, a fellow righty, pitched the final three frames for his second save, giving up one run of his own on three hits with a pair of walks and three strikeouts.
Butler, Indiana right-handed freshman Owen Willard took the loss for Purdue Fort Wayne, dropping him to 0-2. Throwing an even 100 pitches, he allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits with three walks and six strikeouts over five innings.
Indianapolis' Enas Hayden, a sophomore right-hander, went the final three stanzas for the Mastodons, finishing with a line of three runs on four hits. He walked and struck out one.
Making him the fourth Oakland player with 15 RBI this year, graduate student first baseman
Gabe Lux started the scoring by plating redshirt sophomore center fielder
Drew Collins with a single in the first.
Purdue Fort Wayne evened the score at one in their half of the second, but the Golden Grizzlies scored the game's next four runs over a four-inning span from the fourth through the seventh, with the middle two coming on senior right fielder
Ian Cleary's third home run of the season in the fifth.
After the Mastodons made it a three-run contest, 5-2, in the eighth, junior designated hitter
Ryan Dykstra put Oakland right back up by four with his first career home run in the bottom half of the frame, a towering shot that cleared the high wall in right field.
Dykstra, a Grand Rapids Community College Raiders transfer, also doubled to left center to lead off the fourth, his first extra-base hit in a Golden Grizzly uniform.
With Lux at the plate four batters later, Twinsburg, Ohio freshman left fielder
Reggie Bussey tallied the final run of the afternoon by scoring on a wild pitch.
Showcasing his blazing speed, Bussey read the breaking ball in the turf perfectly and was able to avoid the tag on a pitch that scurried only a handful of feet away from Purdue Fort Wayne fifth-year senior catcher Dylan Stewart.
GRIZZVISION WITH HEAD COACH JORDON BANFIELD
UP NEXT
Rounding out this series, these two will square off again on Saturday, April 8 at 2 p.m.
Senior lefty
Travis Densmore (2-3, 7.02 ERA, 33.1 IP) will start for Oakland, while fellow senior left-hander Jacob Myer (0-2, 8.80 ERA, 29.2 IP) will go for the Mastodons.
