DAYTON, Ohio - Moving one victory away from clinching their first Horizon League Tournament Championship in program history, the 2-seed Oakland Golden Grizzlies knocked off the 1-seed Wright State Raiders, 6-5, in 10 innings on Friday, May 26 at Nischwitz Stadium.
Including their final meeting of the regular season back in Rochester on April 30, the Golden Grizzlies (29-29, 18-12 Horizon League) have now won two in a row over Wright State and Oakland advances to Game 8 of the 2023 #HLBASE Tournament on Saturday, May 27 at 12 p.m.
Wright State (36-21, 22-8 Horizon League) will play the 5-seed Milwaukee Panthers in Game 7 at 4:15 p.m. Friday, with the winner of this contest playing the Golden Grizzlies Saturday.
Second Team All-Horizon League sophomore right-hander
Hunter Pidek made his 13th start of the year for Oakland Friday, departing with one out in the fifth inning and finishing with a line of four runs on six hits without walking a batter and striking out three. He threw just 59 pitches, 42 of which (71.2 percent) were strikes.
Junior right-hander
Brandon Decker, a First Team selection and the 2023 Horizon League Reliever of the Year, took the Golden Grizzlies the rest of the way, recording the final 17 outs and allowing just one run on three hits with four walks and five strikeouts.
The win Friday was Decker's eighth of the year, tying him with Dave Jones (1978) and Matt Byrd (1991) for the second-most in a season in school history.
Jones also holds the top spot on this list with nine wins in 1977, giving Decker the title of most in a campaign since Oakland began competing at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level in 1998.
Senior left fielder
Ian Cleary, another Second Team All-Horizon League honoree, began the scoring with a two-run triple down the right field line in the first, his first three-base hit of the year, scoring junior catcher
Brandon Heidal, who tallied a game-high three hits, and sophomore third baseman
Brandon Nigh.
Scoring from second base and picking up third base coach
Brian Nelson the entire way, redshirt senior shortstop
Thomas Green recorded the game-winning run on a one-hop missile to short off the bat of graduate student first baseman
Gabe Lux in the 10th.
With the baseball scurrying only a few feet away from him, Raiders redshirt sophomore shortstop Luke Arnold hurried to gather himself and delivered a strong, accurate throw to Upper Arlington, Ohio junior catcher Sammy Sass, but Green was able to target the outside of the plate with his left hand and beat the throw right in front of home plate umpire Andy Joseph, one of the Horizon League's best.
Fort Wayne, Indiana junior right-hander Jake Shirk, who tossed a one-hit shutout against the Golden Grizzlies at the Oakland Baseball Field on April 29, started for Wright State Friday and did not have the same level of success this time around, giving up four runs on eight hits with a walk and two strikeouts over 3.1 innings. He did not factor into the decision.
Entering in the fourth and departing before recording an out in the seventh, Richmond, Ohio senior righty Tristan Haught gave the Raiders 3.2 one-run innings and Ashland, Ohio junior left-hander Jay Luikart (1-2), who began the game at first base, took the loss.
A good day for the catcher position, Sass matched Heidal's three hits and Hilliard, Ohio sophomore center fielder Andrew Patrick also collected multiple knocks for Wright State.
GRIZZVISION WITH HEAD COACH JORDON BANFIELD
UP NEXT
Whether it ends up being Wright State or Milwaukee, Oakland will play at 12 p.m. Saturday in a contest that will air live on ESPN+ (subscription required).
If the Golden Grizzlies win this game, they will wrap up the Horizon League Tournament Championship. A double-elimination tournament, Oakland would still be alive with a loss, as the two teams would play again in Game 9 at approximately 4 p.m. Saturday.
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