ROCHESTER, Mich. – Moving just one victory away from clinching second place in the Horizon League regular season standings, the Golden Grizzlies took Game 1 of their weekend set with the Northern Kentucky Norse, 4-1, on Thursday, May 18 at the Oakland Baseball Field.
Their seventh win in their last eight games, the Golden Grizzlies improve to 26-28 (17-11 Horizon League) and still have a chance to finish the regular season .500 if they can win each of the final two.
Northern Kentucky is now 28-24 (16-12 Horizon League).
Winning for the second-straight start, sophomore right-hander
Hunter Pidek (3-2) went seven innings, allowing just the one run on three hits with a lone walk and four strikeouts.
When it comes to the Horizon League Pitcher of the Year Award, the conference's Cy Young equivalent, Pidek's last seven starts, a stretch that dates to April 7, should put him in the conversation, as he has completed at least five innings in all seven outings, including six frames or better four times, turning in four quality starts over this span and lowering his ERA to 3.74.
Earning his fifth save, junior
Brandon Decker, a fellow righty, sealed the deal with two scoreless frames, striking out three Norse batters in the process.
Widely regarded as the Horizon League's premier defensive catcher, junior
Brandon Heidal had a day to remember with the bat Thursday, as he began the scoring for Oakland with his first career home run in the first.
Easily clearing the 353-foot wall in left center, Heidal extended his arm in the air as he approached second base in realization of his accomplishment and was mobbed by all his teammates just outside the dugout after celebrating with sophomore third baseman
Brandon Nigh, the next man up, at the plate.
His fifth of the season, Nigh decided to do the same thing Heidal did, just a little bit more down the left field line, and junior designated hitter
Lucas Loos blasted his fifth home run of the year, as well, just two batters later, giving the Golden Grizzlies three in the first inning.
Also driving in Oakland's final run with a single in the eighth, Nigh tallied three of the Golden Grizzlies' seven hits, with Loos also having a multiple-knock day.
Bouncing back from this rough first inning to record a quality start with seven innings of three-run baseball and five strikeouts, Liberty Township, Ohio junior right-hander Clay Brock (5-4) took the loss for Northern Kentucky.
Fort Mitchell, Kentucky senior second baseman John Odom recorded the Norse RBI with a sacrifice fly to left in the first, scoring Alberta, Canada junior right fielder Cleary Simpson, who was the only Northern Kentucky player to collect multiple hits, finishing 2-4.
GRIZZVISION WITH HEAD COACH JORDON BANFIELD
UP NEXT
These two will square off in the middle of their three-game set on Friday, May 19 at 2:30 p.m.
With rain anticipated in the late afternoon Friday, this start time might be moved up. @OaklandBSB will have updates on Twitter regarding any possible time change and the schedule here at GoldenGrizzlies.com will be updated to reflect any changes, as well.
