FORT WAYNE, Ind. - Moving ahead for good with three runs in the seventh, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies completed the three-game Horizon League sweep of Purdue Fort Wayne with a 12-9 victory at Mastodon Field on Saturday, May 13.
Running their season-best win streak to six games, Oakland improves to 25-27 (16-11 Horizon League) and Saturday's triumph had the added significance of marking the first time the program has reached the 25-win mark in consecutive seasons since transitioning to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level in 1998.
On the flip side, Purdue Fort Wayne falls to 10-41 (6-21) and has dropped 13 in a row.
Recording the final out of the sixth and the first two of the seventh, graduate student left-hander
Christian Stelling (3-4), the third of six Golden Grizzly pitchers on the afternoon, earned the win.
His 13th start of the year, senior
Travis Densmore, a fellow lefty, went three innings, giving up two runs on five hits with a pair of walks on 49 pitches.
Redshirt senior right-hander
Bryce Konitzer bridged the gap between Densmore and Stelling with 2.2 frames of four-run baseball and sophomore
Brandon Nigh made the move from third base to the mound to tally the final three outs.
Beginning the scoring with a two-run triple in the second, his second three-base hit in the last four games, graduate student second baseman
Jared Miller was on-base four times and scored three runs, with freshman center fielder
Reggie Bussey, who went 5-12 (.417) in the series with at least one knock in each contest, adding two hits and a pair of runs.
Nigh hit his eighth double of the season in the third and junior catcher
Brandon Heidal drove in three runs, his second-best showing of the campaign.
Also of note and accomplished with an infield single in the fifth, senior left fielder
Ian Cleary extended his hit streak to nine games.
Bringing the total in the game to 13, the Mastodons used seven pitchers of their own Saturday, with Roanoke, Indiana fifth-year senior lefty Justin Miller (0-1), the fifth of this septet, taking the loss. He went 2.1 innings from the fifth through the seventh and gave up four runs on two hits with two strikeouts, but issued six base on balls.
Paced by a 3-6 day from Peoria, Illinois graduate student first baseman Braedon Blackford, Purdue Fort Wayne registered 12 hits, with South Bend, Indiana senior shortstop Jarrett Bickel, Milford, Ohio fifth-year senior catcher Dylan Stewart and Lafayette, Indiana sophomore third baseman Jacob Walker also collecting multiple knocks.
GRIZZVISION WITH HEAD COACH JORDON BANFIELD
UP NEXT
Their final non-Horizon League game of the regular season, Oakland will head to Ypsilanti on Tuesday, May 16 to square off with the Mid-American Conference's (MAC) Eastern Michigan Eagles at 6 p.m. at Oestrike Stadium.
Tuesday will decide the season series between these two, as the Golden Grizzlies and Eagles split a pair of meetings in Rochester on March 28 and April 19, with Oakland winning the latter.
