FRANKLIN, Wis. – Fighting their way back to tie it up with a run in the seventh inning and another in the ninth, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies were ultimately defeated by the Milwaukee Panthers, 6-5, in 10 innings in the opener of a three-game Horizon League set at Franklin Field on Friday, May 5.

With this Cinco de Mayo loss, the Golden Grizzlies fall to 19-27 (11-11 Horizon League) and are now 0-3 in extra-inning games this season, all of which have come on the road.

Oakland does still maintain a slight lead over the Panthers, who are now 21-22 (10-11), for third place in the conference standings.

Recording the final out of the sixth and working the duration of the night, junior right-hander Brandon Decker (5-2) took the loss for the Golden Grizzlies, ending up with a line of two runs on five hits with three walks and five strikeouts over these 3.2 innings.

Sophomore righty Hunter Pidek made his 10^th start of the year for Oakland and second against Milwaukee. Throwing 94 pitches and registering 17 outs, he allowed four runs, only one of which was earned, on four hits with a walk and four punchouts and has now completed at least five innings in five consecutive outings.

The first hit in a 3-3 night for him, graduate student designated hitter Gabe Lux started the scoring by plating sophomore third baseman Brandon Nigh with a single in the third and came around to score himself on another single by junior right fielder Lucas Loos three batters later.

Chicago, Illinois redshirt junior right fielder Jake Novak drove in a game-high five runs for the Panthers, three of which came on a bases-clearing triple with two outs in the fourth, vaulting Milwaukee to their first lead of the day.

Nigh scored his second of three runs in the tilt when Loos doubled down the right field line in the fifth to even the score back up at three, but the Panthers took their first and only multiple-run lead of the contest, 5-3, with a pair of runs in the sixth, the first coming on a home run to left center off the bat of senior third baseman Aaron Chapman and the second on a single by Novak.

Redshirt senior shortstop Thomas Green scored Nigh with a sacrifice fly in the seventh, cutting it back to one, 5-4, and was at the plate when Lux scored the tying run on a Milwaukee error with one out in the ninth.

In a game where he set a career-high RBI total, it was fitting that Novak walked it off for the Panthers in the tenth, singling through the right side to score Kenosha, Wisconsin senior Ryan Hoerter, a right-handed pitcher who entered as a pinch-runner one batter prior, with the bases loaded.

Milwaukee used three pitchers, with Sherwood, Wisconsin senior left-hander Nate DeYoung (1-0), who doubles as the Panthers' designated hitter, picking up the win.

Friday was Lux's 14^th multiple-hit game of the campaign and the third time he has collected three knocks, while Nigh's trio of runs were his second-most of the year.

Joining Loos, Lux and Nigh, senior left fielder Ian Cleary was the fourth Golden Grizzly with multiple hits Friday, going 2-5 and raising his team-leading season batting average to .324 (48-148).

UP NEXT
Game 2 of this weekend series will take place Saturday, May 6 at 4 p.m. on ESPN+.

Senior southpaw Travis Densmore (4-5, 5.77 ERA, 53 IP) will start for Oakland, while Milwaukee will counter with Caledonia, Wisconsin junior right-hander Luke Hansel (5-2, 5.82 ERA, 55.2 IP).