DAYTON, Ohio - Reaching the final day of the Horizon League Tournament for the second-straight season, the 2-seed Oakland Golden Grizzlies were twice defeated by the 1-seed Wright State Raiders at a standing-room-only Nischwitz Stadium on Saturday, May 27.

The closest the program has come to capturing a league title since first joining a Division I conference in 2000, Oakland rounds out their campaign at 29-31 (18-12), while Wright State improves to 39-21 (22-8) and receives the Horizon League's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Their 10th Horizon League Tournament Championship in program history and sixth in the last eight editions, the Raiders will find out their regional site during the NCAA Tournament Selection Show on Monday, May 29 at 12 p.m. on ESPN2.

Saturday's games were two very different stories, with Wright State narrowly prevailing 9-8 on a ninth-inning home run in the first, before running away with the second, 14-0.

GAME 8 OF THE 2023 #HLBASE TOURNAMENT - WRIGHT STATE 9, OAKLAND 8
By virtue of their 2-0 record entering Saturday, the Golden Grizzlies were the home team for the first contest.

His 15th start of the year, senior left-hander Travis Densmore was the first of six Oakland pitchers in the game, working the first two-plus innings and allowing two runs on four hits with a walk and three strikeouts.

Redshirt senior righty Bryce Konitzer gave the Golden Grizzlies three frames in middle relief and junior Brandon Decker, a fellow right-hander who handled the final 5.2 innings of the Friday victory over the Raiders, took the loss, dropping him to 8-3.

Decker only allowed one hit over his two frames Saturday, but it was a go-ahead solo home run in the ninth off the bat of Hilliard, Ohio sophomore center fielder Andrew Patrick, the eventual Most Valuable Player of the 2023 #HLBASE Tournament.

Beginning with a two-run double by #HLBASE All-Freshman center fielder Reggie Bussey in the second, Oakland held two different leads in Saturday's first game, but Wright State was able to claw their way back both times.

Ending the season a red-hot 14-28 (.500) over the final seven games, sophomore third baseman Brandon Nigh led the Golden Grizzlies with three hits, with junior designated hitter Ryan Dykstra, who tied the tilt at eight with a triple to left in the seventh, also tallying multiple knocks.

Homering twice and tripling, Ashland, Ohio junior first baseman Jay Luikart matched Nigh's three hits for the Raiders, as did St. Clair redshirt senior second baseman Gehrig Anglin and Patrick.

A father of two children, Richmond, Ohio senior right-hander Tristan Haught (5-2) earned the win by recording the final seven outs and striking out three.

GAME 9 OF THE 2023 #HLBASE TOURNAMENT - WRIGHT STATE 14, OAKLAND 0
Opening it up with a Patrick grand slam, Wright State scored 13 of their runs in the second and third inning.

Making his second start of the tournament, redshirt senior righty Sean Fekete (4-4) was hit with the loss.

Four Golden Grizzly relievers handled the remaining 20 outs, highlighted by four innings from graduate student left-hander Christian Stelling in his final collegiate appearance.

In addition to Stelling, Saturday was also the final collegiate game for lefty Chase Keeney, first baseman Gabe Lux, third baseman Luke Malmanger, right-hander Peyton McGregor and second baseman Jared Miller, all of whom are terrific young men and will do big things in their personal and professional lives moving forward.

Impressively starting the second game immediately after throwing 33 pitches to close out the first, Haught (6-2) picked up another victory by firing seven innings of four-hit, five-strikeout baseball, departing to a standing ovation after Dykstra singled to leadoff the eighth.

Finishing with six RBI, Patrick and Anglin paced the Raiders with three hits apiece, with Lebanon, Ohio redshirt sophomore shortstop Luke Arnold, Columbus, Indiana junior designated hitter Julian Greenwell and Upper Arlington, Ohio catcher Sammy Sass, a fellow junior, all chipping in two.

Paired with Dykstra's knock in the eighth, Bussey, redshirt senior shortstop Thomas Green and Lux also collected hits for Oakland.

CLEARY, HEIDAL AND NIGH EARN ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM HONORS
Senior left fielder Ian Cleary, junior catcher Brandon Heidal and Nigh were the three Golden Grizzlies to earn spots on the 12-man 2023 #HLBASE All-Tournament Team for their performances over the course of the event.

The complete 2023 #HLBASE All-Tournament Team is available in the league's official release at this link, as well as listed below:

Name	School	Class	Position	Hometown
Andrew Patrick (MVP)	Wright State	Sophomore	CF	Hilliard, OH
Julian Greenwell	Wright State	Junior	DH	Columbus, IN
Tristan Haught	Wright State	Senior	RHP	Richmond, OH
Jay Luikart	Wright State	Junior	1B/LHP	Ashland, OH
Luke Stofel	Wright State	Junior	RHP	Lawrenceburg, TN
Ian Cleary	Oakland	Senior	LF	Macomb, MI
Brandon Heidal	Oakland	Junior	C	Anaheim, CA
Brandon Nigh	Oakland	Sophomore	3B	Temperance, MI
Marcus Cline	Milwaukee	Redshirt Junior	SS	Fall Creek, WI
Mark Connelly	Milwaukee	Senior	2B	DeWitt, MI
Colton Kucera	Northern Kentucky	Junior	LF	Phoenix, AZ
Adam Schneider	Northern Kentucky	Graduate Student	CF	Edgewood, KY

Senior LF Ian Cleary receiving his 2023 #HLBASE All-Tournament Team plaque. Photo courtesy of Ceejay Round, Oakland University Athletics.


Junior C Brandon Heidal taking a look at his 2023 #HLBASE All-Tournament Team plaque. Photo courtesy of Ceejay Round, Oakland University Athletics.