ROCHESTER, Mich. – Sweeping their first Horizon League series of the 2023 season, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies defeated the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons, 7-6, on Saturday, April 8 at the Oakland Baseball Field.
Victorious in three of their four conference series thus far, Oakland improves to 13-17 (7-5), while the Mastodons drop to 8-24 (5-7).
Throwing five shutout innings, senior left-hander
Travis Densmore picked up his third win of the year, giving up just three Purdue Fort Wayne hits with three walks and five strikeouts.
Saturday was career win No. 11 for Densmore, a Mesa, Arizona native, putting him just seven back of Tim Hellebuyck and Ralph Muglia for a share of fourth on the Golden Grizzlies' all-time list.
Juniors
Jake Matthaidess,
Ben Paugh and
Brandon Decker and redshirt senior
Brett Hagen all saw action out of the Oakland bullpen, with Decker recording the final eight outs for his second save in the last three games.
Six of Decker's eight outs were strikeouts, including the final two outs of the eighth with Mastodons on first and second and the Golden Grizzlies holding onto a 6-5 lead.
Falling to 0-3, lefty senior starter Jacob Myer took the loss for Purdue Fort Wayne by allowing five runs on four hits with three walks and a pair of strikeouts over 3.2 innings.
Mackinaw, Illinois graduate student right-hander JD Deany went the final 4.1 innings for the Mastodons, finishing with a line of two runs (one earned) on three hits with two walks and a trio of strikeouts.
Oakland jumped out to a 6-0 lead in this one, with junior right fielder
Lucas Loos starting the scoring by plating graduate student first baseman
Gabe Lux and redshirt sophomore center fielder
Drew Collins with a double down the left field line in the third.
Redshirt sophomore left fielder
Liam Pollock scored on a wild pitch in the same frame and standout sophomore third baseman
Brandon Nigh knocked in Loos with a single to center to put the Golden Grizzlies up 4-0 after three innings of play.
Sophomore
Kevin Krill stretched the margin to 5-0 with a pinch-hit single in the fourth and Oakland tallied their sixth run later in the inning when freshman
Reggie Bussey, who pinch-ran for Krill, scored on a throwing error by Purdue Fort Wayne senior second baseman Cade Nelis.
Macomb, Illinois senior left fielder Ben Higgins hit a two-run home run to center field for the Mastodons' first runs of the contest in the sixth and Peoria, Illinois graduate student first baseman Braedon Blackford hit his Horizon League-leading 10
th of the season, a three-run shot to left center, in the seventh to make it a one-run game, 6-5.
The Golden Grizzlies added a pivotal insurance run in the eighth and Purdue Fort Wayne cut it back down to one, 7-6, with a sacrifice fly by Lafayette, Indiana sophomore third baseman Jacob Walker in the ninth, but Decker was able to strike South Bend, Indiana senior shortstop Jarrett Bickel out with the potential tying run on second base for the final out.
STATISTICAL NOTES
- Loos registered three of Oakland's seven hits Saturday, with his fourth-inning infield single being his first knock of the year to not go for extra-bases
- Graduate student second baseman Jared Miller was the other Golden Grizzly to collect an extra-base hit in this one, an eighth-inning double
- With Saturday's action now in the books, Densmore leads Oakland with 37 strikeouts, one more than Decker
- Joining senior right-hander Noah Stants, Decker is the second Golden Grizzly with multiple saves this season
GRIZZVISION WITH HEAD COACH JORDON BANFIELD
UP NEXT
With a one-day break in action for Easter Sunday, Oakland will return to the diamond on Monday, April 10 when they host the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Rochester Warriors of the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) at 2:30 p.m.
Monday will be the final contest in a season-long 10-game homestand for the Golden Grizzlies.
